With Kids

Photos by David Grist. In this picture: (front left to right) are Maureen Rojewski, Alyssa Forsyth, Alice Ribeiro, Miki Perdikakis and (back left to right) Gabriella Torgeson, Katie Knox and Kaleel Van Voorhees.  

Why grow up when you can spend an hour in Never-Never Land with pirates, Lost Boys, epic battles, and a fairy? “Peter Pan, Adventures in Neverland” is a ballet in one act offers all of this and more, later this month at Bath Auditorium.

Image: Hannah Community Center, courtesy City of East Lansing

This week, an ELi reader asked us to investigate the usage of the Hannah Community Center. Our reader was particularly interested in the question of whether City-run programs are given adequate priority over external groups that use Hannah. (Hannah is getting busy enough that space is sometimes tight, including in the parking lot.)

PHOTO (L to R: Sarah Hoogstraten, Zoe Stroupe (front) Beatriz Brockey, Samantha Dickens)

On Friday, February 6 the East Lansing-based All-of-us Express Children’s Theatre will be performing their winter show The Wind in the Willows. The show will be directed by East Lansing resident and AECT alum Morgan Lees and runs February 6-7 and the following weekend February 13-14.

Elmo, Big Bird, and their new friend from China, Hu Hu Zhu, will help MSU’s Abrams Planetarium kick off its Spring semester this coming Saturday, January 11, at 2:30pm. In “One World, One Sky”, the three friends take a voyage of the imagination to the moon and back in a show designed especially for families and children of preschool and early elementary ages.

“Nutcracker in a Nutshell 2014” takes the stage this weekend at the East Lansing Hannah Community Center in two performances that are free and open to the public.  Approximately 60 dancers aged four to twelve years from East Lansing, Okemos, Lansing, Haslett, and Dewitt will tell the story of the Nutcracker through creative movement, choreographed by dance professional Mary Jane Gamble. 

We may lack a festive blanket of snow in East Lansing, but thanks to the Lansing Jaycees we can still send an army of snowmen to make the season bright for neighbors, friends, family or co-workers.

The Lansing Jaycees is a group of 21-40 year-olds focused on developing leadership skills through community involvement. The group has been in Lansing since 1929, and they are involved in a variety of events “that help to promote our Jaycee concept of ‘Leadership Training through Community Involvement.’” Says Lansing Jaycees Member Angela Fossi.

The East Lansing High School (ELHS) Arts’ Programs will host the 32^nd annual Collage Concert this Saturday, December 13, at 7:30 pm in the ELHS Center for the Performing Arts. The Collage Coffeehouse and Art Show will be tomorrow, Friday, December 12, from 7-9 pm in the ELHS Student Union and the Collage Art Exhibit will also be open from 6:45-7:30 pm prior to Saturday’s concert as well. Admission is free but donations are accepted.

Image of Geminid meteor courtesy of NASA

Saturday is a big day for the “Gear Girls”. This local, all-girl competitive robotics team is geared up to compete November 8 in a Regional Qualifier against 29 other teams for the chance to go on to the state First Lego League competition.