All posts by jenniferlin

Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions

Want to hear some of the newest and greatest emerging artists sing their hearts out?

The 51st Annual Metropolitan Opera National Council St. Louis District Auditions take place on Saturday, November 13, 10:30 am to 2:30 pm at Ladue Chapel. This year’s panel of judges includes soprano and Opera Theatre of St. Louis’s English Diction Coach Erie Mills.

The event is free and open to the public. Audience members are (quietly!) welcome to come and go throughout the day.

Read more about the auditions on the Metropolitan Opera’s site.

Look at this prestigious list of past winners.

Three pigs, a sheep, and a wildly happy dinosaur

We are obsessed with visiting our local library and have discovered a few great books over the last month. Here are three favorites that are perfect for your goofy preschooler and ripe for you to try out your funny voices. (Hasn’t your variety of funny voices grown since you had your kid?)

1. The Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale |  Steven Guarnaccia
This old standby is refreshed by updating the pigs’ homes to signature houses inspired by Frank Gehry, Phillip Johnson, and Frank Lloyd Wright. The drawings and fonts are smart, funny, and may introduce your child to some new lines and shapes. Perfect for all you Dwell Magazine parents.

2. Baa-Choo! |  Sarah Weeks, author and Jane Manning, illustrator
“I’ve got the ahhh but not the choo. No, no, this sneeze will never do. Can someone help me, help me please, to find the ending of my sneeze?” Follow this poor sheep’s humorous adventure as he tries to recover his sneeze’s lost “choo.” A hen, pig, and goat attempt to help in this well written “I can read” book. What makes Baa-Choo! really stand out is the rhythm and cadence of Sarah Weeks’s rhymes. Makes for fun bedtime reading, sure to make your preschooler giggle out loud.

3. Edwina: The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct |  Mo Willems
Are you a fan of Mo Willems’s Knuffle Bunny series or the Gerald the Elephant and Piggy books? You will love Edwina. Edwina is a loving, helpful, sweet, and innocent looking dinosaur who lives to play with kids, help others, and bake chocolate chip cookies for friends. No one seems to question that she is a dinosaur living in modern day life–they just seem happy to have her around. Everyone believes in Edwina’s existence except for Reginald Von Hoobie Doobie. Reginald tries to convince everyone that Edwina should be extinct but no one believes him, or even cares to listen. The only one who eventually listens to Reginald is Edwina. This is a wonderful book about believing in yourself, others, and well, the unknown.

Happy reading!

COCA Family Theatre Series


In addition to being a great arts education facility, the Center of Creative Arts (COCA), located in University City, has a fun and entertaining performing arts series with reasonable ticket prices, good programming, and a small hall (400 seats) that makes each performance easy to see and enjoy.

We saw Michael Moschen last weekend–a juggler extraordinare and MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant recipient. He demonstrated some incredible feats of physics, illusion, perception, and rhythm. The show seemed more suitable though for 8 year olds and up. Most of the preschoolers in the audience at the Sunday matinee were getting a little squirmy and bored (including my 3.5 year old–but she’ll sit through opera, go figure), although the show was billed as a performance for all ages. Be sure to ask the COCA staff if you’re unsure about age suitablity and do some of your own research about the artist or performing group before you buy tickets.

Most performances are about an hour long. Tickets range $14 to $18 each (everyone entering the theater must have a ticket). Arrive at least 10 minutes early to find parking and well, 20 minutes early if your kid needs to use the potty. The COCA parking lot fills up fast and street parking can be tough at times.

Two upcoming productions you’ll want to bring your preschooler to this season (be sure to read the original books with your child before going):


COCA Family Theatre Series 2010-2011 Season Brochure

Box Office Information

Seating tips

  • There are booster seats available in the coat room outside the theater doors.
  • Try to buy your tickets early so that you can get an aisle seat (if you anticipate that you’ll have to take your little one out for a potty break mid-performance). Each seating section does not have a center aisle (see web site for seating chart–scroll down to Founders’ Theatre seating chart), so it is at times tough to climb over a lot of people if you have to head out before the show ends.
  • The padded and cushioned seats fold up like in a lot of movie theaters. If your child is under 35 pounds, he or she probably won’t be able to lean back in their chair and not fold up! Be prepared to hold the seat down for your child throughout the performance or put them on your lap.
  • If you can, don’t buy tickets too far over to the right or left. Your neck will thank you.

