Michael Jackson played on an iPod radio while proud parents who got off work early arrived at the Fran Russ Recreation Center in Wrightsville Beach with younger siblings in hand.

Some seemed surprised to see their once introverted children dressed in colorful wigs, neon spandex and sequins galore while others embraced the children whom the parents said have been dancing around on coffee tables in silly outfits since they could dress themselves.

These kids, ages seven to 13, met for three hours each day last week for the Wrightsville Beach Parks and Recreation Performance Club—their theme: Let Us Entertain You. Some have already had an incredible amount of practice in front of an audience while others have only had what was required of them throughout their schooling.

LJ Woodard, performance club instructor for the summer program, Wilmington School of Music and for Wrightsville Beach School, taught the kids basically how to remain themselves in front of a crowd.

Get rid of that baby voice, stand up straight, shoulders back, Woodard would tell the kids.

"Everyday we work on exercises that develop confidence and self-esteem on how to get up in front of an audience and everyone, even the most famous of people, gets nervous before a performance but there are skills to know how to handle that," Woodard explained.

Even she, a professional actor who has been filmed in movies, commercials and plays, said she gets nervous from time to time—feeling a bit rusty—and all it takes is a little warming up and practicing until it comes right back, naturally.

She said, "Whether you’re developing the next performer or actor or the next great big movie star, that’s one thing, but these are all skills, I always tell them, that they can use later in an interview, in the board room, even in front of your class just doing an oral report."

The end of the week proved the final test putting aside any shyness they had left and shooing away any butterflies fluttering around in their stomachs.

By Friday, July 24, the group had developed its own show which was performed in front of their parents, brothers and sisters—their No. 1 fans.

They began their variety show with classroom jokes; next came a new school hoedown dance and later a spoof on a well-known movie, this one they called: The Sisterhood of the Sequined Hot Pants.

"My favorite part in any show is when I look back and see the parents just smiling and hearing them laugh," Woodard said. The 20-minute show was in some ways a sort of rite-of-passage among peers into the performing world—the fancy suits, memorized lines, strange dances and all in front of a crowded room.

But the parents weren’t the only ones smiling. Obviously, the kids earned new friends and had a whole lot of fun while learning methods to channel their energy in a positive way, how to shake hands firmly and how to break the ice with a few practical jokes.

"We learn by playing and we play by acting" is the Performance Club motto that holds true for all the kids, even for LJ, who knows her job is, in actuality, mostly all play.