If you are my friend on Facebook or have spent an evening at our home, you already know that we are a big "dance party" family. We dance after dinner to burn off that last bit of energy before bed, on rainy days when there is not much else to do, and pretty much any time one of our "jam songs" comes on our Sonos.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3618044686576
To be honest, this isn't something that we do just because we have kids. Brendan and I have long been known to dance spontaneously - with or without music - much to the horror of our friends and family.
[Really wish I had some video to share here]
Yet despite our obvious affinity for shaking our groove thangs (yeah, I said it), when it came time for dance class sign-up last Fall, I fell prey to the same gender stereotypes that I have tried so hard to avoid in raising my kids (in particular my boy/girl twins). Without thinking twice, I signed Isla up, and promptly took her out to buy a pink leotard, pink ballet slippers, and shiny white tap shoes. To my credit, the dance schools in our area are almost exclusively for girls ("Tutus and Tiaras," "Bella Ballerina," etc.), so it just didn't occur to me to ask Hayes or Tyson if either one was interested.
So, on a Saturday morning in September, Isla started her ballet/tap/ jazz lessons while Hayes played soccer. When the soccer season ended, we continued to split up on Saturday mornings -- Brendan would take the boys to Rebounderz, and I would head off to dance class with Isla. She absolutely loved it, and the boys relished their "guy time."
In March, after expressing her disappointment over missing out on soccer with her brother, we switched Isla to a weekday dance class so that she could play t-ball with Hayes on Saturday mornings. On Wednesday evenings, the boys (often in pajamas) and I would watch Isla's class.
During the second class of the spring session, after the girls had finished up the ballet portion, familiar pop music came on and Hayes looked at me and said, "Can I dance?" I asked Miss Ashley (dance teacher extraordinaire) if this was ok, and she invited Hayes and Tyson to join in. I WISH I had taken video of those first moments. Grinning ear-to-ear, and occasionally pausing to bear hug his siblings, Hayes was the most exuberant had seen him in a while (maybe ever). And he was GOOD. He continued through to the tap portion of class, and he had no trouble picking up moves that the rest of the students had been working on for months. Even Tyson was following along (pretty remarkable for a 2 year old in a 4-6 year old's class), although, if I'm being totally honest, he was really in it for the costumes.
Anyway, when class ended, Hayes asked if he could do it again the next week. The following week, I signed him up, ordered him a pair of tap shoes, and the rest is history...
Hayes is now one of the only boys enrolled at Bella Ballerina (Tyson is not officially enrolled, but when the tap portion starts, just TRY to keep him from putting on Isla's outgrown white patent leather tap shoes and joining the fun), and Isla is the only girl in the Blast Ball League for Dulles South. I am so incredibly proud of them and the people they are becoming. And I am grateful to them for all they have taught me... and I am not just talking about the sweet dance moves.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3618044686576
To be honest, this isn't something that we do just because we have kids. Brendan and I have long been known to dance spontaneously - with or without music - much to the horror of our friends and family.
[Really wish I had some video to share here]
Yet despite our obvious affinity for shaking our groove thangs (yeah, I said it), when it came time for dance class sign-up last Fall, I fell prey to the same gender stereotypes that I have tried so hard to avoid in raising my kids (in particular my boy/girl twins). Without thinking twice, I signed Isla up, and promptly took her out to buy a pink leotard, pink ballet slippers, and shiny white tap shoes. To my credit, the dance schools in our area are almost exclusively for girls ("Tutus and Tiaras," "Bella Ballerina," etc.), so it just didn't occur to me to ask Hayes or Tyson if either one was interested.
So, on a Saturday morning in September, Isla started her ballet/tap/ jazz lessons while Hayes played soccer. When the soccer season ended, we continued to split up on Saturday mornings -- Brendan would take the boys to Rebounderz, and I would head off to dance class with Isla. She absolutely loved it, and the boys relished their "guy time."
In March, after expressing her disappointment over missing out on soccer with her brother, we switched Isla to a weekday dance class so that she could play t-ball with Hayes on Saturday mornings. On Wednesday evenings, the boys (often in pajamas) and I would watch Isla's class.
During the second class of the spring session, after the girls had finished up the ballet portion, familiar pop music came on and Hayes looked at me and said, "Can I dance?" I asked Miss Ashley (dance teacher extraordinaire) if this was ok, and she invited Hayes and Tyson to join in. I WISH I had taken video of those first moments. Grinning ear-to-ear, and occasionally pausing to bear hug his siblings, Hayes was the most exuberant had seen him in a while (maybe ever). And he was GOOD. He continued through to the tap portion of class, and he had no trouble picking up moves that the rest of the students had been working on for months. Even Tyson was following along (pretty remarkable for a 2 year old in a 4-6 year old's class), although, if I'm being totally honest, he was really in it for the costumes.
Anyway, when class ended, Hayes asked if he could do it again the next week. The following week, I signed him up, ordered him a pair of tap shoes, and the rest is history...
Hayes is now one of the only boys enrolled at Bella Ballerina (Tyson is not officially enrolled, but when the tap portion starts, just TRY to keep him from putting on Isla's outgrown white patent leather tap shoes and joining the fun), and Isla is the only girl in the Blast Ball League for Dulles South. I am so incredibly proud of them and the people they are becoming. And I am grateful to them for all they have taught me... and I am not just talking about the sweet dance moves.
<3 this post!!!
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