Little Communist Children

Penny goes to a local preschool. Well, she goes for half-days a handful of times a week. Although lately, it's been more like a handful of times a month. This month she has gone twice, so far.
Anyway, they had their big children's performance a couple weeks ago. There are pictures in the lobby of little preschoolers dancing, announcing stuff, and generally putting on a production. I was super excited for Penny to be able to participate this year!
So last time Penny went to school, I think it was a Monday. Her teacher pulled me aside and said, "This Friday we have our big performance. The children will sing and dance. Penny can come and watch. She hasn't come very often lately, so she's not prepared to participate. But I don't think you'll want to miss it. You should still come and watch." Then she gave me the address of the theater where they'd be performing.
I was a little bummed. I mean, who cares if Penny doesn't know all the words or all the steps? They're preschoolers! It's cute to see them on stage like deer in the headlights.
But my mood lasted only a few minutes before I realized we'd be out of town that Friday. We traveled up to Harbin that Friday (which is something I should probably log here on my blog...). So I wouldn't be able to go watch with Penny.
One of my best friends also sends her son to the same preschool. Today she told me about the little performance. Her son wasn't allowed to participate either, because he goes only slightly more often than Penny.
"They looked like little North Korean children!" she told me. "It was like there were adults INSIDE the children making them dance. It was really good and really moving, but it just wasn't right."
Our other friend's daughter did get to participate. She went to preschool enough to join in the dance rehearsals, and she said that the dance teacher yelled at them a lot.
Maybe that's why Penny would hide behind a shelf during dance rehearsals and refuse to dance with the other children.