For the children rehearsing for pantos this Christmas season, the aim is to have fun, and there's a strict 'no pushy parents' policy, writes Kate Holmquist
They have megawatt smiles that could burn through ice and so much energy it's exhausting just watching them. But, after a three-hour rehearsal in a hot basement dance studio at the Hollywood Academy off O'Connell Street in Dublin, they don't even break a sweat. These 16 children, aged six to 14, absorb complicated dance routines so fast that the adult performers can hardly keep up. For the children who perform in Christmas pantos, December is the month to shine.
And nobody glows more than Charlene Tucker (6), who lives on Pearse Street and has been studying dance since the age of four. Being interviewed by a journalist is merely another of life's intriguing complications for the unflappable Charlene, who says that rehearsing for the Anthem Productions Lyons Tea Sleeping Beauty, which runs in Liberty Hall from December 15th, is "great fun". While Charlene dances her little heart out in her black leotard with silver sequins, her mother, Sonya Tucker, studies for her childcare exams in an office upstairs at the academy, as focused on her own goals as Charlene is on hers.
Charlene's dream is to be a dance teacher when she grows up. Anyone who meets her could be forgiven for thinking she may go a lot further than that.
Sonya seems circumspect about her precocious daughter: "I put her in the local dance school and after two years she moved over here. The academy is her home and her family. She cries when it's time to leave." Definitely not a stage parent, Sonya isn't quite embarrassed at the attention Charlene is receiving (including an appearance on The Late Late Toy Show), but you can tell that she won't let anything go to Charlene's head.
So where are they, then, these stage mothers and fathers who want their daughters to be the next Britney Spears? Nowhere near the Liberty Hall panto, that's for sure. Alan Hughes, better known as Sammy Sausages at this time of year, says that pushy stage parents are discreetly discouraged: "Stage parents ring constantly to ask, 'What lines does my child have? What costume is my child wearing? Why wasn't my child interviewed when the journalist came in?' You get them pushing, pushing, pushing. You don't use their kids again. You just want kids who enjoy it and love it. They bounce onto the stage and get so much fun out of doing it, even though it's hard work. While other kids are playing with their toys on December 26th, these kids are coming in to do two shows a day. Their parents are great."
The children work in two groups of eight and each group does two shows a day on alternate days, so that they can spend one day working and one day resting.
Hughes, who is starring in his 15th consecutive panto this year, says the company chooses the same children again and again. "You can see them blossom over the years. They come in for their first panto all shy and standing in the corner, then as they grow in confidence you see them giving it all they've got . . . It's a great outlet for them and the kids are all the best of friends. You should see them coming in on Stephen's Day with their electronic gizmos and in their fur coats and make-up and so much glitter. We could definitely use a bit less glitter."
The children come "from inner-city flats and from mansions in Meath, but they're all equal on the stage" and form close friendships, he says. "I genuinely believe that we have the best kids of any panto. They're brilliant to work with."
ERICA KELLY (10), from Tallaght, is taking part in her eighth panto, having started dancing at age three. She takes classes in a variety of dance styles seven days a week and has competed internationally in ballroom competitions that require €800 dresses imported from Russia. Her grandmother, Breda Dowling (75), was a tap dancer at the Gaiety in the vaudeville days and both Erica's parents are in show business. Her father, Jerry Kelly plays in a band, Who's Missing, and her mother Betty teaches Irish dancing. The couple invest €3,000 per year on dance classes alone.
"Increased confidence" is the main benefit of performing for Erica, says her father. "She has no problem going into a roomful of people and speaking. With these kids, the bigger the crowd, the better they perform. And with computers and the internet, it's very healthy to counteract that with dance in a safe and healthy environment."
Tracey Martin, choreographer of Sleeping Beauty, has been doing the annual Liberty Hall panto for 10 years. She also runs Kidkast stage school, which operates in Drogheda, Swords and Hartstown. Every year, the stage schools present children for the panto auditions, and while the parents may not know it, they get the once-over too. Martin says she has her own "gentle ways and means" of dealing with pushy parents, but refuses to divulge her secrets. "If I did that, my methods wouldn't work any more," she says, smiling.
"The main goal is having fun, although some of the kids are seriously thinking of a career in dancing, and my job is to have a high enough standard of teaching so that they can pursue a career if they want to. I drive home the point that it's all about basic technique, whatever dance style you want to do."
A mother of two children, Beth (eight) and Sean (six) - who dance just for fun - Martin says the Liberty Hall panto has a special, down-to-earth quality: "It's very warm and intimate and there is a lot of interaction between the audience and the performers." Ellen Robinson (nine), from Rathbeggan, Co Meath, has been doing ballet and tap since she was three. "This is more fun than I expected," she says after a hard Sunday afternoon's rehearsals. Her mother, Mary Robinson, says: "It's a great experience and a big challenge for her. It's really something she wants to learn and it's not a hardship. I have no co-ordination myself, so I don't know where she got the talent."
Fabia Marsella (11), from Drogheda, is doing her fourth panto this year and takes dances classes four days a week. Her mother, Pauline Marsella, uses Yves Saint Laurent make-up for Fabia because poor quality make-up makes her skin break out. The mothers do the children's make-up, which is optional, although all the girls wear it because the greasepaint is part of the fun. "For me, the value is just in watching the enjoyment she gets from it," says Pauline. "She's singing and dancing day and night - that's her. For parents, if you don't have the commitment, forget about it. You have to get your child to rehearsals on time and make sure there's not too much other stuff going on in their lives to distract them." Driving Fabia to rehearsals every weekend isn't a hardship: "For me it's an excuse to go shopping. You have no kids hanging out of you and it's great to have 'mommy time'."
For a few of the young dancers, the panto is the first step towards a grown-up career. Karen McLoughlin put her daughter Nikita (14) into dance classes when she was three "because she was so wild". Nikita hasn't looked back, and as well as acting in panto, she has been given a contract with a modelling and casting agency. Karen is also manager of the Hollywood Academy, where Nikita has a full scholarship in dancing, acting, singing and piano.
"Seeing a smile on their face is the most important thing. It's about having fun and it gives them confidence," says Karen.
The academy allows parents to pay by the week, and the dancing lessons go on from noon to 6pm on Saturdays - a bargain for €25. "Parents know that their kids are safe and away from negative influences," Karen says.
Conor Geraghty (13), from Palmerstown, Co Dublin, also wants to be a professional dancer. He says that the difference between the children and the adult performers in the panto is that "we kids learn faster. I have to remind (the adults) of the steps all the time!" Sleeping Beauty was written by playwright and songwriter Karl Broderick and is being directed by Karl Harpur. Along with Hughes, the cast includes Joe Conlan as Buffy, Hazel O'Connor as The Killer Queen and former Miss Ireland Aoife Cogan as the beauty, Queen Victoria Beckingham. A number of shows are already sold out.
• Sleeping Beautyis at Liberty Hall Theatre, Eden Quay, Dublin from Dec 15. Bookings at www.centralticketbureau.com, 01-8721122