You're The One That I Want

Yesterday was sadly the last rehearsal that we had before the big production. Of course, the purpose of this rehearsal was to get through the whole show with as much energy that we would have for the actual performance. Billy always comes to Special Gifts loaded with energy, so I didn’t have much to worry about.

            As a peer mentor, part of my job is to encourage my buddy to sing and dance to all the songs. The staff made it very clear that for this rehearsal they wanted everyone’s voices to be heard loudly.  Billy is really good at dancing, but sometimes forgets to sing while he dances. I always think that part of the problem could be that he doesn’t know the words to some of the songs, until yesterday when I was proven wrong.

            The last scene of the play began where everyone is on stage. Since it is the play "Grease Jr.", the song “You’re the One That I Want” comes on in this scene. For it, the whole cast is quiet in the background while Danny and Sandy sing to each other. When the chorus came on, I was focusing on showing Billy the dance moves when, to my surprise; he started belting out the whole thing! I was so shocked sitting next to his scooter that I couldn’t help but smile and sing along with him. 

            I know with this attitude and energy, Billy will be amazing in the play this weekend. I can only hope he sings and dances like this for the rest of the songs!

Jam Session

     This week was definitely a stressful one at Special Gifts. With only one more rehearsal until the play and having a two hour rehearsal only lead to antsy kids and stress. After some time, most of the kids, including my buddy, became jittery and definitely needed a break from all the chaos.
     It was just my luck that at this time, we had a large gap between scenes that we were offstage. When there is a gap like this, the classroom teachers usually pull out some games and crayons for the kids to play and color with. It just so happened that at the same time Billy had a break, so did lots of other kids in the cast. We all were told to sit in the hallway backstage where we were aloud to let off some energy.
     As I have mentioned in previous posts, Billy and his twin Joe love Justin Bieber and iPhones. With me being only four years older then them, of course I have access to both of those things. Billy asks me every week if I have my iPhone, where it is, and if I have Justin Bieber music on it. Usually I have to tell him yes I have it, but no, I can't play any music right now.

                                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kffacxfA7G4

     On Tuesday, I gave in. We were sitting in the hallway, and Billy asked me this predictable set of questions. With it being the second to last rehearsal, I figured it could be fun to play some Justin Bieber music.
     The second the song "Baby" came on, both Billy and Joe immediately began singing all of the words and dancing. I have never had so much fun in my life. Their smiles were so wide and sang all of the words in sync with the song. I couldn't have done anything else to make them this happy. Arms waving around and bouncing, the boys were having the times of their lives. This kind of happiness has kept me doing Special Gifts for so long and makes it all worth it.