Grounded

THE KIDS in “So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation” are talented and well-trained.

I’ve been sick for much of the past week. There’s got to be a strong bug going around. Needless to say, except for a couple of necessary appointments, I remained grounded at home.

So what else can a sick woman do? Watch a lot of TV.

Of course because of current events, my husband Rob and I were tuned in to the news a lot, as well as reading online news outlets. Then, once the rest of my family fell fast asleep, I’d be left by my lonesome to watch whatever I wanted—and that’s when I fell into a wormhole of American reality TV.

I got stuck watching “So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation.”

Like its name implies, the dancers who vie for the title of America’s Favorite Dancer are very young—like, from ages 8 to 13. So many incredibly talented dancers showed up at the auditions, ready to show themselves off in their preferred styles: ballet, jazz, hip hop, contemporary and ballroom.

My jaw fell onto the floor over and over again, because it wasn’t just that those kids were adorable and beautiful. Many of them were talented and well-trained.

Ten-year-olds doing perfect pirouettes and split jumps.

There would be video biographies of the kids, and it was wonderful to see that their parents were incredibly supportive without being overbearing.

Some of them included professional dancers who taught their own children to dance.

After the kids go through to the Academy, 10 All-Stars (dancers) then get to mentor five young aspirants. With each passing day, that number is whittled down until each All-Star has just one young dancer with whom they enter the live shows, and hope that when America votes, it’ll be for their ward.

This is one season of the show I shall definitely be watching.

‘And I’ll form the head’

If you’re a fan of a certain mid-1980s Japanese animated robot series, then you know where that quote came from. Both my brother Gerard and I loved “Voltron,” so on quite a few late nights at home this week, I decided to start watching it again.

Originally animated by the Toei Company, the same folks behind “Voltes V” and “Mazinger Z,” the “Voltron” force was a team of five explorers trained to pilot mechanical lions that could come together to form the mighty robot, Voltron. The premise is similar to “Voltes V,” but I have to defer to my beloved “Voltes” when it came to pushing the drama envelope (watch the first few “Voltes” episodes, and you’ll see what I mean).

Anyway, this series is just how I remember. It’s old-fashioned, hand-drawn animation, made way before the advent of computers. It’s voiced by American voice actors (a group of seven of them voices every character. One of them, BJ Ward, voices both Princess Alura and the witch, Haggar, as well as the European-sounding nanny) and despite it looking quite dated, it’s still fun (and nostalgic) to watch.

Using my hands

Finally, one family activity that keeps us bonded is when we gather around the dinner table to assemble our Lego kits. Right now, I’m working on a “Star Wars” Sandcrawler. Rob just completed his Millennium Falcon, and Nicole finished an amusement park.

When it’s just Nic and me, we play musical theater selections (only the clean stuff from “Hamilton” and “The Book of Mormon”) and converse about the day.

Of late, she’s begun to learn how to play the violin. It’s a requirement in school, so she’s also taking one-on-one lessons with Gerard’s wife, DJ (each lesson then transitions into a play date with her cousins).

DJ just taught her a variation of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” and told Nicole to practice every day. Today, Nic brought out her violin to practice, and asked me to play the piano accompaniment for her.

“We can bond with this, Mom!” So I did—and it was fun! And, she didn’t want to stop.

I don’t require that my daughter be the next Vanessa Mae, but I do wish for her to gain respect and appreciation for instrumental music, given that a few members of her immediate family list “musician” as their profession. And, yes, joining her in making music at home was recuperative for me.