My family loves music and loves to dance around the house. Just about every night you can see us (if you were peering into our windows, which would be kind of odd) prancing, dancing, skipping or strutting around our living room. We are usually listening to something my daughter loves best – right now that would involve, primarily, the soundtracks to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mary Poppins and the eight catchy, well-crafted tunes (along with the beautifully illustrated storyboards) on the Gustafer Yellowgold DVD.
We don’t have any structure to these dance parties. We pop in one record (or DVD) and shake it! Sometimes our little one will take a break from dancing to play her wooden tongue drum and choreograph our movements to her music. She will bark orders to “dance in one place” or “only move your shoulders”; she can really be a drill sergeant!
I will usually grab the toy trumpet or the harmonica and ask if I may play along with her while I dance around, trying to play softer than she so her drumming remains at centerstage.
I have been thinking about a means to step up this casual dancing thing and I believe that I may have found the perfect way to do so: A dressed up affair with a fancy dinner and dancing to follow. I will light a bunch of candles and place them around the dining room table and family room, out of her reach of course, and burn a CD with all different kinds of music on it. I will pay close attention to the tempo changes and mood swings from track to track. I will include some of her old faves, like Dizzy Gillespie’s “Salt Peanuts” and Josh Ritter “Wolves”, and make the 15-30 minutes worth of music flow like a real DJ would.
She is going to love being dressed up (maybe we will break out the tutu from her ballerina Halloween costume), acting and talking fancy and of course, dancing like a crazy person!
Crank up our iTunes or stereo system and go dancing tonight!
Do you have any memorable family dance party stories to share? Your child ever break out a new move that had you doubled-over with laughter?
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