This past week, our whole family piled into the car and drove into Atlanta to take our son to the UniverSoul Circus for his 14th birthday. (He picked it himself, which I loved, partly because it meant I didn’t have to be the one to come up with a brilliant idea this year.) This was our fourth time going. You’d think the novelty would wear off after four visits, but somehow it doesn’t. If anything, I think I love it more each time we go.
If you’ve never been, UniverSoul is a little hard to describe. It’s a circus, yes, with acrobats and motorcycles and the kind of stunts that make you grab the arm of whoever is sitting next to you. But it’s also a giant, joyful, foot-stomping celebration of cultures from all over the world, with music pumping through the whole tent from the very first minute. The audience doesn’t just sit and watch. We clap, we sing, we get pulled up out of our seats to dance. By the end, you truly feel like you’ve been to a party rather than a performance. Continue reading “What the Circus Taught Me About Folk Music for Kids”
