5
Phil Spring 25 months ago
Dimitri was hired to put on a performance for a group of children at a big international organization where my wife works, here in Geneva. As soon as the show started my two girls were both instantly mesmerized by Dimitri, who began his performance with magic tricks and comedy. Since my kids were totally immersed in Dimitri's show, I was focusing my attention on a conversation I was having with other parents at the event. Every now and then, however, while I was speaking with the other parents, our conversation would suddenly get cut short. In mid-sentence we'd stop talking and we'd turn around, in a kind of awe, to look at Dimitri and the children. After making a silk bird magically appear from a hat, Dimitri explained to the kids that birds are beautiful because they are a symbol of liberty. When talking about music, Dimitri told the kids that with music you can transmit emotions; a sad person who listens to a happy song becomes happy, and so in that way, music is itself like a kind of magic (he said this in a more elegant way than me!). These kinds of beautiful statements were a natural and recurring part of Dimitri's performance, and the special rapport he had created with the kids. I kept thinking of the old French film, Les Enfants du Paradis, with the mime, Baptiste. Dimitri was like Baptiste; behind the makeup and the clown clothes, this was a man of intelligence, sensitivity, and beautiful, life-affirming ideals. And the children, with their open and optimistic minds, they just loved him - the connection which Dimitri had formed with them was enduring and real. After the magic act was over Dimitri distributed various kinds of musical instruments to all of the children at the event. The musical instruments kept coming out of his suitcase in the same way an entire troupe of clowns climbs out of a tiny car at the circus. The musical symphony which Dimitri directed included moments of silence, and once again, as if by magic, Dimitri was able to get an entire group of children to stop playing, all at the exact same time. It would be difficult to achieve the same result with adults, but here Dimitri was doing it with a bunch of excited little kids. I couldn't believe it. After the musical performance was over, and all the instruments had disappeared into what seemed like a bottomless suitcase, Dimitri constructed a full puppet theatre. He then disappeared inside the theater and proceeded to put on a puppet show which included I believe 5 different puppets, each having its own distinct voice and personality. The show was interactive, participatory, and at times almost uncontrollably funny. At key points of this performance the puppets would speak directly with the children; they'd ask the children for advice, or ask them where one of the other puppets had gone. This led to moments of hysterical comedy, with little children screaming at the puppets, jumping up and down, and basically squealing in innocent joy. After the puppet show was over, Dimitri led the children in a dance performance, which was accompanied by fun, popular songs that many of the kids knew. I told one of the parents I was speaking with that Dimitri was doing all of us parents a big favor, because after this show, our kids would go to bed early, and sleep well - and our own two girls did just that. But Dimitri's show wasn't just an evening of entertainment for the kids. Dimitri's show was a tender, special, fun, intensely human event, the kind of rare experience you want so much for your children to have, an experience which taps into the very best of what children carry inside - their innocence, their creativity, their sense of humor... I highly recommend engaging Dimitri to perform his entertaining and heart-warming show for your own children.
