My adoration for Broadway and musicals is no secret. Really, I'd say it's been a defining factor in my life. I made my debut on the PNE forum stage at the age of five, singing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" while wearing a silver, marabou-feather festooned cowboy hat and tap dancing (true story). And although my *ahem* talents didn't take me as far as I would have liked, I've never lost my love for good old song and dance.
Naturally, it is my dream for Eloise to get as much enjoyment out of musicals as I do, so you can imagine my joy when I discovered several months ago that the Broadway version of Mary Poppins' "Step in Time" could keep her occupied for an entire eight minutes. From "Step in Time" we branched out to "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and learned that Eloise's most favourite Poppins tune is "Let's Go Fly a Kite". It turns out she likes Gene Kelly too and we pretend-tap to the "Good Morning" scene from "Singing in the Rain". Often.
We've enrolled Eloise in a dance class called Preschool Broadway and I hope that this class marks the beginning of her lifetime love for dance and that I get my opportunity to one day play stage mom (since I'm already a pro at adhering fake lashes and doing rag curls, it only makes sense). I actually have no idea what Eloise and her friends, Ruby and Capri, do in class as it's her first non-parent participation activity and the door stays closed for the full 45 minutes. I imagine them flitting around the class, toes pointed and knees straight, but honestly, it's enough to hope that Eloise isn't sitting in the corner picking her nose.
All I know is that in the first class, in which the door was open, Eloise spent a number of minutes admiring her best lion faces in the mirror while the rest of the kids dutifully followed the teacher in time to "The Circle of Life" from the Lion King. In Eloise's defence, this song is one of her Broadway faves and she does a pretty great rendition of the song's opening (African) ballad, in double time. I really enjoy when she sings this song to strangers and then finishes off with, "and then the monkey put magic juice on the baby lions head and said bless you." I know exactly what she means, they just smile and nod.
And then I am reminded that perhaps Broadway can wait. Right now Eloise's weekly dance class is all about ballet shoes, tutus and getting a snack with friends after class.
