Dance Class With IncrediDad and Boy Wonder

Up until a month ago, I thought a pirouette was a kind of cookie. Turns out, it is a dance move. You see, Boy Wonder has been taking Ballet Class once a week and we are both learning so much. For example, you wouldn’t believe how many ballet terms sound food related:

Sauté (so-Tay): please sauté that chicken with peppers and onions!

Battement (Bot-Mah): I know I’ve ordered this from my local Phö place.

Passé (pass-say): Can you please passé me the mashed potatoes?

Did I mention that class is forty-minutes long? I’m always starving by the end of it.

I won’t lie. When Incredi-Mom first pitched the idea of Ballet Class for a one-year-old, I thought it sounded ridiculous. She is a dancer/dance teacher herself and I’ve heard her tell the horror stories from any structured class younger than six-year-olds. I imagined it looking like the French-dub of Lord Of The Flies.

Before we go any further, no, I did not have a problem with Ballet because I didn’t want my son dancing. That’s an outdated stigma that went out with dads not doing laundry. My issue was much simpler – He wasn’t going to hold still long enough pay attention.

Being smart enough not to cross my wife, I found myself smiling at our new teacher, Miss Brittany. She must have seen the look on my face when she broke the news that it was a parent/child class because she smiled and said, “Don’t worry. We clap extra loud for the dads.”

The class was not as chaotic as I imagined but it wasn’t the Moscow Ballet either. Boy Wonder is learning that there are times in life when we should listen and follow directions. Not that there are many of those times…Well I guess this is a good thing he’s learning manners from someone else then.

Also, every week I watch Boy Wonder and a little girl named Riley try to out-do and one-up each other’s moves. Proud Papa moment! He’s making friends! All by himself!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, he’s learning how to dance too. He giggled when he learned to piqué by popping bubbles on the floor. He practiced his stretches in the bathtub. But the other day when the Miss Brittany asked for an Arabesque …and HE DID IT! We all knew he was really learning something.

I don’t want you to think I’m overreacting. I’m not expecting a prodigy here. The important thing is that he’s engaged and having fun. The smile on his face is always worth it. For 45 minutes a week, my kid lines up and dances to music with other kids. How could that be bad?

So how many other dads out there are at dance class with their kids? Do you break a sweat chasing them around? Are you learning with them too? Do you leave craving a French cookie too? Let me know in the comments below!