Big dreams for Zoo Boogie

Three years ago, my wife and I took our two children to a live Wiggles show at Auckland’s vector arena.

I had experienced for myself and frequently seen the influence of music at work, but never before had I witnessed the impact that music and entertainment could have on young children like I did that day.

I was astounded as I sat there and witnessed the influence this brand of music and entertainment had on all the children. I was even more gobsmacked to see nearly every mum, dad and grandparent bopping and singing along as well. There was no escaping the sense of fun and enjoyment that filled the arena.

It was at that moment that I had one of those ‘light-bulb-above-the-head’ experiences. The rest of the concert was a bit of blur to be honest, as I started to ponder …

What if there was a brand like The Wiggles that was equally influential but with a deeper purpose?

What if, at the heart of its music was an underlying message that would help shape the character of our children?

What if this group produced and performed music that taught children at a young age to put the needs of others before their own, to lend a hand, to be faithful, good, kind, patient, and to exercise self-control?

I began to dream big that day. I began to believe that a group like this could help shape a future generation of parents that would not tolerate violence in the home or allow children to live in extreme poverty.

God placed this vision on my heart, which led to establishing the Zoo Boogie Children’s Trust. Its mission? To strengthen families and communities by shaping the character of young children.

Within a year, I had walked away from my desk job to take on a ministry role with The Salvation Army East City Corps, part of which included leading our Mainly Music group. Shortly after that, I began performing as a professional clown and found myself entertaining hundreds of young children in Christchurch, spreading a little joy to primary school children as part of The Salvation Army’s Canterbury Earthquake response. And it wasn’t long after, that I found myself presenting to large groups of primary school children for the Churches Education Commission, presenting Christian religious education in a fun and entertaining way—all in the knowledge that God set up these opportunities to help prepare me and hone my skills as a children’s entertainer so I could pursue the Zoo Boogie dream.

If you had told me three or four years ago that, at the age of 34, I would be a children’s entertainer, I would have laughed it off. But God, with his wonderfully creative sense of humour, knew better—and he opened the right doors and presented the right opportunities. I walked through those doors and took those opportunities only because I believe so strongly in this big dream, which I believe God has called me to.

So I am happy to say that I am a dreamer, a children’s entertainer. And Dale the Zoo Keeper! And I am absolutely delighted to present Zoo Boogie to you …

Zoo Boogie is an entertainment group primarily for children aged 2-7 years. It was developed out of the desire to create and present entertaining music and loveable characters to teach and demonstrate specific Christian values and principals that will help shape strong character in young children. After all, isn’t a strong character the greatest legacy we can leave our children? Helping them to succeed in life, helping them to care about and meet the needs of others, and helping them to lead their own families and communities well in the future?

‘The Christian Wiggles’ we are not. If we were to revert to this as a default position, it wouldn’t accurately communicate what Zoo Boogie is about or who we are trying to reach. It’s important to us and critical to our mission that Zoo Boogie is accessible and palatable to all families, not just Christian families—and we want to ensure that we remain true to this vision.

Through the support of East City Corps, and with assistance from The Salvation Army’s Unleashing Fund and the Strategic Mission Fund, the Zoo Boogie concept was brought to life and launched with our first live performance at East City in June, which was followed by the release of our debut album and Zoo Boogie website.

As hoped, children young and old, along with parents and grandparents, have taken to Zoo Boogie. The feedback we’ve had in relation to the album and our performances has been incredible. Children can’t seem to get enough of the songs and have really taken to the Zoo Boogie characters. After all, they are just like giant soft toys!

While the early signs are extremely positive, we have a lot of work ahead of us. There are some exciting opportunities on the horizon and Zoo Boogie will continue performing as much as possible while producing music and other products such as DVDs and merchandise. We also have our sights set on producing a Zoo Boogie television show in the future.

Yes, it’s a big dream, and that’s why Zo Boogie is committed to ensuring that our products and performances are of an exceptionally high standard to help position Zoo Boogie as a leader in the field of children’s entertainment. The bigger the platform we have to share the message from, the greater its impact and the closer we will come to achieving our big dream.

Blair Dale
Zoo Boogie Founder/Director

To learn more about Zoo Boogie, go to www.zooboogie.com