Beautiful
and Elegant puppetry!
My girls were mesmerized by “Ajijaak on Turtle Island,” now playing at the New Victory Theater. If only I had been able to capture the amazement in their eyes and could show you their jaws dropped to the floor in wonder. They loved the puppets: the Turtle, the Whooping Cranes, the Buffalo, and the music! As a bonus, there was a song they taught us, a sure fire way into my kiddos hearts.
We are just beginning our theater indoctrination and what a great way to start.
The story looks to explain the Chaos created by Man’s mistreatment of
Told against the backdrop of an Indigenous/First Nations people, pulling from symbolism of deer, coyotes, buffalo – “the two-legged, four-legged, winged rooted and finned” We follow a young Whooping Crane, Ajijaak , as she searches along the migration path to reunited with her parents after a fire and other environmental catastrophes separate them. As Ajijaak migrates south along Turtle Island (North America) she learns about the past and seeks a better future.
Perhaps my young theatergoers – Aviv and Almah (aged 6 ½) described it best:
“I like the song that they taught us and the music”… “even when they play the drums when like a scary part happened”
“It’s a story about a bird who loses her parents and has scary things happen. But she meets good friends and they help her and in the end she find her parents.”
“I give it a rating between one and 10. I think it is 10.”
“I liked the music and the dancing and that some of the dancers came from the audience and not from the stage.”
Disclosure: Lisa Gerstel was provided with complimentary tickets to facilitate this review. All opinions are her own.
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