Dance

My son has always loved to dance.  His first time at a wedding was an epiphany for him. He fell in love with being in the spotlight, doing crowd pleasing steps and letting the music take him into his zone.  For the last two years my husband has been asking me to get him lessons.

You see, my son is like a compressed spring, a powerhouse of potential energy.  He moves all the time but occasionally he unleashes his energy at full power and we watch him dance his heart out.  What he lacks in technique he makes up in heart and unbridled abandonment of any safety precautions as he leaps and twirls, jumps and somersaults at a ferocious speed.

So it is of great relief to my husband that we have acquired a dance teacher to instruct him in the proper techniques of hip hop and breakdance.   His dance teacher arrived (with a cool dance pal who specializes in breakdance) for his first 2 hour lesson.  We set up the basement with a boom box equivalent and Tristan put on his dancing shoes.

His teacher, Nicole is 26.
She has been teaching dance for 10 years and will be his teacher during camp week and in the fall when he will do hiphop and breakdance once (or twice) a week.  She is amazing at what she does.  She was in the movie Step Up 3, a dance movie which we watched in awe last night.  She dances at night from 9:30pm to 4am whenever she can so consequently she doesn't do mornings!  And she is available all summer.

She is also beautiful and strong, she understands and motivates children, and has Tristan absolutely captivated.  Tristan's on button has been pushed and I am anticipating a lot of growth over the summer, in his strength, motivation and discipline.

So this is what seems to turn him on: movement, challenge, different techniques thrown at him, few repetitions, challenges for his working memory (choreographed segments), freedom to express himself, music, strength training and novelty.

After class when he is beyond exhaustion, she shows him videos of breakdance battles.  He thinks it is all intensely cool.