Thursday, December 07, 2006

Choreography Crisis

We attended another rehearsal for City on a Hill--this time 1.5 hours. The director decided to have us all do the choreography for the last song. Considering that Pamela could not imitate to save her life when she was at the age for The Itsy Bitsy Spider, she did very well! The neatest thing about Pamela is her smile. She has been in several small productions and something about being on stage, with the music, audience, and lights, doing the routines she has practiced for so long brings a gorgeous smile to her face. As soon as the music started and we were doing the choreography, Pamela's face lit up like a candle!

Our choreographer is keeping it simple since we have so little time to learn. During some spots, we step right and bring the feet together, while we snap our fingers. Pamela's version is to rock right and left and flick her fingers. For right now, I have my left hand on her right arm to keep her at the right pace for she tends to speed up. The other movement is to raise the right arm slowly up from the side, then the left, and bring them down slowly in front with palms up. We can work on this movement at home, facing each other.

Whenever we face a challenge (this being a challenge because she has ten days to get it close enough to avoid being distracting), I write social stories for her. In this case, I wrote a story to explain to her that she can watch the choreographer to learn the moves. I searched some local websites and found a picture of the choreographer, so Pamela can recognize her easily.

This is Miss Donna. She is a dancer. She can go to my church. She is a choreographer for our musical. A choreographer shows people how to dance. I can watch her to see how to dance. If I forget, I can look at Miss Donna. She can give me a clue!

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