A Night at the Ordway with my Nephew

“I wonder why they’re called Stomp,” a boy said while we waited for the doors for the theater to open.

“Because they stomp.” His little sister’s answer was matter-of-fact.

The usher and I had a hard time holding back our chuckles as we heard this exchange yesterday. When I took my niece to see The Lion King back in July I knew I wanted to do something similar with my nephew. I’ve seen different percussion events advertised at the different theaters in the Twin Cities, so I had my eye out for one of those. He started drum lessons over the summer and began playing percussion in band this fall, so I thought a percussion event would be the perfect thing to take him to.

I was so excited when Stomp was the first percussion show I heard about. I grew up watching videos of Stomp in band, so I knew it was likely to be a great show. And it was even better than I expected! If you haven’t heard of Stomp, they’re a percussion group that plays with all kinds of different objects: trash cans, matchboxes, newspapers…

In addition to the music, there was some awesome choreography happening on stage and it was hilarious! They didn’t speak, but there was definitely some storytelling taking place on stage, and it was absolutely incredible.

Going to these types of things always provides inspiration that I can take back to my own creative endeavors, whether it’s writing or painting. And it looks like it might have inspired my nephew as well.

When we left the theater he was drumming on himself and a bench outside. He danced up and down the sidewalk. And once we were in the car and he had a plastic water bottle I saw him “playing” it like Stomp played all the different items they used onstage. After a few minutes he looked up at me and said, “You can make a language with a water bottle.”

“If he starts sweeping and washing the dishes more so that he can make music, you’re welcome. If he dents your trash cans, it’s not my fault!”

I sent that message to my sister later that night, after the water bottle had been crushed once he was home. Seriously though, when he joins Stomp in the future, I’ll take all the thank you’s! 😉

WHAT WAS THE LAST EVENT YOU WENT TO THAT INSPIRED YOU CREATIVELY?

[Tweet “STOMP is an energetic mix of creative music, dancing and unspoken narrative that is sure to inspire!”]