SHOW:It's all about the music

Pop music burst out from Bret Harte Elementary School's auditorium doors at the first afternoon of its Variety Show rehearsals.

A sparse crowd of children and parents watched three kindergarten girls dance on stage as one of their mothers, Jenny Klocki, hopped around in her chair in the front row, mouthing the words to the song being blasted on the loud speakers.

"They're really cute," said kindergarten teacher Sue Casella, Bret Harte Elementary Variety Show co-coordinator.

"I don't know who gets into it more, the moms or the kids."

The annual variety show brings 87 students in 35 different acts on the stage for about two hours of entertainment.

Students rehearsed choreographed dance numbers, lip syncing, cheer leading, piano playing and singing for the Thursday performance.

There were song writers, a violin player, a gymnast, a comedienne and students performing original skits.

"Some of the kids have been in it since they were in kindergarten and now they are in fifth grade," Casella said, as 5-year-olds Kansas Klocki, Nicole Quintero and Ariana Farias shimmied on the stage.

Kansas' and Nicole's mothers were almost as animated as their daughters while they watched the girls dance about the stage making choreographed yet slightly uncoordinated moves.

The three mothers put together the dance for their daughters, but the three girls thought up the concept and picked the music.

"They picked everything," Klocki said.

"We practice every Sunday at my house, all the girls and the moms. Well, not the moms. The moms don't practice. We just helped them with the moves."

Every child who auditioned for the variety show was accepted and the purpose of the night was to boost confidence in the children and give them a chance to strut their stuff in front of their peers, Casella said.

Cindy Quintero, Nicole's mother, has been dubbed the costume designer.

Quintero said she was glad her daughter wanted to get involved in the variety show and enjoyed seeing her perform.

"I think it's a good opportunity for those kids who have talent to showcase it," she said.

Most of the acts will use pre-recorded music to dance, lip sync to or sing along with, but a few of the performers made their own.

The Killer Bees, a duo of guitar-playing fifth-graders, Bradley Wilson and Bradley Peppmuller, played and sang original songs.

"All in all, it's fun," Casella said.

"It's not American Idol, but you never know."