The next Bruno Mars

I teach weekly dance classes on Tuesday nights at a studio in Pittsboro. My first class is advanced hip hop, my second is intermediate hip hop, and my last is advanced contemporary.

I get there around 5:30 after a 30 minute drive. I have already had a full day of class, so I routinely mentally prepare myself for the night and push myself to somehow muster up a second wave of energy.

My first class is always very easy going- the high school-aged girls are ready to dance, eager to learn, and very talented. They fly through learning choreography, ask the right questions, and even want to stay after class to keep practicing.

My second class… now that’s an entirely different story. Middle schoolers. If that doesn’t say it all, then hopefully these anecdotes will. The first time I walked into class, one student came right up to me and started poking my face, asking why there were dots all over it (my freckles). Later on, they asked how old I was. I told them to guess, and every single one of them said a number over 30 (I’m not even 21 yet). Getting them to listen to me is like vacuuming grass- there’s just no point. Often, several of them will walk out of class randomly and one of them told me she had a dream that she punched me in the face. How charming right?

There is one student who makes the class 1000 times better. Now, I do have a handful of students who actually listen to me and put in an effort with a smile. However, I think I will remember this one student for the rest of my life. His name is Jonah.

Jonah is autistic, and around 10 years old. He has shaggy brown hair that he tends to flip out of his face in a mini-Justin Bieber way. Every Tuesday, he walks into class wearing the same lime green hoodie and says “Hi Miss Allie, can I teach the class how to moonwalk?”

And, I let him. This kid is insanely good at moonwalking- in fact, I have gotten better at moonwalking since having him in the class, even though I was the one who taught him how to do it in the first place.

So, I put on his favorite Michael Jackson (MJ is his idol, besides Bruno Mars) song and let him take over. He smiles so wide you’d think I just told him he’s going on a trip to Disney World. He slowly goes through the movement so the students can pick up the motion, and then over time speeds up perfectly to the beat of the music.

Jonah is normally very well-behaved throughout class, but he does have moments of difficulty. One class, he randomly stopped dancing and walked to the corner of the room to sit with his hood over his head. I went over to him, crouched down to his level, and asked if he wanted to join us. He replied “I hate dancing, I don’t want to be here.” I tried to convince him to remember that he loves to dance, but failed, and he ended up sitting the rest of class. We also had an incident in one class where he got very upset because his classmates weren’t standing in the spots they normally stand in.

However, he always comes around by the very end. Even if he is upset, his face lights up when I say “That’s all for today, have a good week!’ At the end of every class, once all of the kids have walked out, Jonah routinely asks me “Have you been practicing?” Each week, he teaches me a part of the Bruno Mars routine to the song “24K Magic.” Jonah’s mom told me that he spends hours watching Bruno Mars music videos over and over again so he can memorize the moves.

Jonah teaches me a new part every week- I am almost done learning the whole three minute song. I play the song a few times before my next class, and we jam out, a duet fit for stage.

The other teachers and students at the studio have caught on and will come watch us perform our duet, which Jonah adores. He will always ask, “Wanna see it again?” to his loyal crowd, and we will perform at least two more times before I sadly have to turn the music off and head to my last class.

He jumps up to high-five me and says “You better be practicing at home!” which is normally what I am supposed to say to a student, not the other way around.

I will always cherish my time spent with Jonah (even though my other students accuse him of being “my favorite”) and it’s safe to say I think he’s the next Bruno Mars.

#BrunoMars #Dance #Autism #Teaching #Moonwalking