Costume & Parent Information for CBA Christmas Concert 2023

CBA Christmas Concerts

CBA started Christmas concerts in its first full year (2015-2016) because Christmas is a significant time in the Christian calendar. In addition, music is an excellent way to learn and retain vocabulary, about cultures, history, values, etc. It is also a gift to children to practice performing in front of others when they are young, which will help them as adults when they have to give presentations or perform in front of others. It is the one time of the year that the whole school comes together, and the little ones can see the older students perform and vice versa. It has also been a vehicle for extended family and friends of our current families to see what CBA is about. Finally, this is the stuff that traditions and memories are made of!

Costumes

Children will feel less stressed about performing in front of others when they feel like they are playing/pretending in the concert. When dressed up as a shepherd or an animal in the stable, as a dancer with a tutu, or an elegant dude with suspenders, the children feel more confident because they assume a role. They are part of a big group that looks alike, so they will not feel like all eyes could potentially be on the one kid. The costumes reinforce the meaning of part of the vocabulary in the song, they help to make the movements (that help the children learn the song) make sense, and they lead to great photos 

Culturally, for your Latin American teacher, even the poorest of the poor love a good show and will gladly sacrifice to have their children dressed up in costume. For centuries, their indigenous and Spanish roots have included drama and dance with very elaborate costumes (dedicated artisans spending days and days in labor) for special occasions such as annual centuries- or decades-old festivals, and, in modern times for school performances. It is a joyful occasion to do something out of the routine and show the dedication that parents have to help their children celebrate that they get to be in a performance and have a special look. 

Here are some of your children’s teachers in costumes from their childhood–some of the few childhood pictures they have, which show how important these occasions were for them. One is dressed in the outfit worn by folkloric dancers of her country, and the other is dressed in their version of a Hawaiian dancer. The next photo shows a Mayan dancer in Guatemala in the costume of a deer for El Baile del Venado. This dance is believed to have originated 1,500 years ago and is found among other indigenous groups in Latin America. The last one is a dance from Spain that originated when Spain was colonizing Latin America.

Cost Considerations

Although we ask that some families purchase certain articles of clothing, we try to ensure that costume costs are low and that many, if not all, can be re-used by the children, whether in a future concert or daily life. 

CBA does not pass along the cost of other concert expenses to parents. In years past, when the students and their families fit into the sanctuary at FBC, the school hired musicians to make tracks and to play at the concert, paid for the extra cleaning afterward, and has always paid for some of the materials of the costumes. 

For the past two years, the school has had to pay for the use of the host church, the host staff’s time involved with the sound cues, and still provides some of the materials. Our staff takes extra time finding the songs that go with the theme and age group, translating some songs, typing up the lyrics, making tracks or finding videos to rehearse with, planning the different aspects such as when to rehearse, etc. 

This year, one of our moms, Rachel Erickson, has kindly volunteered to help coordinate so that parents may lend or gift articles to each other, or take advantage of our renovation, which has provided us a permanent space to store costumes once Rachel takes inventory of what we have.