'We're going freestyle'

Anyone who's been a parent can confirm: Even if a kid doesn't know how to dance yet, he or she already knows how to dance.

It's herky-jerky and they have a tendency to fall, but it's joyful and honest, and sometimes they try to show off, just like dancers of any age.

"Everybody stretch," LaKrisha Moore urged the children in her "Itty Bitty Hip Hop" class at On Cue Performing Arts Studio in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Some were way ahead of her, twisted up in improvised yoga poses. Others were -- in a sign of things to come -- just running.

As she corralled them, the beat started and soon the itty-bitty hip-hoppers fell into a rhythm, clapping along.

Kaydence Pullett shows off her freestyle moves during her Itty Bitty Hip Hop class at On Cue Performing Arts Studio in downtown Cape Girardeau on Monday.Laura Simon

The dancers were only about 3 years old, but where their still-developing motor skills failed them, they compensated with creativity, cycling through a series of moves including shoulder rolls, robo arms and crab walking.

When the time came to jump, the kids in their multicolored outfits became a tumble of bouncing jelly beans. When it came time to do the running man, Ashton Wallace just took off running.

So close.

"Everybody get in a big circle!" Moore said. "We're going freestyle!"

The studio lights went down and the flashing club lights went up as the kids gathered for the dance-off.

They each took turns as the center of attention, throwing every off-the-cuff dance move they could muster. There were ninja-chops and sumo-stomping. One kid, the group's aspiring minimalist, just hopped in place.

Wallace spun on the ground and kicked into what turned out to be a surprisingly convincing breakdance routine copy.

Moms and older sisters crowded around the studio's window to see what the fuss was about.

Protestations went up as the lights came on, but after some more practice of robo arms, it was time for the hour's second dance class, the equally-small ballet.

Presumably, every ballerina was at one point just like the dozen in Moore's class, each barely taller than the barre.

"First position!" Moore instructed, sending the girls shuffling into the heels-together ballet pose.

After warm-ups, the focus went to poise and grace, with beanbag animals on the head to teach balance. Then, without the animals, they became the animals, pantomiming along with the music to show how monkeys, elephants and crocodiles dance.

"Oh, snap!" they all shouted together.

As it turns out, the ballet class had the same kindergarten mob-mentality as the hip-hop class, just quieter and with more tutus.

But that quiet went away when the tap shoes came out.

The wave of clicking was like a rain stick or the shuffling of a huge deck of cards, constantly.

They closed with a few more ballet exercises.

Children from both classes left smiling, if still a little wound up.

One of them was Ashton Wallace from the hip-hop class. At 3 years old, he's too shy to say which move is his favorite. Instead, he just drops into a breakdancing runaround. Then into the running man again.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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