- But not long ago, our next guest
was thinking about shutting down
her dance studio because things were slow.
Then, a viral video literally changed everything.
Check this out.
- Plié. And dads, plié to your left. Plié.
(classical ballet music)
And now, hands close first. Good!
Run around your partner.
Go to the front of dad. And plié.
Lift up, and twirl around.
- My gosh! (audience clapping)
That is adorable! That's a classroom
of dads in Philadelphia taking ballet
with their little girls,
and the video's been shared by celebs
including Ava DuVernay, Kristen Bell and Oprah, okay.
- Yeah. - Yeah!
(audience cheers)
Now Erin's classes are more popular than ever.
Please welcome the owner of Échappé Dance Arts,
Erin Lee right here, and two of the dancing dads,
Anwar and James! (clapping and cheering)
Meet everybody! Julianne, everybody!
(laughing) - You guys are awesome.
- Dude that was amazing! - Thank you so much.
- It was so good, so, Erin, why would you start
a dad's dancing class, like were you drinking or?
(audience laughs) - Like, what?
- Had to be, right? (laughs)
So, basically, it was two years ago,
and the dads were dropping off, they were picking up
and I'm like, we gotta get you guys on the dance floor.
They were super involved,
but that wasn't really a part of the deal, right?
So, we got them on the dance floor
and it started off as a hip-hop class
and then it just evolved, and this was
our first time ever posting it
and it just went viral, so it's been insane.
- It made me cry in the best of ways.
- [Erin] Yeah! - Like it was so beautiful!
- Yeah! - And not everybody out there
has a dad and a mom to do stuff with
so it's like amazing that you'd take the time,
we're all busy we all have jobs,
trying to provide for our families,
- Definitely. - And you take the time
and actually do that.
Was it easy getting the dads involved?
- There was some bribes involved, right?
(all laugh)
- I'm not above it, even with children.
- Little 10% off here, a little 5% off there,
maybe a free jacket, but no it wasn't easy.
And not because they didn't want to, right?
Because it wasn't normalized.
But eventually, I think once one started,
then the next pulled another in
and then it just, a ripple effect.
It was awesome. - It's so cool!
It's so awesome, so Anwar and James,
what did you think when you first heard about the class?
Other than like, "nope." (all laugh)
- I was gonna say, the truth!
- When it was first brought to my attention,
I was probably trying to get out the room
as fast as possible, like, you know.
I even left the car running so I could dip back out.
(all laugh)
When she told me, I just thought it was kinda unique.
You know, my job is very family-oriented,
so they integrated my schedule,
with my seniority of course, I could.
- That's amazing though that your job did that.
- Yes! - Because that's important,
families are important. We all work so hard.
But it is so important, those are our kids.
We're shaping them for the future.
Like, you need to spend time with them.
So James, what about you?
- Never in a million years I seen myself dancing ballet.
- [Kelly] You looked great. - But, thank you.
I'm used to football, basketball, so it's like, ballet?
- Hey, some football players take ballet I've heard.
- Yeah, yeah! - I tried to tell him this,
he didn't believe me. - [Kelly] Yes!
- I think what warms all our hearts so much
and seeing that so much is the connection you have
with your beautiful kids. - Yes. It's so beautiful.
(audience claps) - And that's admirable
and an amazing example. - So special.
- Just to have that connection.
They must just look at you guys like
you guys are kings - Heroes.
- Yeah, yeah.
- What made you finally commit?
What made y'all finally commit to doing the class?
- So, when I actually thought about it,
first I thought about the movie with "The Rock"
when he had the-_ - Oh, yes yes!
- It was like, - The Rock, he's manly!
He did it. - Exactly.
So it was like, he was too masculine to do that
but then he was aggy with the teacher
and then he ended up, you know,
getting to like her and getting to take it on
and then look at how dancing in ballet
helped them with their moves and their x's and o's
on the football field with their playbook.
So I'm just like, okay, let me try it.
But, you know, the objective was to go in and not look bad.
'Cause, you know, if I fell--
- But even if you fell, it's funny, it's funny.
Everybody does it, everybody falls and everything.
But what made you finally commit James?
- I mean, the satisfaction and the excitement
from my daughter and the whole staff at Échappé
and why not? You know what I mean?
And then, a lot of aww's, we get all the "awww"
(all laugh) - Lot of aww's.
So how do you, I mean 'cause everyone here dances except me.
I can booty dance. (audience cheers)
But how do you believe dance connects you?
- I think it's primal. - It is primal.
- Look at a toddler, before they can walk or crawl,
what happens, you put music on, what do they do?
- They're dancing. - They go like this right?
I feel like it's in all of us,
we kind of unlearn dance as we get older
because we get a little bit self-conscious
like, oh who's looking at me?
I don't wanna be moving, dancing.
And then we're like whatever man,
let's just have fun, let's just dance
let's let loose, let's go crazy.
- I love it! - And that's honestly,
that's what you guys are representing,
it's a lot of courage and I love that, I love that.
- I know, it's just so special,
taking the time, I think that's the most important part,
no matter what you're doing, it's this dance class
but the fact that you're taking time
and going, okay, this is important
I have to prioritize this,
and you spend it with your daughter, that's cool.
That's so cool. - Especially seeing
Derek and Julianne deal with each other,
and knowing he grew up with all girls,
once he left to London, I thought he was probably like,
"I'm outta here." (all laugh)
- So it's just like, I can deal with my daughter.
Probably not my sister, but I can deal with my daughter.
- I love how he knows my backstory.
- What's it like taking ballet classes with your dads?
- It's fun, it's good, it's everything I hoped for.
- Yeah? What do you think?
- It's awesome sauce, and I love it.
(all laugh)
- [Kelly] You just said awesome sauce!
- Keep it going baby!
- It's awesome sauce? Yes! Is it kinda funny
to see them dancing like that?
You think they're doing all right?
- Yeah. - Yes.
- Yeah? You think you're better or they're better?
- They better. - Us.
(all laugh and clap)
- I love it! So this means so much to your girls,
what's it mean to y'all? To have this time, just for y'all.
- You know kids look to us for confirmation,
and we they look to us for confirmation,
they just wanna know if it's okay.
So if I gotta get out there and be next to my daughter
to dance with her and look crazy
while doing it, then I'll do it.
- I don't think it's the quantity of time, it's the quality.
It's like, okay, let's say you only have
a little bit of time, well just take that time,
put your phone down, just let it be their time
and that's what counts I think.
(all clap) - Do y'all have any advice?
- Yeah I was just gonna say, you know,
I think one of the most masculine things
you could possibly do is be present.
- [Kelly] Or human! - Be present
for whoever it is that you love.
So I commend you guys so much, it's a beautiful thing.
- Thank you.
- And Julianne, what about the little ones?
Do you have any advice? They're future dancers.
- Oh my gosh, just keep having fun.
The minute it's not fun anymore,
you have to come back to why you did it in the first place
'cause I remember I burned out pretty early on in my career
and then I found that joy again.
So always find joy and happiness and just keep smiling.
- [Kelly] Yeah! (audience claps)