Kids and Culture : The Two Go Hand in Hand at Annual KidzArtz Festival

SAN DIEGO —  More than 60,000 children and their families are expected Saturday and Sunday for the fifth annual KidzArtz Festival throughout Balboa Park. The free event features dozens of arts activities and more than 40 performances.

Kids will have a chance to dance, paint, and make puppets, masks or sculpture. They can create all kinds of music or sing along to a variety of songs. They can learn to act and even try to conduct symphony musicians. A musical petting zoo, a museum on wheels, computer graphics instruction, and poetry writing will round out the opportunities for children to express themselves.

The art-making activities are geared to children from kindergarten age through eighth grade, according to festival founder and coordinator Elaine Krieger. Younger children are encouraged to observe, and everyone, every age, can enjoy the many performing arts acts--theater, music, dance, and storytelling--many of which are repeated.

“KidzArtz motivates and inspires an appreciation for the arts. These kids are our future. If we don’t reach them now, we won’t have art in the future,” Krieger explained. She believes KidzArtz reaches children in a positive way and can set them in a positive direction.

The festival is co-sponsored by the Ilan Lael Foundation. Each year, since Krieger started it in 1987, KidzArtz has grown. “We add about a dozen new events each year,” she said.

One of this year’s newcomers is voice-over artist Phillip Glasser, a name some children don’t recognize “until you tell them he did the voice for Fievel Mousekowitz in the film ‘An American Tail,” ’ Krieger said. At 13, Glasser is also an accomplished actor and singer. He will give four performances during the festival.

Also singing will be Joanie Bartels, winner of two Parents’ Choice awards for her recordings, and folk singer Sam Hinton.

The North County Civic Youth Orchestra will accompany several young virtuoso musicians, including 16-year-old cellist Felix Fan and 13-year-old soprano Christopher Warren Taber. Other musical events include concerts by pianist Hiroko Kunitake, the Colors of Love, an ethnically diverse children’s chorus from Los Angeles, and the Tijuana Children’s Choir, which sings in Latin.

“Alice in Wonderland” and “Carnival of the Animals,” full-costume ballets of San Diego’s American Ballet Ensemble, will be performed both days. “Alice,” which will have its premiere, features 13-year-old Jessica Geis in the title role, with more than a dozen dancers aged 10 to 17 performing as Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, and other characters from Lewis Carroll’s whimsical story.

Linda Yourth, American Ballet’s director, created the dance as part of the company’s outreach program to inspire student curiosity about ballet. “ ‘Alice’ is a story ballet, a fantasy, set to the music of (Edward) Elgar, music that kids can relate to. It’s a great way to hook kids into dance, (to show) that it’s not all ‘Swan Lake.’ This fits with what KidzArtz is all about.”

“Carnival of the Animals” is set to Camille Saint-Saens’ music by the same name, “the classic version with Ogden Nash’s sarcastic verses,” Yourth said. She encouraged her students to capture the essence of the animals in the music and create a dance. “They did it on their own--concept, costumes, props, everything.”

Like many other arts groups, the ensemble has participated in KidzArtz from the beginning. “KidzArtz is kids for kids,” Yourth said. “It gives young audiences a chance to see what can be done at their age, how excellent they can become in a certain field.”

Dance is widely represented throughout the weekend. The dramatic colors, sounds, and footwork of Spanish flamenco will be performed by Fiesta Flamenca. Contemporary dance choreographers Betzi Roe and Susan Wingfield will guide children through their own self-expressions using movement.

Clacking bamboo poles and the sounds of gongs will accompany an Islamic-style court dance of the Samahan Philippine Dancers, who will perform in authentic costumes. San Diego’s California Ballet will present excerpts from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and an array of dance styles by the ballet’s junior company.

City Moves!, the community dance project of the San Diego Foundation of the Arts, will create an “interactive dance experience,” at the Organ Pavilion, led by City Moves! director William Conrow. Following a dance demonstration, choreographers will lead an audience group dance. For a festival finale each day, kids and parents can come onstage and dance in a follow-the-leader style improvisation, Conrow said. “Everybody will feel they are giving a gift to the whole group.”

Krieger offered some ideas on how to make the most of the festival: Come early. Wear comfortable shoes. Bring a picnic lunch.

“Don’t get stuck in lines,” she added. “There’s so much to see and do, more than you could do in one day.”

“It’s a magical experience, glorious, with children everywhere, all over the park. The responses we’ve gotten to this event (in past years) are enthusiastic and heart-warming. Each year feels like the best, but this year is the best yet.”

KidzArtz runs from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The programs are situated throughout Balboa Park. Pick up a map and schedule at one of the four information booths in the Organ Pavilion area. For a voice mail recording with more information, call 685-3685.