Sleeping Beauty - Pantomime

Pantomime in Britain (usually called Panto) is a peculiarly British tradition of winter musical comedy theater. It has nothing to do with mime - silent performers in white-face make up walking into glass. British pantomime takes familiar fairy tales and children's stories - Cinderella, Aladdin, Dick Whittington and His Cat, Snow White - and injects a bit of music hall (British Vaudeville) sensibility, contemporary references and audience participation to create a raucous, noisy entertainment that's fun for everyone in the family.

A Very Old TraditionBritish pantomime has very deep roots, drawing on the 15th and 16th century traditions of Commedia del Arte for an assortment of stock characters and other conventions.

This pantomime is an initiative be St.Gertrude's Church in South Croydon.

The St Gertrude’s Theatre Company is a large community of like-minded people who love nothing more than to get together and perform. Our pantomime is staged every two years. The pantomime also gives the group the opportunity to make fun of themselves, sing and enjoy some great company. The successful productions try to support local charities.

I am making a brief attempt in explaining what went into a great show....

The people involved worked tirelessly and coordinated all activities seamlessly!

May 19th - Announcement of this year's pantomime!

With an announcement in May 19th for the upcoming pantomime, I spared no opportunity...and send both girls for auditions!

Auditions Flyer was distributed.

June 10th Auditions Started...

A picture of Tanya in one of the auditions!

June 30th ...The cast finalised!and the first pantomime read-through...the script was 70 pages!

July 30th - Deadlines for lines to be learnt!

Sep 5th - Back to Action...T decided to drop out because of her schedule which meant R had to continue alone....she would be the youngest!

Rehearsals and practice sessions every Sunday seemed to get longer.The adults were practising on Tuesdays and Thursdays too....

They started with 4 hrs sessions and the longest was 8 hrs...R took it all on the stride and never whined although she was  physically very tired.

Sep 30th...Flyers to promote the show was released....

So I faithfully tried telling all my friends around.....some of them looked as if  I was committing a crime .I knew it will be a great show..and some of my friends would never have gone to one of this quality!..........but the looks on the faces seemed to suggest why should we watch your daughter?Well R had just one tiny part in over three dozen members of the cast and it was indeed a fabulous show and great family entertainment!

Somewhere they lost the message that it will be  great family entertainment!

Yet about 5 families we knew did watch the show and wanted to give it a go....But the best quote during the show was a twelve year old who decided to come alone with us kept saying how she wished her parents had come along!And the ones who came along had a great evening!

The final two weeks posed the ultimate challenge.

The first week we have practice every other day ...that was ok as it was half term week...the sessions were from half past 6 to 10 in the evening as the adults had to be  back from work...The final week ...every day rehearsals and the Wednesday before the show....they actually finished rehearsals 2 minutes short of midnight!

The 4 shows were well attended by over 200 people in each...The crowd was really impressed with every show and said it had surpassed all their expectations...R said she was nervous before the first show after that she was so comfortable that it was not stressful....Each show lasted three hours .....and all in all she had a wonderful time.....She had finally clocked over 100 hrs just doing her little part for the Panto!

And we were really proud of what she had achieved....It was once in a life time experience.....to act with some West End actors and dancers.....and to have the confidence to mix with almost strange group of people for long periods of time but she did it!

Three cheer to R!....after all she is only 9....and the youngest of the cast members!

A few video links and the photos .The first and the last video are the best to watch...and they are about a minute each!
Enjoy!

http://tinyurl.com/pantos1

http://tinyurl.com/pantos2

http://tinyurl.com/panto3

http://tinyurl.com/pantos4

http://tinyurl.com/panto5

http://tinyurl.com/panto6

http://tinyurl.com/panto7

http://tinyurl.com/pantos8

http://tinyurl.com/pantos9

http://tinyurl.com/rionafinale

Photos!

http://tinyurl.com/ccwkccs

Spain in 7 days

A very succinct account of our holiday in Spain.....
Its been over two months since we came back, it has taken me so long to write....so not a great travelogue which is what I originally intended but a few snippets that I can remember!

Spain Holiday – in 7 days….

Aug 26^th 2011

We set out to Madrid….arriving at Madrid for a driving holiday. After our baggage the car rental process took much longer than expected. We first got a car which did not have a connector working for the SAT NAV system. The company had to finally change the car which took about an hour and we figure the SAT NAV we purchased for UK and Europe specifically for the trip did not function in Spain for some reason. Mind you we had tested it back in London and it would show us the way till Madrid across the seas! So we had to rent a SAT NAV which was in English so we lost out a good 3 hours in the process…

We drove to the hotel and managed to see Madrid by Cable car….It wasn’t as exciting as they described though it gave a very good view of the entire Madrid city.

http://www.english.teleferico.com/

We spent the evening at H20 mall one of the biggest as it was the closest to our hotel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:H2O_(Rivas-Vaciamadrid)_02.jpg

August 27^th 2011

R turns 9

But T was very ill and we had to make a choice of leaving her at the hotel to recuperate. We knew she can’t take the walking we needed to do in the city.

We visited the Royal Palace – Madrid although we had to wait for an hour in the queue in the hot sun.

http://www.patrimonionacional.es/

Very impressive and well worth the visit

Though I would advise taking http://www.madridcard.com/en/inicio as you could avoid all the queues. It was really worth the visit and one could spend a half day comfortably!

Prado Museum

http://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/

Well worth a visit. We were very impressed. Had a spectacular range of paintings.

We really couldn’t do much as we had to come back and be with T and on our way back we lost our way  as the bus driver didn’t tell us where we should get down!

