Video: Kidz Connect Saturday performance
This is a live mix recording of our show yesterday in Tampa, Amsterdam and Teen Second Life. We haven’t fixed the audio levels yet — and we will — but in the meantime, enjoy the show.
Archive for June, 2008
Jun 29
It’s starting!
Well, the show’s about to start! The dress reheasal was inspiring, really. To see the way these kids have bonded and created something so beautiful – transcending theater, really – is very moving.
If you aren’t here in the theater now, watch it live at www.kidzconnect.org/shows.
Talking back
We’re adding a Q&A “talk back” for after the show, allowing audience members to ask questions and try out Second Life by exploring with an avatar. If you watch the live online broadcast or come to the live show in the Patel Conservatory’s TECO Theater at the TBPAC, you’ll get to meet all the creators of the show, including director, choreographers, musicians and performers. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 if you procrastinate until tomorrow. Or, you can watch online for free at www.kidzconnect.org/shows.
I’ll be sad to see this all end. It’s been a blast getting to watch this whole amazing process develop into an actual show, involving technology and traditional theater. Until next year when hopefully, we’ll meet again. And in Second Life, we can meet anywhere, anytime!
Jun 25
EXCITED FOR THE SHOW!
So, here we are! 3 days ’til our Tampa show time! In the morning, we’ll
be part of Amsterdam’s show– funny we’re having two separate (yet connected) shows.
BUT! That’s how these things go- dealing with our distinct cultural situations,
and making it work in our own unique way! Now, THAT’S brilliant collaboration!
(If we do say so ourselves) haha! 
)) I am on a theater/networked performance high…!
As tired as I am from the rigorous techno-troubleshooting, rehearsing, and long days of
constant creatingI am living in a state of ultra-awareness- HYPER-reality.
I am so proud of our students, of their diligence, energy, genius creations, and beautiful
ways of working things out together every day… what a joy to watch and hopefully help along
the way! I hope that they are inspired to fly- to create on their own-
to take what bit of knowlege we can provide, and expand on it. I have learned so very much from
this gigantic, yet intimate project.
The process has brought great rewards & the show is going to be AWESOME!
Kidz Connect — Final Days
I am new to the Second Life Blog and new to even the Second Life program, but today I was able to see first hand what these students have been able to do. Have you ever played the computer game The Sims? I’m not talking Sim City or Tycoon, I’m talking about the game where you control the little virtual people in a little virtual world that you create?
Okay, now, take that image and add to it. What you’re looking at now is an island full of avatars (the little virtual people from before) who are building their own society on the island (think Swiss Family Robinson without all of the struggling for food). And then, if that is not enough, add on the fact that each of these avatars have a real life counterpart and that some of these counterparts are from right here in Tampa, FL and some of them are from Amsterdam! It really is the cross-section of techonology and really awesome internet communities.
These kids have quickly learned how to operate this complex program and have been communicating regularly across the ocean with kids doing the same thing. And *cool tidbit warning* one of the kids involved in the Amsterdam program is a popular television actor in the Netherlands. Think the Zac Efron of Amsterdam.
So, today these kids were rehearsing for their part in the Amsterdam show tomorrow and they danced and performed a song together. It was funny to watch the Amsterdam students dance to the music and then move to talk and interact with them as avatars. Talk about multiple personalities!
So, their big performance is this weekend and it will be live here at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and also streamed online. They have rehearsals, more song and dance routines, and a world all of their own.
What would I do if I had my very own virtual island? I don’t know, but I’m sure that I would begin with the question: How do I make myself taller?
Even Better Than Expected
“Better than expected.” While some of us did have some great expectations, the overall consensus expressed by students and even the creators of Kidz Connect, is that reality has surpassed even our highest expectations. “They get the vision; they’re making it their own,” says creator Josephine Dorado, adding that it’s exciting to see the project manifested and to see how engaged the students have become.
15-year-old Ivaniel had thought the workshop might be boring and he has been more than pleasantly surprised. Turns out he’s having a great time and the workshop has been anything but boring. Eight hours a day for two weeks these students been working, creating avatars and building spaces in Teen Second Life, learning songs and dance moves, getting to know each other here and video streaming and bonding with teens in Europe.
Vanessa had previously researched Teen Second Life and says she knew a bit what to expect. “It’s been fun learning what things are like over there because it’s different than here,” Vanessa says. Meghan, 13, plans to keep her avatar and stay in touch with her new friends in Holland.
Like them, the Dutch teens go to school and like to hang out with their friends, Vanessa observes. Director Lisa Powers has noticed that the teens are focusing on similarities, ties that bind them, so to speak. Then, they notice the differences, which have mostly been about styles of living, such as transportation. The Floridian youth are primarily driven from place to place, while the Dutch ride more bicycles and walk, Lisa says.
This whole cultural exchanges helps to prepare them to live together, to live in a world where we have many differences, but where fundamentally, we’re all alike. The way it’s going, these students have a real shot at making the “real” world better for us all.
