Kids Kabaret Keeps Performing!
For combined vocal and dance performance fun, there’s nothing else quite like Kids Kabaret in the South Bay.
Founders Marlene Ramirez and Susie Kiss visited us Oct. 9 to give us an update on the seven-year-old program that features both theater and dance instruc-tion and a summer camp.
"We offer 8-10 week sessions from San Diego to Sylmar!" noted Susie.
The two seemed most proud of their annual summer camp: six possible week-long sessions where kids 5-12 spend about six hours per day learning the choreography and songs for a special themed performance at week’s end.
"It’s the work we do with financially challenged kids that makes us the most happy, though," said Marlene. "We’ve provided the summer camp experience to dozens of kids through our scholarship program. I’d wager we’ve offered more than $60,000 of aid over the past six summers."
What’s really unique about their program is that Hermosa kids (along with children from other beach cities) perform in shows alongside inner city kids. "With the elimination of these pro-grams in almost every school district, especially LAUSD, there is nowhere else for kids of this age to learn the fundamentals of musical performance," noted Marlene.
The program is so popular among beach cities kids that many "age out" but still come back to serve as counselors over the summer.
"Our next goal is to find a way to take our kids abroad and pair them with local children to cre-ate a show," said Marlene.
On Tuesday, our board will discuss how we might aid this very worthwhile program.