Thursday, December 30, 2010

The Senior Show

Every year at La Enzenanza (or so I understand) the seniors put on a final show for the school. This year was no exception. Let me back up a little...Every year the senior class chooses a theme for the year. That theme is infused into many things throughout the year such as all the bulletin boards in the school. This year's theme was Disney. The girls did a really cute job with it, including making their senior show all things Disney. Valeria Serrano wrote the script (and played Cruella de Vil) and it was genuis. She took well-known Disney stories and characters and mixed them up, put them together, changed them around, and created a wonderfully entertaining show.

The show began with Walt Disney sitting down to write a story and then entrusting his large story book to two fairies who lost the book. The book fell into the hands of the Disney villains who wanted to change the stories so they didn't look so bad. While the fairies searched for the book, we as an audience got to see glimpses of many Disney stories, but all of them were just a little different. In the end, the fairies got the book and everyone danced together - just the way a good Disney story should end.

By the way, I should mention a couple of things before I begin adding pictures and narrative. The girls put on the show Thursday night for the parents and families and then Friday morning for the school. The show Thursday night was billed as a Talent Show, but there were only 2 talent groups that were not seniors. Ana Elisa decided there was no time for singing on Friday, so she only had the senior show that day.


About 10 minutes before the show began, Vanessa approached me and told me she needed a hot dog for the show. She asked if the convent had some sausage and bread that she could make to look like a hot dog. Of course, the convent had nothing so we had a moment of panic. We decided to go as quickly as we could to Exito, which is the closest store to the school, to buy a hot dog. Vanessa bought the hot dog, smothered it in condiments, and we hurried back to school. Before we returned to school, though, I had to get a picture of Vanessa in most of her costume posing with Valeria and the hot dog she had just bought. Vanessa was totally embarrassed to go in public with her black frock, black tights and white flip-flops, so I had to make a record of it forever. When we got back to school, 15 minutes after the show was to begin, the show was just beginning. Whew!!! Valeria hid the hot dog in her purse because Ana Elisa was standing at the door to the auditorium telling everyone that no food was allowed. The hot dog's condiments spilled onto Valeria's purse and her leather purse now smells like a mustard-ketchup combination.


The show began with Olga acting like a famous Colombia comedian that everyone in the audience but me knew. She welcomed everyone and told a joke or two before the Disney tale began.



Mayra played Walt Disney and Carolina and Maria Alejandra played the fairies. All three of them were very funny, especially Carolina who spoke all of her lines in a hilarious nasal, nerdy-type voice.



In the first scene in which Disney was writing his book, he began the story of Peter Pan, which we watched on stage as Laura played Peter Pan, Linda played Captain Hook, and Ana Maria and Melissa played the lost boys.

When the fairies lost the Walt Disney book of stories it ended up in the hands of Anastasia, played by Andrea. As a matter of fact, the book hit her on the head, which is why it was good she was wearing a hard hat.




Because Anastasia was not the brighest Disney princess in the bunch, Cruella de Vil was able to convince her to give Cruella Walt's book of stories. Cruella had a sinister plan to change how people view the villains by changing the Disney stories. She and her motley crew, including Ursula, played by Henny, met in the Bar de los Malvados where they plotted how to carry out Cruela's plan.


The bartender, played by Andrea, happened to be in love with Belle, played by Lina, so he told her the villians' plans. Belle, however, had no interest in the bartender and blew him off. He then sang about his lonely heart, which was ROFL FUNNY!!!!

So then the mixed-up Disney stories began, beginning with Belle and Rapunzel, played by Daniela, in which Daniela was admiring her long hair, and then she ended up bald.



In another scene, Jane (of Tarzan fame) entered the stage and it soon became clear that she was the wild one. Katherine played Jane very well. When Tatiana as Tarzan entered the stage, it was hilarious. She was dressed in a loincloth as Tarzan would be, but she was wearing a dress shirt, jacket and tie, and she chastised Jane for being too wild. Maria Isabel as Hercules, however, liked Jane the way she was and stole her from Tarzan.






The next scene had Hannah Montana, played by Lisette, performing and then announcing a talent show to see if anyone could sing as well as her. At the night performance for the parents, this is where most of the acts performed. I included pictures of each act.






The next scene was definitely my favorite. It began with Snow White, played by Gina, meeting a witch in the woods. Rather than offering Snow White an apple, she offered her a...HOT DOG. Finally, the hot dog Vanessa bought at Exito entered the scene with Vanessa (the witch) offering it to Snow White. Snow White took a bite of it and fell into a deep sleep. Three of the dwarfs, played by Laura, Sandra and ? entered to find Snow White asleep. The girls who played the dwarfs were super funny because they walked in on their knees with shoes and their arms were only halfway out of their shirts. While they were wondering what to do about Snow White, who came in to save her? None other than Troy Bolton, played by Laura, in his basketball work-out suit and all. He did a few basketball moves and then bent down to kiss Snow White to wake her up. The problem was...Snow White had horrible breath because she had eaten a hot dog, so Troy refused to kiss her. No matter, though, the dwarfs still did a silly and funny dance while she lay there.

The villians met again to check on their status and to make an evil potion - I'm not sure why, but probably because villians always need an evil potion. They discovered that the bartender told Belle about their sinister plan, so they locked him up in a cage.


Next we met up with Lilo, played by Jimena, who captured two strange girls. Lilo had an interesting persona. It was truly as if she were the one from another planet and not Stitch.


At this point in the show, the girls from one of the senior groups did a dance. It was fantastic. The dancing I have seen at this school has been simply amazing.