“We can change the world, today, if we mean just what we say…
If we want to come together, the solution depends on whether…
We are real, let’s be real; there’s a bond that can be sealed-
Let’s be real, it is time for the world…to be real!”
–from the song, “What is Real?” written for Kidz Connect by James Crumbly
Hipping and hopping
I have another confession: I never really “got” hip hop before Kidz Connect. Rap music has never been my favorite. But listening to the kids rapping to ranney’s song yesterday has given me a new respect and enjoyment of this art form.
The students were given the lyrics and the rhythm and got to work. And let me just say, it is work. They had fun, twisting their tongues around lyrics like “correlation or causation – situation or equation; validation or negation – stimulation of each nation” – but it wasn’t easy. Ranney (itsranney.com) suggested they study their breathing and consider melody. “Great hip hop artists have a melody in their voices,” he explained. He encouraged them to use their “voices and attitudes” to stay on rhythm.
About the lyrics, I kept wondering how on earth he was able to come up with these words – words with rhythm, but with meaning so deep they kept true to our workshop theme of “What Is Real?” Words the kids can relate to, words that provoke thought and meaningful discussion.
“We are given this world as a problem to be solved
From sunrise to sunset – or is it that we revolve?
Truth is what you make it, so you better find your peace
How does one make their truth better in the Middle East?” ranney wrote and the kids chant.
From politics to fashion to sports to musical tastes, these teens have been learning about each other and life across the world. Similarities and differences in our “real” world and in our “virtual” world. As ranney wrote:
“Schools out, schools in – both are in class
They bike it home; we pump the gas
Everyone gets home; it’s much respect
All go online where we connect
No fuss, just us, virtual bliss
The world we know does not exist
It’s different world; yet it’s all the same
It’s a second life – we can rearrange
The laws, the rules – they all are ours
And we co-exist with our avatars”
“How will we do this and dance at the same time?” one student asked. Someone else suggested half the group dance and half the group sing. That’s real collaboration. They were still discussing it when it was time to break for lunch.
Check out what we’ve been up to!
Hello All!
– Just want to keep you up on some of the goings on in our day-to-day life here at Kidz Connect! My name is Rachel Bishop, an instructor for this program… I’d love you to check out our blip.tv channel- with awesome KC ’08 videos!! go to- http://kidzconnect.blip.tv/ to watch.. and remember, we’ve been at it for 2 weeks now, creating dances, songs, and Kidz Connect Island in Second Life!
So, you’ll want to scroll through all the clips to see last week’s videos too!
Thanks- hope you have a great day! — Rachel B.
Dancing with the captain of the King
While I write this, I’m watching our Kidz Connect teens learn dance moves from The Lion King’s dance captain, Jason Lewis, which is a great example of how all-encompassing this workshop is, and what an amazing experience. Some of our kids don’t consider themselves “dancers” necessarily, but they are learning to dance. Some of our kids don’t really consider themselves “singers” or “actors,” but they are learning it and most importantly, stretching their boundaries and proving to themselves that they can do this.
And while they’re experiencing all this, it’s clear to see they’re gaining confidence and making friends, possibly lifelong friendships. Two of the boys, who before last week had never met, are now writing
music together outside of class. This is creativity in action.
To help them see a professional show up close, and to watch Jason in action, the workshop participants are being treated by TBPAC to see “The Lion King.” Jason plays a hyena, and it will be interesting to hear the students’ reactions after they see the show.
Technology is truly a wonderful thing! You might wonder how much “cultural exchange” can really take place Watching the students in Amsterdam on the computer screen interact with our students in Tampa and “meeting” virtually
Just as moving has been watching our Tampa teens – several of which were inexperienced in and not too confident about dancing and singing – learn dance moves and songs by our awesome choreographers and composers, created just for this program.
What an incredible opportunity for these kids. Makes me wish I were a teenager – well, almost.
from ranney, one of our hiphop instructors…
Kidz Connect is in its second week and the kids are connecting. That’s what it is all about, peeps! As the resident cynic, I was apprehensive about a program that encourages teenagers to spend MORE time online. Not only is that not the case, but Kidz Connect is so much more than that. A group of teenagers in Amsterdam and a group of teenagers in Tampa are locked in dialogue and collaboration impacted by culture intersect and culture clash. They are brave and fun enough to just go with it and send a message to the rest of us who have reduced and/or ignored the relevance of phrases like “What’s up?” Unfortunately, I have only had two days in the camp, but between what I experience and what I am hearing, this will definitely be the beginning of a more pronounced landscape of this kind. Youth from various points on the globe coming together – not to just use the internet to meet in a virtual community; but, coming together and using all of their communities to collaborate on a more diverse and more promising world. They have not only inspired me and made my job easier as a songwriter for this venture, but they have simply inspired me. Get down youngin’s. Show us the way…
