‘This is mind blowing’: Quincy girl, 6, gets cameo appearance in Beyonce’s ‘Renaissance’ movie

QUINCY — Shanice Crider will never forget the day she met Beyonce Knowles when she performed with Destiny’s Child at the Oakley-Lindsay Center on May 27, 2000. 

Crider is more excited, however, for her daughter’s brief appearance in “Renaissance,” a movie about the world tour Beyonce (you get to drop your last name when you become an international superstar) recently completed. The movie debuted worldwide on Thursday.

“This is mind blowing,” Crider said Friday afternoon, hours before she and family members took 6-year-old Ila Mae, a first grader at Iles Elementary School, to watch the movie’s debut at the AMC Theaters in Quincy. 

“It’s an iconic moment. I have a picture with Beyonce when she came to Quincy, so that’s why I wanted to take my daughter, because she loves Beyonce, too. I just couldn’t believe that she was in the movie.”

Crider said she learned of her daughter’s cameo in the movie because of a clip that was posted on social media Thursday. It’s part of a behind-the-scenes moment during Beyonce’s Oct. 1 concert at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., when the sound malfunctioned. (Beyonce originally was supposed to perform Sept. 18 in Kansas City but was delayed, making it the last stop on her 56-stop tour.)

Beyonce is shown walking off the stage while producers scramble backstage to find out what’s wrong. Ila Mae is shown eight seconds later in the front row, holding her iPhone to record Beyonce on stage — but she looks sad.

Ila Mae and her mother were in Alamo, Tenn., on Thursday to have professional portraits taken for upcoming national pageants that Ila Mae participates in. Crider didn’t learn about the movie scene until Friday morning.

“Beyonce has a fan base called the ‘BeyHive,’ and they messaged (Ila Mae) on her TikTok page,” Crider said. “My daughter did a lot of TikToks from the concert. She was seen by a lot of people, and a lot of people were like taking pictures and videos with her. When I woke up this morning, I had so many messages on my TikTok saying she’s in the middle of the ‘Renaissance’ movie.

“I was just like, ‘What? This is crazy.’”

Ila Mae learned about the video from her mother’s screaming.

“I woke her up, and then I showed her. She just started crying,” Crider said. “She said, ‘I can’t believe this, Mom. I can’t believe this.’”

Crider said Ila Mae went to the Kansas City concert on her birthday. They created a poster that said “Happy Birthday to Ila” and was adorned with pictures of Ila and the photo of Crider when she was 9 years old with Beyonce in Quincy.

“Ila Mae cried because she thought I was joking at first,” Crider said. “We wanted Beyonce to see the poster when she comes off stage, sometimes she shouts out to people about seeing their posters. We hoped she saw it. Now she’s in the movie.”

Crider says Ila Mae, who has her own Instagram page as well, has been participating in pageants for a couple of years. When she performs, her music of choice is usually a song from the Renaissance tour.

“She knows the songs, and she knows the music,” Crider said.

Crider liked how Beyonce’s daughter, 11-year-old Blue Ivy Carter, also made an appearance in the film dancing on stage with her mother.

“I was like, ‘Oh, look, this is her daughter, and you’re my daughter,’” Crider said. “I introduced it to her that way. She knows he’s huge. She’s really excited about it. I’m a big fan too, but it’s just so amazing.”

Crider, who also took Ila Mae to Beyonce’s concert in St. Louis, had planned to watch the movie herself. 

“When we were in Tennessee last night, everyone kept talking about it on the radio and how the movie was coming out,” Crider said. “And Ila Mae says, ‘Can I please go?’ I was going to go by myself, but I guess now I have to take her.”