Halloween family fun in St. Louis

Being somewhat new to St. Louis, I am amazed at how many Halloween events there are in the region. If you have a child under the age of five, there are many not so scary fun opportunities to choose from. Here are a few highlights:

The Magic House’s 10th Annual Not-So-Haunted House. October 22-24 and October 29-31. Kids are invited to dress up and enjoy trick or treating throughout the museum. Special visits from 15 storybook characters from Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and The Wizard of Oz will make the event a festive one. Cost: Free with regular admission ($8.75 ages 1 and above. A membership is well worth it if you come often.)

Boo at the Zoo Spooky Saturday. October 30, 9 am to 4 pm. FREE, no reservations needed. Costumes are welcomed. Trick or treating along the Pumpkin Trail, costumed characters, clowns, and entertainment.

Botanical Garden: Ghouls in the Garden. Sunday, October 24 , 1 to 4 pm. Advance reservations required by October 21. Trick or treaters enjoy treats throughout the Garden and visit the Children’s Garden. $5 non-member children (ages 3 to 12); adults included with Garden admission. Garden members are free.

Missouri History Museum Storytelling (ages 2 to 7). Friday, October 29 at 10:30 am and October 30 at 1 pm. FREE. Kids can wear their costumes and listen to not-so-scary Halloween stories.

The Butterfly House “Bootterflies” Halloween Party (ages 3 to 10). Saturday, October 23 and Sunday, October 24, 11 am to 2 pm. Non-spooky Halloween family fun, featuring bug inspired games and crafts. Kids receive game prizes and a goody bag. Admission FREE to $6.

Eckert’s Costume Carnival (Millstadt Farm location). Sunday, October 31. Any child, 12 years old or younger who comes in costume, receives FREE admission to the entertainment farm. More about all the Fall fun events available at the Millstadt Farm throughout October.

Adult Ballet Classes in St. Louis

St. Louis doesn’t seem to have a big audience for serious ballet study, and most programs are geared towards young children and high school students. If you are looking for ballet class for adults (beginners, returning students, college students coming home for a visit, etc…), here are a few good studios to try. A side note: in some cases, these web sites do not accurately represent the dance studios, so try to look beyond the design (or lack thereof).

Caston’s Ballet Academie: Located in Webster Groves, Caston has some fine teaching for beginners and intermediate dancers. I recommend the Friday at 4:30 pm class and the Saturday at 10 am class. Both are advanced beginning, maybe early intermediate levels and are attended by mainly teenagers and several adults (Saturday class). Teachers Yulia, Lynette, and Akira are wonderful with adults. The downside of this studio is that classes are quite expensive. The drop in rate for adults is $20 a class and can go down to about $16 class if you sign up for an entire semester. Pricing information.

East West Ballet: Located at the Dance Co-op St. Louis inside the Crestwood Mall, East West Ballet is run by Kay Tabisaura-Hahn, a certified Royal Academy of Dance teacher. The adult ballet classes are held on Saturday mornings starting at 9 am. The intermediate class starts at 10 am. Kay is an incredibly comprehensive teacher who is patient, creative, and uses beautiful music. These classes are very small so far, so be prepared to have individualized attention. The studio floor is fairly hard, marley on top of a rubber mat on top of cement, so be careful if you have any knee issues. East West Ballet offers a trial class for $5 and adult drop in rates are currently $8 to $12 a class depending on how many you buy at once. Schedule and pricing information.

COCA (Center of Creative Arts): COCA is the glamorous one of all (i.e. big and well funded). Located in University City, COCA is a nonprofit multidisciplinary and multicultural arts organization who provides performing and visual arts education classes, performance opportunities, professional development, a theater, exhibition space, and an outreach program for low income youth. It’s huge 60,000 square foot space gives you some expansive dance studios filled with natural light and great flooring.

Many of the adult ballet classes feature a live pianist which makes ballet so much more dynamic and time efficient (no fiddling with the CD player!). I’ve had classes with Carrie, Christine, Kathleen, and Octavio so far, and they have all presented well planned, fun, humorous, and smart classes. Carrie teaches an excellent beginning class on Sundays at 2:30 pm (I don’t think there is another Sunday ballet class in St. Louis) and Christine offers brilliant corrections in her Tuesday at 7:30 pm intermediate class. I don’t believe Kathleen is teaching adult ballet this semester, but if you do get a chance to take her class at some point, she is fabulous and challenges your memory skills and core strength. I only had one class with Octavio this past summer, but he had a wicked sense of humor and presented such thoughtful combinations with an important focus on breath and fluidity.

