The Children’s Palace Presents…

By Rachel

On Saturday morning Charlie and I went to the Foreign Language Student Concert at the Children’s Palace. This was a performance of the English, Japanese, Chinese and German students. It was structured around a folktale about a mean cat, but different scenes were in different languages, so it was sort of hard to follow. Then it turned into a song and dance revue. My favorite moment was a hip hop dance on one side of the stage while furry animals tried to put out a fire in the mean cat’s house.

I spent last week checking pronunciation for the English performers, but they were well prepared. (And my subtle suggestions, such a uu-buv, rather than ay-buv went unheeded.) There was “This Old Man,” “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider,” “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” and a song I will admit a great weakness for, the Titanic theme song. (It brought me back to Edna’s 8’s/9’s at Bank Street who would often choose it for their end of the day song, crooning with such spirit you wanted to cry.)

Mongolians have a predisposition toward spectacle and students are taught how to talk in a sing-songy stage voice that sounds a little Charlie Brown’s teacher giving the State of the Union address. They also know that all costumes are improved by adding little animal ears.

“If You’re Happy and You Know It” was the grand finale, followed by medals given to special students. We were told that all classes do an end of the year concert, and we requested a schedule so we can go see the dance and music concerts coming up. We are fools for the morin khor.