KCMETROPOLIS - Whoop-Dee-Doo Makes for Great Times
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George Michael and studio audience 'jitter bug' at Whoop Dee Doo live Filming #1
What they wrote:
Whoop De Doo LIVE FILMING #1
Whoop Dee Doo’s recent Halloween and prop making/dance parties were all leading up to this Saturday’s LIVE FILMING at la Esquina. Featuring a mix of dancing, community acts, performances, games, skits, and contests, Whoop Dee Doo is a kid-friendly faux public access television show that highlights a diverse array of participants from the Kansas City community and engages audiences of all ages and cultural backgrounds.
What happens when a four year old and a Mexican biker create a high school backdrop together? What is the sound of an opera singer backed by the haunting howls of a six-year-old bloodhound? What does it look like when a teenage Christian fiddler, a drag queen, and members of the Midwest Cloggers create a giant wedding cake centerpiece, then dance their hearts out to oldies music all night? Find out! An unexpected convergence of talents and sensibilities informs the aesthetic basis of every aspect of the show, which is directed by Jaimie Warren and Matt Roche with assistance from hundreds of community participants and volunteers.
My Perspective:
The Whoop Dee Doo Live Filming #1 at La Esquina was a collaboration of kids and adults from all walks of life in the form of a TV show. A stage concocted from pastel Styrofoam rectangles and colorful sheets and lights and really, whatever combined to make what I first saw as an old rickety chunky funky weird set transform into something magical and completely in-sync with what I perceive to be the Kansas City zeitgeist. Sorry for the terminology.
Indeed, people of all shapes and sizes and beliefs and hues got together, oh and did I mention all ages?
No seriously. though I had to be off to another event, I think I got the spirit of what was going on, especially when a George Michael impersonator did 'Jitter Bug' with kids from maybe age seven to age 43 getting up to dance on the stage with "him". It was high energy and packed with fun.
After this act got up a person decorated in a collection of used snack-pak bags got up and announced that the next act would be some classical and Bollywood dances from India. Indeed, (of course after being introduced by a very laconic and not-so-scary werewolf) a passel of kids ranging from 5 to 15 (maybe) got up to dance to about four pieces.
All the performers were really into it, even as some had to watch on of the others to know what was going on. The studio audience attendees in the tent-like structure were thrilled and clearly I saw it dawn upon the faces of the adults seeing the real community import of the event. The kids of course were clued in from the get go.
As a first impression, knowing that Whoop Dee Doo will be filming again, maybe once a month, I would unhesitatingly say, Enjoy! Adults with kids, kid-like adults and kids who happen to be maybe running away from home that day should all make a point of coming to the next Whoop Dee Doo.
REVIEW: Whoop Dee Doo Live Filming #1
Presented by: Charlotte Street Foundation
Ran November 15.
La Esquina
1000 W 25th St, Kansas City, MO
http://www.charlottestreet.org
http://www.myspace.com/whoopdeedookansascity
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