Apparently The Wiggles is a children’s group.
The songs, the dancing, the razzamatazz are all geared at children. And sure, there was a lot of hubbub from little people when The Wiggles came to the Redland Performing Arts Centre on July 5.
But what about the adults? As I moved my arms and legs in time to the songs and sang aloud those same nursery rhyme ballads that have been sung to children for time eternal, I noticed there was a bit of the same activity from lots of people over one metre high in the audience.
In fact, had I been the same height as my grand daughter, there was no way that I wouldn’t have been up dancing along in full steam. It was just that much fun. The only thing stopping me was that I might block the view of the toddler behind me.
The great thing about a show like this is that everyone on stage is smiling. And not only that, every word is positive, every gesture inclusive. It’s not too loud, it’s not rude, it’s not too bright. It’s just good people having a good time and encouraging more good people to have a good time too. And it’s hard not to get swept along by it all.
I mean, I don’t have to clutch the soft toy or wear a matching Emma bow with my grand daughter to fit in. And God forbid if they even made Lachie purple shirts for my husband to match our grandson, but the spirit of a show like this isn’t in the merchandise. The spirit is in, well, the spirit.
And we can all use a bit of that every day.
I noticed too that being a children’s entertainer is a license to act as uninhibited as the target audience. If you want to be silly, no two year old will judge you for it. Instead, the two year old will just say things like “You’re silly, Grandma” (and mine do) and probably behave in an equally silly/ funny way. And we’ll all roll around laughing at ourselves.
How freeing is that? Imagine if boardroom discussion could be resolved this easily. Imagine a few politicians just putting on a silly hat and making us all laugh, not only at them but at ourselves.
It just makes you want to wiggle all over to think about a world where everyone is this colourful and this exciting.
