Living with autism isn’t easy for most kids. Some of them find it hard to socialize while others have a hard time communicating their thoughts and expressing their feelings. There are autistic kids who struggle when exposed to crowds, noises, and bright lights.
However, autism shouldn’t keep kids from expressing themselves. The key is finding the right tool that can help them with that. For some autistic kids, it’s doing art while for others, it’s dancing.
The Autism With Attitude is a group that helps autistic children use dancing as a way to express themselves.
Founded by Jonathan Baron, a high school dance teacher, the group took over the Greatest Dancer stage. There, they showed everyone what they can really do despite their diagnosis.
Before the group conquered the stage, they were asked to enter a room.
Inside, they shared that they go to the same school. And their favorite teacher? It’s none other than Jonathan. They even gave the amazing guy a tight hug!
The Greatest Dancer has an amazing concept.
At first, the group is hidden behind a wall. They will perform without seeing the judges or the audience. As they are dancing, viewers have the chance to vote. If the dancers were able to get more than 75 percent, the mirrored wall will open and they’ll move on to the next round.
The AWA didn’t have problems impressing the crowd.
After the music started playing, the kids started moving. Just by looking at the first few steps, you’d know right away that they worked hard to perfect their performance.
As the song went on, their movements went faster, too. Despite the pace, none of them missed a beat. They moved in perfect synchrony.
Then, the song changed.
Even though there was a change in the music, the kids were able to adapt without problems. They changed their routine seamlessly. The song continued to change several more times, letting the kids show off their amazing dance moves.
The kids’ performance was enough to convince the audience to let them take on the next round.
Even the judges were impressed. They were left smiling as the performance ended. The crowd, on the other hand, was cheering wildly!
They reacted that way not because the kids have autism but because of their hard work and talent.
As the kids’ teacher, Jonathan was emotional while seeing them perform.
Their journey wasn’t easy. He has personally witnessed each of his students evolve, particularly Jonathan. Even his mom couldn’t believe how much he’s changed.
She shared:
“James has high functioning autism. He’s always been quite a solitary child, but dancing has opened his eyes a lot to the outside world. I see him dance with passion, excitement, happiness, and these are all emotions that we never saw from him.”
Living with autism isn’t hard but having the right people definitely helps. These kids are lucky to have their favorite teacher by their side.
Watch AWA’s impressive dance routine in the video below!
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