Catching Up: CLAPS Dance Performance in Downtown Rockville (2017_04_29)

Miri and her peeps closed out April with a very public "bang" -- they participated in the Montgomery County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations' annual Performing Arts Festival, dancing on a large outdoor stage in the "new" downtown area of Rockville.  I'll let the pictures & videos tell most of the story...

First, the group slowly gathered and the girls got ready, occasionally stopping to watch some of the other acts while the families watched the organized chaos as it developed...

 Finally, after singing and dancing and violins and lots of other performances, some of which were amazing, it was time for the CLAPS classes to line up and take the stage!  The girls were faced with their first big public performance on a totally new stage and with new choreography -- but they adapted on the fly and performed really well.

After Miri and the younger group had finished, it was the older girls' turn...

...and then everyone came back onstage for the curtain call.

Afterwards, the girls all dealt patiently with what their parents considered an almost endless photo op, then changed out of their costumes and burned off some excess energy before lunch.

The entire group then headed a couple of blocks down the street to Peter Chang - Rockville for lunch. It's been a favorite of ours for a couple of years, able to handle our large (and sometimes extremely animated) group with aplomb while feeding us very well.

The kids love the fountain out front -- and so far no one's fallen in!

When the younglings almost outnumber the oldlings, it's prudent to keep them occupied until food arrives...

Once lunch had been devoured and everyone's aching feet had been replaced with bulging bellies, it was so nice outside that we all decided to go back to the town square and watch some of the other acts (and maybe, if we were lucky, the kids would burn off some of the energy restored by the meal).

After another round of, "is anyone going to fall into the fountain this time" (no one did), we headed back up the block...

Mom & Dad served as a rear guard for our convoy...

This fine example of new classic car rolled past as I waited to cross the street!

Back in the square by the stage -- now occupied by a school group who were pulling off a tough Broadway-style number with nary a glitch -- we all found friendly-looking spots on the benches & planters and enjoyed the sunshine & music.  Meanwhile, the kids were busy zooming back & forth and round & round, sometimes requiring a quick check when they disappeared into the multi-hued mob of other kids of various ages doing the same thing.

One of the problems Miri had been having was that, try as she might, she just couldn't get her legs to go up & over in a true cartwheel... so BFF Sarah (who's quite the gymnast) spent some time working with her.  Unfortunately, when you're in a crowded public space, it can be difficult to just get from Point A to Point B, never mind actually perform space-loving gymnastics moves...

Anyway, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end... and so it was that, lovely weather or not, all the families trickled back to the various parking garages nearby and headed home.  Even though there were a few minor "oopses" in the performance (to be expected when new choreography and changes to old choreography have to be introduced in a new performance space with dimensions different from any other used to date), all the girls were deservedly happy with how they'd done and were looking forward to performing again (perhaps with a little more polish) in the near future.

And that, dear reader, is the end of this post!  Coming up next is a celebration of a family birthday and a visit to a unique (and uniquely named) playground...