Dancing with Teddy, a song you might not expect to be a favorite.

There's a song in the current Maracas collection called Dancing with Teddy. It's a waltz. It's a little sappy. It's not always a teacher favorite. But it will be forever a favorite song of mine because of the memory of two little boys during Covid, Miles and Leo.

Here's why.

During Covid, my son Stephen and I would lead classes together on Zoom. This was hard work. You're looking at a screen full of little faces and trying to keep them engaged from a distance. It always felt hard at the beginning of the broadcast, but once we began to sing the Hello Song, the value of the routine took over.

Maracas was the song collection in Spring of 2020. As you might know, each teacher is required to sing each song at least three times in class during the semester. So off we went grabbing our teddy bears and dancing around the room. Me and my 13 year old son. These two little boys would disappear from the screen for a second. Then they'd come back with their teddy bears, and they'd just waltz around their living room like we were…turning around and around and around reaching up to the sky and then slowly coming down. It made us so happy. Stephen and I would look at each other. Those two little boys made us want to dance and sing in our living rooms.

Those boys must be eight or ten by now. I don't know if they remember those Zoom classes or that song. But Stephen and I remember them. Every time Dancing with Teddy comes up in class, I see those two boys spinning around their living room with their bears.

That's what a song can do. It holds a memory you didn't know you were making.

Dancing with Teddy is in the current Maracas collection. If you haven't tried it at home yet, here's your assignment. Put it on the speaker. Find a teddy bear. Dance around the room with your child. It's a waltz. It's slow enough to be sweet and silly at the same time. There’s even a moment where you get to dip your partner, or teddy bear in a silver screen style moment.

You might feel a little goofy. That's fine. Your child won't think it's goofy. Your child will think it's the best thing that happened all day.

That is what happens when families make music together.

There's a spot for your family. Come see what a class sounds like.