LOL is the juggling team I coach at Windham Christian Academy. It is made up of middle school students ages 12 to 14, and besides juggling they perform illusions, skits and music. The traditional premier show of their school year is at the Barron Center nursing home in Portland, Maine. This year, that opening performance was last week.
Cotton, the rabbit who performed with both me and LOL for the past eight years had passed away just week prior to our show, so it was the first show featuring our new bunny, Zeke. Zeke is a beautiful lion-maned miniature rabbit that was gifted to us by a future student's mother. Zeke is young and new to show business, but he did pretty well given the limited practice and handling time.
Overall, the show was exactly what I expected for a first show of a new school year. The kids all knew their cues, performed the magic tricks correctly, knew their lines, and behaviored perfectly. Now we need to work on showmanship: projecting when they speak, facial expressions, making props more visible to the audience etc. Every year at this time I need to remind myself we are not continuing from where we left off in June; we are starting over.
Not that it was a bad show. And a nursing home audience is always very accepting and receptive. We just have room to grow, and given this team's enthusiasm, they'll grow quickly. As it is, Caleb juggled three basketballs for the first time ever, and new students Shaylee and Hannah already juggled enough to perform three balls and three silks respectively. Andrew and Caleb handled Zeke well in his first show. Eli got a huge response from his resurrection illusion, Liam juggled an apple while he ate it, and Alex was perfect as Goliath in our David and Goliath skit.
Our next show is at a senior apartment building in South Portland. these folks will not be as easy to fool as the residents of Barron Center. Then, a few days afterwards, we have a show at a local church for their Sunday service. Will we be ready to step ot up? Of course!