In a patio behind the stage on a recent night, little costumed geishas from woodblock prints mingled with figures from Meissen porcelain and a naked golden sculpture shielded by a “modesty panel” as the models waited for their turn to go on. Some children whiled away the time by playing board games.
Among them was Blake Del Rey, seven, who poses for his minute and a half with his head tilted back in El Jaleo. A budding actor who has appeared in musicals around Orange County, Blake is a newcomer to the pageant and still working hard on the not-moving part.
“You're only allowed to blink, but I've been breathing a lot,” he said. “Now I'm trying to breathe with my nose.”
Adults have their own challenges trying to stay put. “If I start thinking about the pose, sometimes my leg cramps up and I start to shake,” Ziegler said. “Or my arm hurts, and the more I think about it, the more it hurts. I try to think about something that's going on at work.”
Positioned as a mirror image of him, Shirkani-Monson said she sometimes drifts away and thinks about things she needs to do the next day, like buying tomato sauce at the grocery story. “I snap back and say, I'm in the middle of 2,500 people — I hope I didn't move.”
Many of the volunteers say they are already looking forward to next year and 2008 when the show and its accompanying arts festival will celebrate their 75th anniversaries. The concept for the pageant has already being chosen: Young at Heart.
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