Dance Star Party
by Brad Maxwell

The girls jumped up and started swarming as soon as Joy walked into the room.  They just couldn't believe that Joy, Star of The Joy House TV Show, was there in person to dress-up and dance with the whole birthday party!  What could be more fun for a rockin' young girl?

The Joy House children's show airs Saturdays on Los Angeles cable station LA36.  The show is hosted and produced by Joy, a successful ballet and modern dance artist, who moved to Los Angeles from Australia with plans to pursue her love for dance, music and children.  Joy started producing the The Joy House children's show about two years ago when she realized there was a need for positive and fun children's dance music.

Joy got the party going by opening up a big trunk full of dress-up clothes.  The girls began sorting through the huge selection of skirts, blouses, dresses, hats, scarves and boas.  If these girls were any older, you would have thought you were witnessing a half-price sale at Macy's. Clothes were going everywhere.  "Try this on. Look at these! Oh I love this!  How does this look? Can I have that? Don't you just look wonderful in pink!"

Once the girls had adorned themselves with their ultimate outfit, the music started and the fashion show began.  The upbeat music with an easy dance rhythm got everyone moving to the music, with each girl taking a turn prancing down the runway.   Joy called out their names as they each danced out, took a turn and danced back. Then danced out again, took another turn and danced back again.  They just kept dancing and turning, dancing and turning.  "I could have danced, all night.  I could have danced all night."  I don't think they wanted to stop.

Next, Joy asked everyone to grab a pom-pom and a colorful lei. It was time for some jumping, cheering and dancing fun.  They danced to the Hula Song - one of many songs that Joy has written and performed for The Joy House TV Show.   The kids really loved dancing with the pom-poms and all the different colors made this dance my personal favorite.  But, since we are celebrating a birthday, you can bet that the next song we played was the Joy House Birthday Song.   The birthday girl was the center of attention as everyone danced around her, moving together with the special steps and moves that Joy had just taught them. For the next big dance, Joy held up some colorful boas and made a limbo line on the dance floor. Each girl took a turn seeing how low they could go.

As if the dancing wasn't enough, Joy also likes to incorporate a few games at her parties. The first game she played was "Pin the Heart on Joy".   She had a special poster hanging on the wall and each girl took a turn placing a sticker closest to the heart on the poster. Next they played "Pass the Parcel".   The kids all sat in a circle and passed a present that was wrapped with many layers.  When the music stopped, the child who was holding the package would get to open a layer. The last game was the "The Shape and Color" game.  Joy scattered little colorful felt shapes all over the floor and then called out a shape and color to find. Everyone went crazy trying to find the shape and Joy made sure that each player found theirs before moving onto the next one. At the end of the games, Joy passed out prizes to all the winners. I think they were all winners.

If you live in the Los Angeles area and have a child who loves to dance, be sure to give Joy a call for your next party, school program or to enroll in an after school dance class. Video and music recordings are also available.  Joy, Angelina Emanuele, can be reached by phone at: (323)-969 -2528 Ext.2 by email at: joy@thejoyhouse.com or on the web at: www.thejoyhouse.com.  A special thanks to Joy and all of our super talented Santa Monica kids!

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