by Lauren Warnecke, MS

Choreographing for children’s musical theatre isn’t my dream.

I can’t sing. I never liked jazz class. I’m an ex-bunhead turned squishy modern dancer… musical theatre just isn’t my bag.

Almost ten years ago I got a job at a Jewish Community Center north of the city teaching dance to little kids, and part of the gig happened to include a choreographic residency with their youth theatre company.  With a hefty season of three full productions and eight weeks of summer camp, I went from Isadorable to queen of the jazz square – and quickly.

Sometimes you have to let go of your artistic integrity just a little bit when you’re working with kids.  I often reflect on all the letting go, the undoing, the molding, the careful nurturing of the seed that would later become the artist I am today.

But then I remember that kids are missing part of their brains and it makes the jazz squares a little easier to swallow. [Read more…]