All parents want to share our interests with our child. For us, that meant a love for the arts.

We were thrilled for the opportunity to go see our first live show as a family recently, a special “Just Kidding” familyfriendly performance at Symphony Space in Manhattan at Broadway and 95th. The National Dance Institute: The Celebration Team “Voices of Change” was performed entirely with dance and music by children who honored individuals and communities that used their voices to affect positive change in the world.

A highlight of the show for us was the performance of John Lennon’s “Imagine” by an incredibly talented young singer. Her voice and the accompanying dancers captivated the entire audience. We were lucky to be seated just a few rows behind the live band. The intensity of the band helped keep our 2-year-old’s attention — she especially loved the drummer.

Symphony Space is a beautiful theater located on the Upper West Side with several public bus and subway train lines just steps away. The staff were welcoming and ready for their younger audience members with stroller parking and booster seats available as you head into the theater.

Our child’s first live show was a wonderful experience and we’re looking forward to seeing many more.

‘Just Kidding’ series discount offer 

To enjoy loads of more family friendly entertainment at a good price, you can receive a discount on future Just Kidding performances, most Saturdays through the end of March. Receive a $3 discount on each ticket you purchase to any “Just Kidding” event in November, December and January if you buy your tickets online and use the promo code CITYDADS.

Disclosure Note: NYC Dads Group received free admission tickets to a recent performance at Symphony Space to facilitate this review.

About the author

Xavier Rojas is an active father raising his family in New York City. Rojas is also an event organizer for NYC Dads Group planning fun meetup experiences each week.

Editor’s Note: Scroll down to learn how to receive a special discount to upcoming “Just Kidding” shows at Symphony Space.

My family and I received an invite last month to Symphony Space’s presentation of The Ugly Duckling by Lightwire Theater, part of its rotating “Just Kidding” series of family-friendly music, theater and dance shows playing Saturdays through March 2017. What we saw absolutely amazed us. The show told the familiar fairy tale in a fresh and compelling way, interweaving elements of dance, puppetry, and most importantly, light, to capture the attention of the entire audience.

As any parent of a toddler will tell you, taking children to a live show can be a risky proposition. Attention spans are short and fleeting, distractions will abound, and audience decorum will be completely non-existent.

For a show to win over a plethora of little people so completely, it needs to be top notch. That’s just what Lightwire Theater provided, along with some thrills for moms and dads as well. The performers’ innovative use of, yes, light wires outlining the constructions of their props, sets, characters and costumes, brought plenty of “oohs” and “aaahs” from everyone in attendance.

And this was just one production from one weekend. Symphony Space’s Just Kidding Series runs through the winter, providing you and your children a destination when inclement weather demands that you stay indoors.

“There are shows EVERY weekend from October through the end of March, and each one is of the highest possible quality  —  something I know you and your families expect,” Darren Critz, director of performing arts programs at Symphony Space, recently wrote in his blog.

He’s not joking. Big name children’s entertainers like Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players will appear, and Latin Grammy Winner 123 Andres as well. This along with other shows featuring the arts of dance, puppetry, and/or song.

Symphony Space is an easy commute for tri-state area families. Located on 95th and Broadway, it’s a block south of the 96th Street stop on the Red Lines. If you’ve never been, it’s a beautiful and spacious theater, fully equipped with all the amenities. This is no black box studio show, but a genuine theater-going experience. In short, the theater lives up to its name, it is a space worthy of a symphony. It has a long and storied history, and is well-known for it’s top flight productions.

So it’s very awesome that such a venue would host shows geared for children. As a parent, it’s a big relief to know that whatever show we’re going to see there, whether planned or at the last minute, is going to be of high quality and capable of producing long lasting happy memories.

Be sure to “like” and follow Symphony Space’s Just Kidding Facebook Fanpage to be kept in the loop for their upcoming gigs, and we’ll see you at the show!

‘JUST KIDDING’ SERIES DISCOUNT OFFER 

You can receive a $5 discount on each ticket you purchase to any “Just Kidding” series December and January event if you buy your tickets online and use the promo code CITYDADS. This includes Saturday, Dec. 10, show with Grammy-nominated children’s rock musician Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players, shown in the video below.

To quote Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

The NYC Dads Group members have never been busier soaking up all of the wonderful, cultural opportunities and excitement in New York City together with our children.  We wanted to freeze time for a moment to provide a small window into what we’ve been doing.  Strap on your seat belts…

What’s cooler than our squad of dads being able to munch on popcorn, cozy up with their little ones, and share some of our favorite childhood cartoon characters with them at an advanced screening of The Peanuts Movie?  Sprinkle in a little bit of 3-D magic!  Amusing and entertaining movie that delivered lots laughs for adults and kids alike.

Dads Night Out for Thursday Night Football

Numerous dads in NYC Dads Group participate in a group wide fantasy football league.  Fantasy Football brings the silliness of rooting against your favorite football team when your stud running back is playing against them, friendly banter, competition, and the opportunity for camaraderie all season long.  Even though our draft is completed online, it’s great to have all of the men come out in person to root on the aggravating New York Jets vs. Buffalo Bills.

