EXPOSÉ: REHEARSAL HALL KIDS
At the final performance of Madonna’s Sticky and Sweet tour, her kids Lola and Rocco joined her on-stage to demonstrate some pretty decent dancing, deejaying and piano playing chops, while seeming to have a really good time. It got us curious about what it’s like to be Madonna’s kids or any kid who gets to regularly hang around in recording studios, or rehearsal halls.
Grown-ups who love their work tend to approach it with the same seriousness and delight that kids bring to play. Is there something about this kind of work that kids innately understand and want to get in on? We interviewed three set of parents whose children are Rehearsal Hall Kids (def: a kid who spends a lot of time in their parent’s recording studio, rehearsals, etc) to find out.
I: When Chekhov Takes Over Your House
It’s been written about in the NY Times: Every summer, married directors Melissa Kievman (theatre) and Brian Mertes (theatre and tv), invite 40 actors, designers and musicians to their home on the shores of Lake Lucille, NY for a week, to put on a play by the famous Russian playwright, Anton Chekhov. It’s a kind of Burning Man for theatre artists, where sets are cobbled together from the Kievman-Mertes’ possessions, company members camp out in tents on the lawns of the Kievman-Mertes’ neighbours, the entire lake becomes the play’s setting and the couple’s daughter, Tria Leal, accompanies her parents as they oversee rehearsals, sleeping arrangements and communal meals…
5-year-old Denayden is the offspring of b-boy Corrie Daniel and b-girl Rana Lee, known to the dance world as Benzo and Skandalus. Denayden has grown up watching both his parents do some pretty spectacular things with their bodies, as though it was the norm. Not surprisingly, Denayden has picked up some moves and has been known to bust them out at shows, stealing centre stage from his folks…
III: Friday Nights on the Radio
This summer, MC Abdominal wrote this 4-year-old-son-of- a-DJ, his own rap.
As the kid of Bunch’s own DJ Fase, Pharaoh Nation Wendt has logged a lot of time in his dad’s home based studio, accompanying his dad to gigs and generally just hanging around DJs and MCs. On Friday nights, while his mom, Jerako, is helping out at church, Pharaoh is at CIUT for Fase’s radio show. Summer at the cottage is about fishing, swimming and composing beats with Fase’s friends (who, in addition to Abdominal, include the rapper Theo3)…