The metro trains and buses were excellent although most information was only in Spanish.

August 28^th,2011

We went to El Escorial

A 16^th century Royal Monastery. A must visit if you are visiting Madrid .We drove there on our way to Malaga our next destination.

August 29^th,2011

We didn’t do much in Malaga other than go to nearby malls and a beach.

Regrettably I think we should have at least visited Picasso Museum.

Things we probably missed in Southern Spain

Casares - part of Malaga province, a working village with a population of ~ 4000, at a ht of ~1400 feet and ~14 km from the sunny costa del sol is a picturesque white village. A white village with real character; widely photographed picture post card village. The houses are all painted white and dotted like sugar-cubes on the slope of a hill. See it from the top or the bottom the view is fantastic!! The village is beneath a 12th century Moorish castle which currently lies in ruins but remains accessible. Views from the top are stunning. The white village on one side and windmills spread across the landscape with Rock of Gibraltar in the background on the other. As the history goes, Casares during the roman times was allowed to print its own coins. The above photo is view from below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casares,_M%C3%A1laga

This is one place I think we should have driven to which I discovered subsequently.

Ronda

http://www.andalucia.com/ronda/home.htm

Benalmadena Cable Car ....

Gibraltar

In retrospect I think we missed these places due to lack of planning as we had a long drive and was keen to visit  Barcelona.

29^th August ,2011

Alicante

We spent a night at Alicante. Enjoyed the beaches .

We visited

The Castle of Santa Barbara:

The Castle of Santa Barbara is one of the biggest mediaeval fortresses of Spain that is located in the center of Alicante. This major landmark of the city stands on the top of Mount Benacantil, which offers the most fabulous views of the city. Whilst looking at the castle from El Postiguet beach, one can see an unusual projected part in the shape of a human face known as the Moor's Head.

San Juan Beach (La Playa de San Juan):

This premier sandy beach of the city is located around 4.5 miles from central Alicante. The long and open beach has been awarded the Blue Flag of the European Union. It is the perfect spot for sunbathing and swimming with a good selection of shops, bars, cafes, restaurants and water sports on the beach.

Aug 30^th and Aug 31^st,2011

Barcelona

We headed to Barcelona.

Had three days to look around the city.

Visiting Montserrat – We dorve down but had taken a wrong turn and went down a narrow lane up the rocky  mountains. It was truly scary and the SAT NAV for some reason kept taking us forward till we reached a point and decided to return to the highway. Every turn was almost like we will fall down a steep cliff.

El Corte Jingles – a great shopping chain

Sep 1^st 2011

Aqua Brava – a great water park

Sep 2^nd ,2011

We had to drive back from Barcelona to Madrid to catch our flight after driving through Spain for 3000 kms !

All in all I think we cover a fair bit of the main attractions with the time we had at our disposal!

Blogging and me

I admire people who regularly blog and always think they are epitome of self-discipline. I have struggled with it for the last 5 years and I really want to record events of my daily life as they have been amusing and challenging in so many aspects.

These four blogs listed below make me wonder “How do they manage?”

http://justamotheroftwo.blogspot.com/

http://indigoite.blogspot.com/

http://konnotation.blogspot.com/

http://dancing-for-beginers.blogspot.com/

Self – Discipline and putting self before others is what I truly struggle with.

There is always something to do. With two daughters and almost single parenting as my better half is away about 3 weeks in a month.

I recently chatted with an old friend and we discussed our children to what all our friends …their plans, and what they were up to for holidays etc. and even some aspirations…like what our friends and family aspire to do…. and finally my friend asked me ….What are you doing?....I almost had no answer……well I have concluded I need to bring my daughters up to the best of my ability and thatsNo.1 priority. It’s a single agenda item for the next 2 years and may be till 2020!...Thats when R will go to University!

 If I am not pursuing a corporate career which I would have loved to then that’s the way forward. I have completed 7 years not being in full time employment and I can see the fruits of my endeavour in my children and as I always say Charity begins at home. But there is a lot to do and numerous things I wish I could get them to do in the limited time.

It’s not that I indulge in just watching every family opera on TV but it’s just that there is so much to do each day that I struggle every day and wonder where my time has gone .

With renewed efforts I am trying to get back to bloggin regularly again after almost 3 months....

Dance for Life 2011

Dreams come True ....if you keep dreaming.my first visit to O2 will be to watch my daughter dancing!


So  proud that my daughter's dance groups won two rounds and will be performing at O2 in London for finals!

Holiday in Amsterdam

I have been meaning to write about this for very long ....life just seemd to have its wierd twists and turns today......I am going to write a Gratitude Post daily.....so that I keep myself in the positive zone....inspired by a blog posting by a dear friend!


Here is a short summary of what we managed to do in Amsterdam!

After a near miss catching our flight to Amsterdam we were well set out to enjoy what the city has to offer.

We began with Van Gogh museum. Truly amazing works, followed by the Rijkmuseum.

We had bought the Iamsterdam card for 72 hours  for EUR 59 each so we were all set to explore as many museums as possible. We completed our Day 1 with a canal cruise!

Day 2

We set off of to Zaans Schans – loved the windmills and cheese factory!

Keukenhof – was not impressed as the hype created but we did have a good time walking around

Day 3

Royal palace Amstedam , Nemo Science Centre was highlight for the day  and shopping!

Day 4

Amsterdam Museum

Bags and Purses Museum

Canal House

Else we were back shopping till we headed early to airport ...quite  lucky to change to an earlier flight back home!