River Recital

     December 15th was the recital for this semester of the River. It was supposed to be on December 8th, but due to weather concerns, they moved it to the 15th at the last minute. Having two weeks between the dress rehearsal and recital is hard, because it gives everyone (both volunteers and kids) ample time to forget what we they are doing. Luckily they always do a full run through before the recital. Unfortunately though, they ran out of time to rehearse the youngest class (which was the one I was helping with), so that was quite difficult. It ended up going well, but it was kind of stressful.
     I think that this experience exhibits Service and Learning Outcome 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process. The combination of the delayed rehearsal and not getting to rehearse was a big challenge, both for the volunteers and the kids. The kids in my group are the youngest too, so having to sit through all of the older kids' rehearsals was very difficult for them. I had to learn different ways to keep each of them happy and in their seats. Overall though, it was a really good experience.

The River Dress Rehearsal

     On December 1st, the River had their dress rehearsal for the fall semester of 2018. I stayed with the youngest class for most of the semester, so I continued to work with them for the dress rehearsal and recital. Their show was The Jungle Book. This was the first semester at the River (that I had seen) where they went age group by age group and did all their performances instead of doing music for everyone and then dance, etc. I think it is a good new system because it gives the kids more of a feel of what doing a full show feels like. Also, during the dress rehearsal, the acting and music classes worked together, so they got to see another class perform, which they enjoyed. The new system took some getting used to, but I think it works really well.

     I think that this demonstrates Service and Learning Outcome 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in a fieldwork experience. I do the River about 5 Saturdays a semester every semester, which I think shows a lot of commitment and perseverance.