Oh the Places You'll Go...: It's Showtime!

It has become a sort of tradition to have a big performance by all the standards the day their parents come to take them home for the holidays. Anne has been working so hard the last couple months preparing a dance for each standard, as well as choreographing new dances for the LifeDance team to perform. The performance was this past Saturday and it was WONDERFUL! The kids did an amazing job performing their dances and they all looked ridiculously cute! Here are some of the highlights:

This is the main LifeDance team performing their new dance to "Stand By Me". It's really different from any other dance they have done but they are doing a GREAT job, especially since they just learned it!

This is the adorable UKG (kindergarten) class performing their "Good Morning" dance. Tamilarasi's face (the girl in green smiling in the front) is probably my favorite part of this dance. UKG definitely stole the show, and everyone's hearts, with this dance.

The new Rising Star Choir, under Mrs. Pam Gates direction, also performed and they were outstanding! They performed quite a few songs including "We wish you a Merry Christmas" and "Popcorn popping on the mango tree" but it was their singing of "10 little Indians" that had everyone hooked and in love.

All of the standards did an awesome job but my two favorite dances of the day were 4th standard dancing to "I wanna be like you" from Jungle Book and 7th standard dancing to "Dance With Me", an old 70s funk song.

4th Standard

7th Standard

The final number of the show was an African dance that Emmy, the dance master before Anne and Diana, choreographed. It was awesome because Anne taught this dance to the whole school so ALL THE KIDS got up and performed it. One of my favorite parts of watching them all do this dance was hearing the underlying jingle of all the girls' bangles and anklets as they danced together. It was the perfect way to end the show.

After the performance, everyone ate lunch before heading home with their parents. I thought it would be sad saying goodbye to the kids as they left, but it was actually really upbeat and happy. The kids were all so excited for the holidays and to be going home they kept coming up to myself and the other volunteers wishing us a happy Christmas and saying they would miss us--it was really cute!

My favorite farewell was from Deepenraj. He asked me multiple times to just come home with him and stay at his house over the break. I really wish I could have taken him up on the offer but I will just have to make due with seeing him at church.

All the kids and parents waiting for the Rising Star "bus" to take them to the junction to start their journey home.

Much like all public transportation here they CRAMMED each car/van full to be as efficient as possible...gotta love India

Once everyone had left, I invited all the kids over who's parents work on campus and couldn't leave to go home for a few more hours. The 10th standard kids are also staying at Rising Star over the break to study for their board exams so they came over too (though only the boys stayed). All the boys settled in and watched Thor before heading home with their families. It was a fun way to end a fantastic day.