Last night was Science Boy’s second time attending his all-boy ballet class. To our surprise and delight, another boy joined the group! That brings the class total to nine fledgling premier danseurs, three of whom are actually good enough to have secured parts in the company’s Nutcracker production. The barre got crowded! Even the female students jammed the small window just to get a peek at the boys.
Another first last night: it was DH’s first time seeing SB in ballet class. I’m a firm believer in the participation of both parents in their children’s activities, so I nicely asked DH to do the post-class pickup last night, to which he immediately complied with no probs.
While he wasn’t quite moved to tears at the sight of his son dancing ballet, DH nevertheless provided SB an effusive attaboy and made sure to mention some of the tougher moves they did. If in the slightest of chances SB wants to continue dancing to his teens and beyond, his dad’s support will be crucial to his success, especially since male classical dancers are still looked upon with such stigma here in the U.S. I’ll talk about SB’s dad in a future blog post.
Back to SB: there is one funny thing about boys that doesn’t seem to change no matter what activity they do. Last night, there was a girl in the lobby waiting for a sibling. She was about eight or nine. She whipped out a bright pink Nintendo DS and proceeded to play. The beeps and dings attracted DS-crazy Science Boy and he instantly zoomed in on the sound. A second later, he was shoulder to shoulder with this little girl. One of the other kids in his class must have heard the sound too because he showed up and took position on the other side of the girl. Soon, a crowd of little boys, all dressed in identical ballet shoes, black bike shorts and tight white tee, was gathered around this little girl. I turned my head for about ten seconds and when I looked back, the little girl was gone and one of the boys was playing the DS, with the rest of the boys glued to his side. If it weren’t for the ballet shoes, this scene could have been in any dojo or basketball court or football field where boys congregate before their recreational activities began. I looked at Kim the Administrator who’d materialized next to me. “We’ve never had this before,” she said, smiling fondly at the boys.
Totally warmed my heart.
When class began, I stayed for a few minutes to watch. Unlike his soccer and gymnastics classes, he was totally and completely focused on his teacher. I’ve never seen such concentration on his face before. I think it helps that his teacher is serious and doesn’t clown around with the boys at all, which is 100% fine. SB has other outlets for his clowning around. I’m just pleased that his listening skills seem to be getting better. If his dancing also improves along the way, that’ll be total whipped cream on top of my latte.
