The kinks
You never really know how the wee ones in your life are going to turn out. The Baby Einstein DVDs were just a monotonous loop of boredom and didn’t imbue either of our kids with Mozart’s gifts. But kids will explore: you cannot predict what will be a success and what won’t. Nor can you foresee the ingenious ways they may manage to get injured.
It started when my daughter took hip-hop classes. My son liked watching the dance rehearsals and she would try to teach him the moves when she practiced at home. They would make pretend dances with strange trampoline-inspired choreography, as kids do. But he soon busted loose to his own free form.
My son is a great dancer. He has moves, he has style, and he has rhythm. He dances when no one’s watching, except us. We can’t get away from it. He dances everywhere: the grocery store aisles, in a restaurant, in the car. He won’t join a dance group or show anyone else his moves, but he likes to be “in” his body and express himself. The hip gyrating is a bit much for my eyes, and overall I am just not sure where he got this talent.
He is a visceral dancer as well. The body is his instrument. I came to pick him up from daycare this week and he was sitting on the couch, alone; his head was resting against a pillow. Apparently he had danced so wildly he put a kink in his neck.
He had to stay home the next day it was so painful. We took him to the chiropractor, who couldn’t believe you could get this kind of injury by dancing. The muscle is really stiff on one side and his vertebra are somehow twisted because of the tension. I took him again today for a second treatment, and we will need a follow-up appointment next week.
Oh, the pain! How will I be a Party Rocker now?
I feel for him. Not only was he walking around like a broken robot, his head half-cocked at a 45 degree angle, he also can’t dance. But each day is a little better as he is making progress. We’re not at 100 percent but it won’t be long before he will be back to having the “moves like Jagger.”
28 Responses to “The kinks”
Have at it! This box is for you.
Then I met you
Poor little guy, Tania. I hope he gets that kink out. That does sound painful. My child likes to dance too, but refuses to take a dance class. He tells me he likes to do his own dances, which I totally understand. I hope your son gets back to dancing soon.
Those boys need to dance!
He is getting better but until he is pain-free we’ve been told no dancing. That being said, he is loving being late for school because of these appointments. So there is an upside to this as well.
If that’s the case, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has more dancing “accidents”…not that this wasn’t a true one that really caused pain. Dancing is so physical.
Good point Amy. When he gets older I will strongly suggest *against* “crowd surfing.”
Another advantage is he can hurt his neck ,but he’s young enough that it will just get better.
Rock on, little man!
It will get better, but the chiropractor was alarmed at how bad it was at the onset. So with some care and attention, heat and rest, he will be back to his rubber-necking in no time. Rock on indeed.
How awesome! I hope you encourage his dancing and possibly let him take some formal lessons. The kid obviously loves dancing!
We have encouraged classes for the last year or so. His answer is always no, thanks. As long as he keeps dancing, I’m going to keep the offers open. He also loves to sing. Hello, Broadway!
Get that boy into Irish dance. Now.
It’s an extremely athletic form of dance- lots of jumping and strength required- and boys are not only extremely accepted there but sought after!! There is a competitive option too with tons of hardware up for grabs, just like any other sport. Check out the movie Jig to get an idea. These kids are hard core.
Runoff,
Thanks for the great suggestion. We have friends whose kids do Irish dancing, but they are all girls. Never thought of the male option of this. Love the idea of him dancing about in a kilt (or anything plaid would be great). And thanks for the movie suggestion: just the name makes it sound fun!
Love that your son loves to dance. My daughter has been the same way since birth (I think she was dancing in the womb too!) and now at 18 she is heading off to college next year for dance. Keep offering the classes and he may take you up on it one day!
How great that your daughter is still doing dance in college. I think if my son had more male role models he may be more inspired. All those boy bands (to me) are not a suitable example of what ‘dance’ could be. I’ll keep asking him about classes though… so he has lots of options to change his mind.
Boo to injuries, but what an awesome way to incur them!
Definitely unique.
I’m so sorry your little dancer has hurt himself. May he recover quickly and be back dancing again soon.
Hi Marie,
He’s getting better, but a bit miffed that his moves (in his slightly disabled state) don’t look as good or flow as easily.
I love a kid who loves to dance. There’s nothing better. I hope he gets back to it soon. And, it’s a bit cheesy, but check out YouTube videos from the show, “So you think you can dance.” There are tons of excellent male role models there. Amazing dancers, all of them.
The “reality” dance circus does turn me off a lot from those shows. But the performance and talent of the dancers it’s definitely amazing. I’ll have to show my son some of them. Good male role models are hard to find!
The auditions are the best. I don’t watch after that. I like to see what everyone chooses to bring to the stage and see them dance in their own style, before the producers and choreographers get to them. It blows me away.
Much better viewing strategy. I’m with you on this.
Hope he gets well soon!
Our 3 year old son was also obsessed with dancing for the first 2.5 years which was totally weird as my wife and I have never ever danced ever I don’t think and he had some awesome moves and amazing rhythm he always danced. We thought, let’s capture this! We took him to a free introductory little kids dance lesson and it was full of little girls dreaming of being ballerinas. He shut himself off and has never danced again.
I totally get what your son was feeling. It’s like you have this desire to express yourself but the medium and the atmosphere has to also be right. There are so few male models that you get lumped in with tutus and top-knot hairdos. And that’s just not it.
I’m keeping my eyes out for dance classes for boys, or at least mixed, but it’s pretty slim. For now, he’s got rhythm at home.
Thanks for your comments.
He MUST have some serious moves to kink his neck like that.
Yes. That’s pretty much the standard question. What DID he do?
The torticollis?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001757/
Could be. The name sounds better than the actual condition. The chiropractor never named it as something specific. He just said, “He did this while dancing?”
My little guy is dancing right now. I just taught him the classic move: point alternating fingers in the air.
Basic necessities.