Farewell

22.08.2016

A month and a half – that’s how long it took the participants of the NucKids Project to stage a professional musical. A month and a half – that is how long it took them to become a real team and one big friendly family. A month and a half – it is that period of time, that piece of summer, which was necessary for me and all adults to fall in love with these incredibly talented, sincere, kind and simply unique children. Just a month and a half. Which, unfortunately, is over.

 It would seem that only yesterday all the participants of the project came from their nuclear cities, not even suspecting what was ahead of them. Someone arrived and was immediately ready to work, socialize and get a sea of bright impressions. Some were afraid and embarrassed at first and only after some time joined our big team. Now, these forty days have raced by and it is time for us all to part.

 The particularity of the project is such that every year, in summer, a new musical is staged, with new artists. Of course, there are children who come to the project for the second and third time, and there are those who seem to have forever connected their life with NucKids. Just take Dmitry Simonov (acting teacher) and Victor Zakalyapin (counselor), who took part in the very first project in 2009 and since then never parted with it. However, these are all exceptions rather than the rule. Each new project brings new faces, heroes and little stars. Therefore, we again have to part with insanely talented, unique and simply the best children, who became our dear ones this year.

 Farewell on the project has always been given special importance. The hosts and the administrative and creative group understand perfectly well how hard it is to part for the kids, who has become one family for this short time. Therefore, on August 20th, right after the stunning premiere of the musical, all the participants of the NucKids Project went on a small trip along the Moscow River to spend a farewell evening.

 This evening all kids had the opportunity to show all their talents once again. Our young artists seemed to have forgotten that they would have to part after one night. There was laughter on the ship and the applause did not subside for a minute. Songs, dances, acting sketches – all this and much more filled this evening, which will always remain in the kids’ memory. Most of all participants and guests of the project remembered the performance of adults. All the counselors, teachers and hosts took part in a humorous parody of the musical Imagineers of the XXI Century, demonstrating that the atmosphere that the children created also infected the adults.

However, the most important part of the farewell party was the traditional lottery, which revealed the names of the first participants of the NucKids 2017 Project. This simple campaign not only gives an opportunity to three lucky kids to pass to the next project without participation in the selection process, but also gives confidence to the rest of the children that Nuclear Kids does not stop and continues to grow. It means that we need to get ready for the auditions again! In the meantime, here are the names of three kids who have drawn the lucky ticket: Mark Vysokov from Zheleznogorsk (by the way, thanks to the lucky ticket, next year Mark will go to the project for the third time), Sharmili Noshin from Bangladesh and Oleg Petrov from St. Petersburg. We congratulate the participants and look forward to meeting them in 2017.

 The farewell party ends. The children say goodbye to the sound of fireworks and songs of the past years, which all the participants know by heart. It is now that they have time to say something very important and intimate to each other. Right now, because there will be no other opportunity. Because very soon, on August 21st, they will get on buses, planes and trains and go home, to their little nuclear towns. They will cry, we, adults, will also cry, and, it seems, the whole world will cry because this small company, this small family, having done incredible work and staged an extraordinary performance, is parting, alas.

The participants of the NucKids Project for a very short period created something that is much more powerful than any atomic reactor. That warmth and atmosphere, which were born this summer, are one and only. No one but the participants of the NucKids 2016 Project will ever be able to reproduce what they did. They are unique, infinitely talented and the most sincere and kind kids. They are simply the Nuclear Kids.

 Thank you, dear children. You made this project the way it is. It is you and no one else. In the short time I have been around you, I have learned to love and see only the best in people. You have shown me that the world is full of kindness, imagination and friendship. You reminded me how to see the world. Now I, and all adults, will look at the world through your eyes. Thank you for this summer!

“I love you NucKids! You make me happy!”

Lev Suslov,

Specially for the participants of the NucKids 2016 Project