I could never fully understand the phrase “Dance like no one is watching”, guess I’ve always loved to dance so it never really mattered. Never took a single dance class in my life but learned from going to all those high school dances and watching other dancers from nightclubbing or from TV. I mimicked their moves and then put my own flair to it.
More than anything, I’ve always let the music dictate how I moved on the dance floor, sidewalk, bedroom or hallway. Never really cared if I looked funny, I was free to dance to my heart’s content. Really didn’t practice except when it came to popping and break dancing. Those were the only type of moves that needed to be perfected so that you didn’t look like crap.
But going back to that phrase, the reason why I brought that up was because my teenage daughter wants to learn how to dance. I thought to myself that this was a golden moment, I’ll offer up my services and in the process have a little father-daughter bonding experience. How hard would this be; she took dance lessons for a couple of years but that was back when she was 4 and 5 years old.
I asked her to show me what she remembered but she drew a blank. Then I asked her to show me any type of dance move and she was too embarrassed to do so.
I said to her “If you want to learn to dance, you can’t be afraid to show what you know even if it looks weird or stupid. If you get over that inhibition, then your body will be able to move more fluidly.” I’m not a dance teacher or professional by any means but in my opinion, if you’re not afraid of making an ass of yourself while dancing then you shouldn’t dance.
I asked her again, to just show me anything. There was a hesitation at first but then she “manned up” and showed me what was in her dance repertoire. It was a bit rough and her coordination was slightly off but was impressive nonetheless. I commended her for doing that and assured her that the hard part was over and I can teach her what I know.
As I was about to display some of my “go to” moves, she blurted out that she wanted to learn hip hop. I thought to myself “I can manage that, it wouldn’t be the greatest but it shouldn’t be a problem.” I came up with a move in my head and was about to display it when she added…”It has to be k-pop style.”
WAIT! WHAT?!!! K-POP STYLE, WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN?!
She wanted to learn a dance routine from a k-pop group that she thought was cool. Now I had to check this out; I immediately went on YouTube and called up the video. I had to admit, it was pretty awesome but way out of my league…but as a father trying to impress his child, I would never admit that.
“I can teach you that. Just let me watch it for a while and we can get started” I told her.
“Cool” was her only reply. And with that she buried her face into her phone and was off in her little world.
So now I am tasked with learning an intricate dance routine and breaking it down into simple steps to teach my daughter. What have I gotten myself into!? This was surely a daunting task but I’m up for the challenge. Don’t know how long it will take but I’m making it my mission to making my daughter mimic those moves fluidly and in the process adding more moves to my dance repertoire.
I’ll update my progress in future blogs and hopefully will post a video of the end result. Here’s to a victorious end…TALLY HO!
Midlife, Maniacal & Me 