In NYC, Big City Moms hosted an incredible night for expecting and new parents – the Biggest Baby Shower –  to kick the tires and check out the latest baby gear and products on the market from all of the well respected brands in the parent space. We always enjoy getting the inside scoop on the hottest new products and sleek technology.  There were several highlights turning heads including the comfy Baby Bjorn’s Bouncer Balance for adults (sadly, not available for sale) and BabyNes– a revolutionary option for parents who supplement is similar to a Nespresso machine for babies with a nutritional range of formula that evolves in stages as your baby grows.

Some of my favorite childhood experiences were seeing all of the Star Wars films with my family and collecting every action figure that I could get my hands on.   Lucky us, because twenty dads hit the “Star Wars and the Power of Costume” exhibit at Discovery Times Square and had the opportunity to share our passion of Star Wars wit hour kids.  The exhibit explores how the films’ costumes play an integral role in the creation of the galaxy and its many characters.  With all of the excitement and hype surrounding the upcoming movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it was an absolute treat to explore an array of 70 costumes from the first six films — including C-3PO’s metallic suit, Queen Amidala’s gowns, Princess Leia’s infamous bikini, Han Solo in Carbonite — and a few from The Force Awakens.

Weekends create valuable time for family bonding.  We were incredibly fortunate to have ten dads in our community spend the morning at one of the sleekest venues in NYC – Symphony Space – to rock out with our little ones listening to well known Kindie musician, Justin Roberts.  The cherry on top was definitely a personal meet and greet with Justin after the show.

Do you know any active dads? Encourage them to join our burgeoning community here because we have some amazing meetups in the pipeline.

Photo for Time Out Kids by Caroline Voagen Nelson

Time Out Kids: New York has a blogger series and we’re excited about the opportunity to share our guest blog post over there today!  Over the weekend, Lance and his family were fortunate to have an exclusive behind-the scenes tour of Symphony Space on the Upper West Side of Manhattan as well as be treated to an awesome glow-in-the dark production of Treasured Stories of Eric Carle by the award-winning Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia.  We look forward to checking out more of the Symphony Space “Just Kidding” family programs!

To read the entire post and visual slide show, click here: NYC Dads Group gives us the scoop on his family’s behind-the-scenes tour of Symphony Space. or read below:

One of my favorite activities as a parent is reading books with my son, Jake, 4. I get incredibly animated, use lots of silly voices and sound effects, and try my best to make the stories to come to life. Consequently, we have an extensive children’s library at home and read together frequently. Two of our favorites are classics by Eric Carle—The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?—so, it’s no surprise that our family was giddy with excitement last weekend when the award-winning Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia brought its epic production Treasured Stories by Eric Carle to the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Symphony Space on the Upper West Side.

Our family adventure started with an exclusive behind-the scenes tour of Symphony Space—a modern, sleek performing arts facility that was definitely designed with families in mind. As we traversed the different locations in the intimate theater, it was apparent that every seat in Symphony Space is a good one. Our first stop on the whirlwind tour included a discussion with the light technician for the theater. My son loves cause-effect relationships, so of course he enjoyed operating the theater’s light-control panel while sliding the various switches and changing the colors onstage, as well as turning spot lights on and off. Next stop: the stage!

On tage, we got to meet the “hungry caterpillar,” “brown bear” and members of the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, who patiently answered the exhausting interrogation by my preschooler. My son fired off countless questions about the texture of the animals, the use of colors, how the animals would talk, how the caterpillar moved, why the caterpillar wasn’t “that big,” how things were connected and why the lightbulbs onstage were purple (shhhhh…we learned that the performance was going to be glow-in the dark!).

Our final stop on the tour was lunch in the Thalia Cafe, located in the lower level of Symphony Space. Rather than take the steps like the rest of the people on the tour, our son opted for a brief detour—a ride in the elevator. This was another highlight as our son is obsessed with elevators and escalators. After taking the elevator up and down several times (our son was checking to make sure it worked properly. Disclosure: It works perfectly well), we joined the others for a kid-friendly lunch. With our stomachs satisfied, we were ready for the show.

We quickly found our seats. One important thing to note was the significant number of booster seats available at the theater entrance, so that every child, our son included, could be seated in a position where they could see above the adults. A few moments later, the lights went out and our family was taken on a mesmerizing journey into the world of Eric Carle. The glow-in-the dark production was clever, engaging, and captured the eyes and ears of my little guy for the entire show. It was a wonderful experience to see how three Eric Carle classic stories could be brought to life in such a creative way.

To our delight, after the performance, it was almost as if the Wizard of Oz stepped out from behind the curtain. The talented team from the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia spoiled the audience and did something that a good magician never does. They took questions from the children in the audience and revealed some of the tricks they used during the performance. We took these treasured secrets with us, as we are still flying high from our experience at Symphony Space. We look forward to creating future family memories with the Symphony Space “Just Kidding” family programs.

L

Special thanks to Rory at Time Out Kids and talented photographer Caroline Voagen Nelson.