The next scene was also a funny one. It began with Nik Jonas, played by Andrea, serenading Ariel, played by Adriana. From the other side of the stage, Jack Sparrow, played by Claudia, spotted Ariel and decided to make her his own. He crawled along the stage like it was a war zone and challenged Nick Jonas for Ariel. After some delicate negotiation, Ariel decided she'd take both of them.

There was a cute fashion show next, with a couple characters from High School Musical, but somehow I only got one picture of Lilian as Sharpay.



We then returned to the caged bartender who was singing about how sad he was to be trapped in a cage when Genie from Alladin, played by Hilda, appeared. She told the bartender he had three wishes. Of course, none of his wishes were to be freed from his cage because that would be too logical. The two fairies then showed up and tried to free the bartender, but it took Mr. Incredible, played by Naddia, to free the bartender from his cage.




At this point, the villians' plan came to fruition and they captured all of the Disney protagonists. Fortunately, though, the indians were on hand to capture the villains and free the protagonists. The indians were great. They began at the back of the auditorium doing a traditional indian-type dance. Then the music changed and they did an awesome traditional Colombian dance with a ton of energy. Everyone laughed hard at that. Once the protagonists were freed, the fairies were able to return the stories to Walt Disney so everyone could live happily ever after.



And the happy ending allowed Belle to realize that she was really in love with the bartender...and they lived happily ever after. And to celebrate their love and the successful return of the characters to their proper places, the characters all danced.



Once the play finished, there were three more talent show acts. The first one was a song by Salwa, which was quite pretty. Next Natalia sang, accompanied by Ana Maria on the guitar. She sang in Spanish, so I have no idea what the song was, but she has a beautiful voice and Ana Maria is quite talented on the guitar. The final act was Camila singing Mr. President by Pink. Anyone who knows that song knows it is not easy to sing, but Camila was fanstastic. I had no idea she had such a lovely and clear voice. I thought she was the perfect ending to a great show.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Mision Sonrisa

I know I have written about the spirit of service many of the girls here have, which is super impressive because they have clearly internalized the philosophy of St. Jeanne and the Sisters of the Company of Mary. Two girls in particular, Julieth Davila and Angelica (Angie) Usuga, have gone above and beyond possessing a spirit of service; they created a foundation called Mision Sonrisa. This foundation holds an event for approximately 250 children from the two of the poorest neighborhoods in the city - La Playa and El Bosque - both of which I have talked about before.

Julieth and Angie are going to change the world! Along with spending every Wednesday afternoon at El Bosque teaching the girls there about the theater and performing, and being a Scout (Angie), and part of Jovenes por La Paz (Julieth), and going to school M-F, the girls had time to begin Mision Sonrisa last year. Mision Sonrisa puts on a very nice breakfast for close to 100 children in La Playa. They also plan and execute 4-hours of activities and lunch for over 100 children from El Bosque. Both of these activities are to acknowledge that these children have prepared and are ready to receive their First Communion. As most people know, receiving First Communion is a big deal, which means in most places in the world children have parties hosted by their families and/or schools. These children's families cannot afford to put on a party or really celebrate their child's First Communion, so Julieth and Angie provide the celebration for them. It may not change the lives of these children, but it tells them they are important enough for a party to be held in their honor.














I was lucky enough to join Julieth and Angie for their El Bosque activities. They transported the children via bus to La Ensenanza for the event. They also enlisted some of their friends from the school (and a couple teachers) and some of Angie's Scout friends to help. The volunteers set up several activity stations for the children such as an obstacle course, a Christmas story dramatization station, a craft station, a dress-up station, a team-work station, a potato sack race, etc. After almost 3 hours of the activity stations, the children were given a lunch of hot dogs (made by Julieth's mom), juice, and an apple. After lunch, the Scouts led the children in some fun chants and songs. Then every child got a wrapped present. I must mention that the presents were wrapped because each one was wrapped by Julieth and Angie. The girls all got a Barbie-type doll and the boys all got a slinky or a hand-held game. I so enjoyed watching the children's faces as they each received and opened their gift. I had no idea such a small gift could provide such huge smiles.

At the end of the event, Julieth talked about what a privilege it was to get to be involved in an event like that, and then she thanked everyone for their help. I was incredibly impressed by her humility. She and Angie planned the entire event and during the event they worked tirelessly to make sure everyone was happy and everything was running smoothly. It was quite impressive for her to stand up and thank everyone else for what they did rather than taking credit for the event, which she and Angie clearly deserved.

I wish I were talented enough with words to clearly express the level at which I am in awe of Julieth and Angie. They get nothing more than personal satisfaction from doing what they do. They do not help people because it looks good on their college applications - the college apps here don't even ask about extra-curricular activities. They do not help people because they are trying to fulfill their required school service hours - they completed those long ago. They help people because they cannot see a need and not do something about it. WOW!! If only we all saw our fellow citizens like that. If they were in the US, I guarantee Oprah would want them on her show, but they probably wouldn't want to go. The last thing they want is public recognition for what they do. How do we create more children like them? When I grow up I want to be just like them.


One final comment...I was so impressive with Mision Sonrisa when I heard about it that I sent an email to my family asking them to donate a small amount of money to the cause. I knew before that my family was generous, but to have them ALL respond within hours with pledges greater than I had even asked for brought tears to my eyes. Julieth and Angie were so shocked they didn't even know what to say, but they were sweet enough to put it on a poster. By the way, the girls told me that my family's donation made it possible to give a gift to every single child from both La Playa and El Bosque. Pretty awesome!!