[Editor’s note: CirKiz is hosting an event on Sunday, November 15 at Space Ibiza. For more information, visit cirkiz.com!]
Space Ibiza is not the place that would initially come to mind to host your child’s birthday party, let alone a fun family weekend. However, CirKiz, a dance party for kids, is debunking that theory by hosting events where families can come to a “stimulating sensory environment” to dance and experience the nightclub lifestyle during the day in an age-appropriate way.
CirKiz s not only a family event for participants, but for founders Jesse Sprague and Jenny Song and their children, 9-year-old DJ Alden and 7-year-old Jalen.
“We met in a nightclub 23 years ago,” Sprague says. “I worked in the nightclub business and the restaurant business my whole life, and Jenny was involved with fashion, and this is very much a part of our world. When we got older and had kids, we threw Alden’s first birthday party at Cielo…We threw this party and ended up having an incredible event where kids and parents had an equally enjoyable time. We had so many parents come up to us saying it was the best party they had ever been to.”
Inspired by the success of this party, the pair formed CirKiz and began hosting family events for 6- to 12-year-olds as well as birthday parties at Space Ibiza. The show is a way for children to get away from TV screens and mobile devices and have fun dancing in a nightclub atmosphere, Sprague and Song explain. Each one of their shows has a “stimulating sensory environment” created through lights and music where kids are encouraged to let their creativity soar.
“We consider everything that we do to be on an adult level,” Sprague says. “It is kid-centric, but we don’t really do anything that they would consider to be at a kiddie level. There are no clowns or balloon art. We highlight kids and we found that the current generation of kids is very savvy. Some of the kids we come across are achieving things that my generation did as grownups. We thought there was a need to create a show that was at their level.”
This Sunday, CirKiz is holding a four-hour family event at Space Ibiza from 1 pm to 5pm where kids and parents can come to not only dance to electronic dance music, but learn how to become DJs or dancers through basic instruction. The first hour of the event is the “educational hour” where professional dancers will give free lessons. DJ and professional instructor OP! will be giving DJ lessons. Through these lessons children will have the opportunity to come up in the booth and mix a song that will be played for the audience.
Their son, DJ Alden, will be headlining the show, with support from not only the crowd but from his parents and little brother, Jalen.
“He [Jalen] is also learning how to DJ,” Song said. “We call him the “hype man” because he loves to announce [Alden] at every event and hype the crowd up when he is DJ-ing.”
The second half of the show will be a dance party for children. They can purchase LED batons and glow-in-the-dark rings or dress themselves up with neon tape and stickers. There will also be an LED robot from The Dream Lab that engages the audience through lights and dance.
“People who hear about what we do without experiencing it put the label of ‘nightclub’ or ‘rave,’” Sprague says. “Other than the music that we play and the venue we are at, there is really nothing you can parallel to the adult world. We could have picked another event space or Chuck-E-Cheese’s, but we chose nightclubs because these clubs had a cool design, aesthetic, and sound system…The response from parents has been incredible.”
At the end of the show, there is a dance contest where children can win prizes.The prizes include a scholarship for a workshop at a dance school or one-hour private lessons at a DJ school, and are meant to encourage children to pursue their creative interests once they leave the show.
As CirKiz continues to grow, Sprague and Song hope to continue to perform “A-Class shows” to families and keep providing kids with a creative outlet.
“We know that competition for us could be right around the corner,” Sprague says. “We want to expand the idea of this type of family entertainment and adult entertainment that kids are thriving off of and give them our version of that.”
Pre-sale tickets for Sunday are sold out, but general admission tickets are $20 online or $25 at the door. Space Ibiza is located at 637 West 50th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues. CirKiz Winter Series dates will be held on 1/17, 2/7 and 3/13 at Space Ibiza. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit cirkiz.com!
