Another set of pics from Crazy Busy Dance Weekend (TM)
These photos are from my kid's solo, Flowing Clouds, Running Water. The first three minutes were choreographed by our amazing instructor Aloe Ao Liu, who took into consideration kiddo's height and strengths. When Aloe had to go on leave unexpectedly, Arwin stepped up to choreograph the final two minutes and to provide the feedback kiddo needed to make this an amazing solo. We are grateful to both of them for giving my kid this chance to shine.
The kiddo's height and arm length made them a good candidate to use flags (AKA praise flags), which we hadn't seen other CAAM Chinese Dance Theater dancers use before. There are other, stiffer flags that we've used, but not these flowy ones.
Kiddo has been dancing with CAAM CDT for 12 years, and is officially moving from the youth program to the adult program. Those years have been both amazing and fraught. ADHD resulted in one of the teachers flat-out ignoring my kid, which meant her skills were self-built. In recent years, kiddo's dance friends and teachers have helped correct skills that were the result of observation without feedback. My kid's love in dance is what sparked me to give it a try during the pandemic. It is something she takes great joy in (especially the performing part).
Kiddo is hoping to get to perform this solo at outreaches throughout the metro this summer, and they plan to continue with dance at CAAM CDT in the adult program for the foreseeable future. I am so lucky to get to dance with my kid (who is no longer really a child)!
Photos by Jing Zhang
