This sensory-friendly performance – a first for the Bermuda Festival – was a safe, magical free-for-all party for the young, the very young and their mums and dads.

Director Cindy Campbell invited us all to all join in and “wiggle and giggle” and it was an absolute delight to see the enthusiasm of all the children as they spontaneously erupted into dance around us. The ingredients of Small Island, Big Smiles, a well constructed, gloriously chaotic show, came in three parts.

First, the performers Dan and Claudia Zanes. They are both excellent musicians. Dan played the 12-string guitar with light, percussive sound and enhanced melodic timbre because of the double stringing.

Occasionally he would supply melody on harmonica with bluesy riffs. His singing voice is a gentle, clear tenor. Claudia, a graduate of Boston’s Berklee College of Music, accompanied him on tambourine but gave us samples of trombone, flute and Chinese block as appropriate sound effects. Her voice is a trained mid-range contralto – more gospel than operatic but absolutely clear and hugely dynamic.

Next, the repertory they chose to perform was dual-purpose: it was supportive of their musical goal of creating relaxation and at the same time easy enough for the audience to quickly learn and join in.

To help us out, the lyrics of our parts were posted on the stage screen. The songs ranged from the quirky (Walking Down Coney Island Avenue), to the hysterically silly (The Tickling Song); there were historic civil rights anthems such as John Lewis’s Let Love Be Your Guide and traditional, anonymous gospel tunes like This Little Light of Mine.

There were also the Zanes’ own compositions such as Night Train 57 and Hop Up, Ladies, and finally some international folk songs which they reinterpreted to interesting effect.

Claudia sang Sail Away Ladies using baffling skat words and Dan, with his trademark Panama hat, joined in with the upbeat, slightly subversive Haitian song Panama Me Tombe. The pace of the concert varied subtly throughout in order for young ones to catch their breath and ended with the formation of a human tunnel to the song Rock Island Line.

Finally the Zanes gave tribute to our own Talbot brothers by singing their Sunset in Bermuda.

The third ingredient was our youthful audience. Throughout the concert the young performers remained energetic, inventive, vocal – and what a 1950s parent would call “completely out of hand”. There was not one tear shed. There were no collisions. Festival staff intervened quietly and unobtrusively to give guiding hands when necessary. The very little ones had fun exploring the auditorium and making seats go up and down; the older ones gave original freestyle dance interpretations as their imaginations moved them. This whole afternoon was a celebration of innocent love of life and an indication of the exciting new direction our Festival is taking.

The Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts continues March 10 and 11 with Nuttin’ But A Word: Rennie Harris PureMovement. Tickets are available at bermudafestival.org/