Saturday, July 31, 2010

Happy National Dance Day!

Nigel Lythgoe, the creator and producer of "So You Think You Can Dance" (i.e. "the world's best TV show ever" per my kids), has declared today "National Dance Day" to help promote dance education and physical fitness. National Dance Day is being recognized by an official act of congress, and there are locations all over the country (and the world!) celebrating dance today. SYTYCD choreographers Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo have created a dance for everyone, and this week at Dance Camp, J and his fellow campers learned and performed the dance.

So without further ado, here's wishing a very Happy National Dance Day to you all:


(In case you can't tell, J is the kid in the front in the orange shirt.)

6 comments:

dongdong said...

What a beautiful place to dance!! His note is precious. He seems like a natural performer.

Does J practice or dance at home?

My daughter says she likes to dance but I don't see her practice. She does like to choreograph her own dance w/ her brother. I wasn't even sure we should cont. to invest in classes. It threw me for a loop when the owner of the dance studio / her teacher recently told me she's "very good" and invited her to audition for their competitive dance team.

Harvest Moon Farm said...

LOL, the secret lives of dancers!

J dances pretty much all the time, it's rare to see him walk anywhere, usually he's choreographing his moves, even in the supermarket isles.

I know NOTHING (and I mean NOTHING!) about dance, but everyone who does know about these things keeps telling me that he's got a gift for this. What I do know is that it's definitely his passion, and that in itself is worth it for me to keep writing the tuition checks. :)

The Labradors said...

Very cool - great music also, works well, do you know the name of what they used?

Harvest Moon Farm said...

Sorry, Pen, my stupid computer wouldn't let me respond for a few days!

The song is Flo Rida's "Club Can't Handle Me" from the movie "Step Up 3D" which opens in theaters this weekend.

Katie said...

Love this one, too! Does J mind being the only boy in class? My 8-year-old (ASD/post-RDI) has been taking ballet for the past year and loves, loves, loves it- sounds like he and J have a lot in common. My son is the only boy in his entire school, but he doesn't mind at all (well, except maybe at recitals, when he gets banished to the hallway while the girls all get to hang out and chat in the dressing room.)

We are already getting the inevitable comments from other kids (and parents) about "ballet is for sissies", etc., but so far, it doesn't bother my son at all. Just curious if J has faced this issue yet and, if so, how he has responded to the teasing?

I sooo wish we lived closer to you guys so our boys could hang out and dance together!

Harvest Moon Farm said...

Katie, I think it's sad that your son is getting comments like that. J has never gotten anything but encouragement from others about his dancing. I honestly don't think it would stop him from dancing if he did get comments like that, but it would upset ME that he had to endure it.

I do think it helps that he watches So You Think You Can Dance and gets to see so many fabulous male dancers -- to him it's just the norm that men dance, even though he's not known many other boys that dance. We're hoping there might be more boys at his new dance school, and the school he took camp at has a boys' hip-hop class that he's considering taking. There were a couple of boys in the first week of dance camp too, which was cool, and at the new school there are several strong adult male influences.

I seriously think we're on the cusp of a big upsurge of boys in dance class -- it seems to be the parents that need to embrace the idea, I know plenty of boys who have expressed interest in dancing but wind up in karate instead. It's my hope that dancing gets more and more in the mainstream for boys in the near future!

As for J, he's perfectly happy being the only boy in his classes -- he gets the girls all to himself! :)