This morning the boys and I headed to Kennicott Park to experience the magical "Children's Cheering Carpet" performed by Italy’s acclaimed children’s visual theater group Teatro di Piazza D’Occasione as part of the week long Children's Humanties Festival here in Chicago. It was an incredible experience for me and the boys...we've never seen anything like it before.
When we arrived, we were instructed to remove our shoes and walk quietly into a dark room where kids and their parents sat around, what appeared to be, a big white carpet. As the performance began, a company member sitting in a light at the corner of the stage starts to tell a story about the Japanese Garden, where a boy goes on a journey to the sea and when he returns, he cannot tell his story using words so he builds it with sticks, leaves, flowers and stones. First a narrator tells us this story, then, a dancer enters the space and starts to animate areas of the surface of the carpet with brightly-coloured, active scenes from the story and bonsai trees, stones, dancing waters, and lost footprints come alive in digital images and sounds that respond to the pressure of her feet and body. Then children in the audience are invited to explore and animate the gardens themselves, experiencing the reconstructed natural environment through their own senses. We loved it and it was incredibly moving experience.
You can view a performance at: http://www.teatrofabbrichino.it/video/ccc3/ccc3.htm
The Children's Cheering Carpet will be peformed again Sunday and Wednesday and the Festival runs through May10th. The programs of the Children's Humanities Festival aren't just "kid stuff". They have been designed to be as engaging for adults as they are for young people. Children 17 and under are admitted free and adult tickets are $5. However, when you order your tickets online you can use promo code "CCM" for a $5 discount.
Find out more about the Children's Humanities Festival including schedules and ticket information at: http://www.chfestival.org