AFS Lower School  “traveled” across the continents in their Winter Program of music, dance and poetry that took them on a dreamlike journey in search of what makes the light shine in each of us.

In the program, “Una Luz para Luz” or “A Light for Luz,” a little girl at bedtime asks her mother a very big question — what makes her inner light shine. The answer, making others feel good about themselves, became increasingly clear during the performances by students from early childhood through fourth grade.

The music and poetry varied from Michael Jackson’s upbeat “ABC” to a traditional Diwali tune that was sung in Hindi. The first-grade students gently held small lights on the stage as they sang the Northern Indian song brought to AFS by parent Janani Rangaswami and her son, Rudy.

A lively tune, “Ocho Kandalikas,” originating in the Sephardic Jewish tradition, prompted joyful laughs from the audience. The youngest and wiggliest children, in the early childhood class, delighted with a Spanish folksong called “A la Puerta del Cielo.”

Other parts of the trip across the globe extended from China to Jamaica. African drums, xylophones and even a gong helped punctuate the tales being told.

Lower School Director Andrea Emmons told the parents that the Winter Program began with only an idea — light — and grew from there.

“We are how we treat each other when day is done,” she said, repeating a lyric from the finale.