The crowd rolled slowly, the nervous laughter was apparent on all of our Globetrotters faces. I think it hit home when they started seeing the posters around town advertising their performance at CMDA (Casterbridge Music Development Academy). CMDA is an old barn that has been turned into a cute theater that holds a couple of hundred people. As the show time approached you could see the concern in their eyes. The theater filled with local people and their new friends as the show was about to begin. All of the sudden the theater went black and it was “show time”, the music started and it was time for the kids to leave it on the stage and leave it they did. They were the opening act for a musical called, Illizi, put on by students of CMDA.
Our kids stepped onto the stage and blew it out of the water. You parents would have been sooo proud, solos by Carlie, Meredith, Vonda and Gaby were incredible. I sat in awe as I watched six months of training and practice come to a culmination of perfection. The Globetrotters brought the house down. The musical that followed was engaging, exciting and added to an already perfect night. Since our kids hit South African soil they have been soaked in the culture, a rock concert, theater (serious and a musical), African dance and drumming and art, they absorbed it all like little sponges.
As the performance concluded we had a huge dinner with the cast from Illizi, a group of students from an organization called Round Square. The kids traded crafts and t-shirts and again before the night was over they had collected a new group of friends. This was a MAGIC NIGHT.