Here’s a little something to help get you through the midsummer midweek: an irresistibly cute video of a young man dancing for an audience of one, his toddler son, who’s just finished a round of chemotherapy. Dad’s moves are impressive, but the little boy’s delighted reaction steals the show. He’s even got moves of his own.
According to published reports, Kennith Thomas broke out into a dance for his son, Kristian, to celebrate the tiny patient’s departure from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, after he’d recovered from his first round of chemo for leukemia. Thomas chose the infectiously danceable new single by Ciara, “Level Up.” Ciara’s music video features the singer leading an all-female hip-hop dance crew in a display of slicing, vigorous precision, and to further the song’s dance theme, she launched a “Level Up Challenge,” urging fans to share their own dances. All of that surely factored into Thomas’s song selection, along with a coincidence closer to home: He runs a dance school called Level Dance Complex in Pennsauken, N.J., where he’s also a hip-hop instructor.
But that sweet solo wasn’t the first time Kristian had watched his dad in action. “He’s always in the studio with me and is always seeing me dance,” Thomas told “Good Morning America.”
It’s another heartwarming moment brought to us by dancing dads, who have a certain undeniable charm. In June, a father of three in Bermuda blazed across the Internet. Marc Daniels was videotaped twirling onstage with a baby in his arms, to help his 2-year-old daughter overcome stage fright during her ballet recital.
That wonderfully unselfconscious, dad-to-the-rescue vibe: It’s a hard heart indeed that won’t melt for it.
(But don’t forget the moms, who held the cameras and captured the moment.)
The “Level Up” display is all about seizing and savoring a moment that is as clear and uncomplicated as it is wordless. The baby’s reaction — open-mouthed wonder, sheer adoration and a spontaneous, full-bodied response — says it all. How often do we witness pure joy?
