INTERPRETIVE WHAT??

So last night was Blane's middle school awards and the Year 9's graduation into high school (Blane is only Year 7) night. I cannot convey to you how thrilling this is for Stuart and I to attend.

After 3 and half hours of awards, certificates, speeches, announcements and farewells, the entire middle school gave us a year end Christmas recital finale. I cannot convey to you how thrilling this finale was.

It started out with three Hip Hop Travellers on their way to Africa.

The Three Hip Hop Travellers wore white hoodies and white masks and they apparently do not travel the world by plane, boat or train, they get places by krumping or break dancing or having epileptic fits... I wasn't sure.

So they finally arrive in Africa and we are treated with an African Christmas carol and some very uninspired dancing by two students who are from Africa... and now we know why they left.

The Hip Hop Travellers then convulsed their way to the Bahamas, where the official Christmas carol is Jingle Bells with a metal drum banging in the background.

The HHTs are off again to Indonesia, this time they can get half way around the world by simply striking a pose. We are serenaded with a traditional Indonesian carol, Silent Night.

Yes, but wait! There was a long musical interlude during Silent Night, where the school's blind girl played the flute while the Year 9 girls did an interpretive dance... which was something like tai chi with a little Hawaiian hula thrown in.

I know what you are thinking. I am a horrible human being for making fun of a bunch of 12 year olds. You are right, but I may also remind you that you did not have to sit through the entire 30 minute finale.

I might also remind you of the logistical gaps present in this recital. First being, was that really a very efficient trip around the world? North Pole to Africa to The Bahamas to Indonesia? What were the Three Hip Hop Travellers searching for? Every good christmas recital needs to have someone searching for something, and then finding it on christmas morning, where they learn that the holidays are not about hype, they are about getting things.

The costuming was lousy. Obviously low budget.

This production has a long way to go before reaching Off-Off-Broadway.