One of the coolest things about the neighborhood we are moving to this weekend is its highly visible support of creativity. Within four blocks of our house I have already discovered two music schools, two art schools for young children, a bead shop, a needlepoint shop, a piano gallery and best of all, a tap dancing academy.
I believe I've mentioned in the past that my kid loves to dance. He's got a gift that I never had, the gift of coordinated movement and natural rhythm. He comes by this honestly with two dancers in my immediate family so in a way he lucked into the right home because far from wanting to squelch his fervor to dance, my husband and I are enthusiastically supporting his search for the style that fits.
About a month ago he tried out a hip-hop dancing class and was very disappointed, but perhaps that was for the best. Now we are moving and we've discovered a whole new kind of movement - tumbling and tap! Our son could not be more delighted, he absolutely LOVES his tap classes and thankfully does not yet feel at all self-conscious about being the only boy in the room. Right now they are practicing a dance to perform in April that has something to do with Mickey Mouse and Goofy. He's all about swinging his arms, tapping his toes and doing something that his teacher calls "the penguin" move. It's pretty darn cute to watch.
This little guy is going to be our artist for sure. Yesterday when I volunteered in his kindergarten class (the one he will be leaving on Monday) I was charmed to see that he was singing quietly and dancing in his seat as he worked at one of the four classroom centers putting together Valentines. He reminds me of Matt Dillon's character in the movie "The Flamingo Kid" (1984) ~ always humming, even at the dinner table.
In addition to singing and dancing, my kid loves to paint. He is prolific - I can't keep up with all of the paintings he produces, and constantly have to rotate them on our family room bulletin board. He will use just about anything to create art with - found objects, tape, oil pastels, crayons, markers, it doesn't matter to him what the medium may be because he sees potential in just about everything. He is also sort of a natural on the piano, putting together his own melodies (one note at a time) according to what sounds good to him.
I realize that a lot of parents (especially a lot of fathers) might not be too excited about having a son that prefers tap dancing to T-ball. I guess our boy is just lucky then to have both a mommy AND a daddy who love him for being who he is. When I told my husband over the telephone this afternoon that the kids and I attended another tap class his first question about our son was:
"Did he have fun?"
"Yes, he loved it. He was tapping away with his arms in the air and a huge grin on his face."
"That is so awesome. I'm happy for him."
And that's the kind of great guy I married. He doesn't take it as a slight on his own masculinity that one of his male children prefers watching Angelina Ballerina to Transformers. (This great attitude actually works out strongly in my husband's favor, as I find it highly attractive to be with a man who supports our children no matter what.) Our boys could float around the house in pink tutus if they wanted to, and their dad would probably just laugh and pretend to be a goofy dancing spider or dancing bear to play with them.
I am really interested to see what my son's future holds. He showed signs of being a rockstar soccer player this Fall, scoring more goals than almost anyone on his team. Yet he equally adores watching clicking his heels as he dances down our hallway. When he was barely three years old he memorized the words to all of the songs in 'The Sound of Music' and used to sing them in the bathtub. I wonder who he is becoming and how he will manage to blend all of the many worlds that he has access to; I wonder at what point (if any) he will have to begin making hard choices about which activities he wants to pursue in earnest.
There are typically a lot of tough knocks for sensitive boys who show a flare for something that American culture has designated 'for girls'. This is especially concerning when it comes to today's scarily invasive digital technology where cyber-bullying has become routine... where videos can be recorded and broadcast without consent over the Internet, leaving young children and adolescents vulnerable to harsh scrutiny and scorn. It is worrisome for me as a parent to wonder how my son will manage to navigate through potentially rough waters and chart his own course toward success, stability and true happiness.
I feel especially grateful though to know that if he ever decides to go full bore into pursuing a career as a professional artist, we have my brothers in New York City who are already deeply enmeshed in the dance and theater world there. With a single airplane ride I could connect my boy to a vibrant hub of possibility, with uncles who adore him there to mentor and watch over him along his way. My boy has options, and a relatively easy path toward finding a community of similarly-minded peers. That is a huge relief.
All people enter this world with unique talents and abilities. I feel so blessed to have participated in the creation of a warm-hearted little tap-dancing bug who finds absolute joy in movement. It's an honor to witness his life unfold.
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