Classes are expensive (a recurring theme with ballet in St. Louis, a side effect of not having a large enough audience). When you become a COCA member (tax-deductible contribution) at a certain level, you can get a small discount on semester registration and do not have to pay the registration fee. So technically, classes are approximately $16 to $20 class depending on your COCA member status. They do have a drop-in card but it is reserved for professional dancers and college students, although if you ask permission you can sometimes buy a class card ($180 for 10 classes, expires in one year) in addition to already being registered for one class. They have a flexible make-up class policy.

COCA’s 2010-2011 Classes Guide

Happy dancing and keep that ice pack handy.

Art Outside 2010

In case you’re looking for something a little more intimate or local (or just don’t want to deal with all the crowds and parking issues at the St. Louis Art Fair in Clayton), be sure to check out Art Outside 2010 in Maplewood this weekend. This art fair is a juried event, organized by Schlafly Beer at their Bottleworks location, 7260 Southwest Avenue, at Manchester. The fair’s mission is to increase public knowledge and appreciation for the local art scene by creating opportunities that connect artists, musicians, performers, and the community.

Admission to the event is free. Sunday hours are noon to 4 pm.

My favorite artist booths to visit:

Sarah Giannobile, Booth #41

Teriko, Booth #43

Alicia LaChance & Amanda Verbeck, Booth #17

If you bring the kiddies, The South City Open Studio and Gallery and Yucandu Art Studio will provide art activities.


Choice September arts events in St. Louis

September ushers in some incredible arts events in St. Louis. Here are a few recommendations:

Tots on the Go

Visiting Grandma or vacationing in a city where kiddie equipment rentals are not readily available? Are you tired of just carrying too much stuff for your child when traveling?

I’ve used Tots on the Go a couple of times while traveling and the service, selection, and quality of equipment is excellent. Tots on the Go is run by a Mompreneuer Ellie Venafro. The company provides local deliveries to Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, in addition to shipping anywhere in the country. I had items shipped to our hotel and the day we were leaving, I dropped them off with a prepaid shipping label (provided by Tots on the Go) at a UPS (or sometimes the hotel will take care of the pick up for you).

You can rent equipment such as strollers, car seats, booster seats, cribs, bed rails, baby carriers, bouncy seats, toys, high chairs and more for reasonable prices.

It’s also a cheaper way to try out equipment you’ve had your eye on before buying.

Good Read: Harry and Lulu

A little girl named Lulu desperately wants a new dog. Her parents give her a stuffed toy dog instead.

“Lulu went lulu.”

Author Arthur Yorinks and Illustrator Martin Matje’s Harry and Lulu is a very funny, touching, and subtly moving story about a little girl who wants a dog, gets a toy dog, ramps up her imagination (or ours?), learns to believe, and in the end finds herself loving what may or may not be real.

Harry the dog comes to life over night and begins his journey to convince Lulu that he is real. He declines the offered dog biscuits but opts for Lulu’s pumpernickel bagel instead. They eventually end up in Paris where Harry claims he is from. While in Paris, Lulu tells Harry, “Now go away and do something… I don’t want people to think I’m hanging around with a stuffed animal.” The narrator poignantly fills us in with, “And though she could say and do all the mean things in the world to him [Harry], he still loved her and was loyal to her and, so as not to embarrass her, he walked around pretending not to know her but never once took his eyes off her.”

Sound familiar?

Harry ends up saving Lulu from an oncoming car, lands in the Seine, and Lulu rescues him–finally convinced that Harry is her dog. Whether or not he is real doesn’t really matter anymore.

I love, love, love the great dialogue in Harry and Lulu. The emphasis on certain words, the tempo, and the fun use of vocabulary will definitely delight your preschooler and you. The expressive illustrations are unique too. The artist Martin Matje depicts the body language of an opinionated little girl well, amplifying this perfect story.

Note, the phrase “Holy moly” is used in the beginning of the book. Feel free to substitute when reading aloud to your child… that is if you don’t already say it every day.