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Baby steps: Dancing babies and toddlers are teaching professional dancers a thing or two

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Maria Sabangan listens with her daughter Avianna, 5, as Lenny Pearce takes the stage for the ‘baby rave’ in San Francisco, Nov. 22, 2025. Everyone loves tiny dancers. Now some artists are considering why they bring us such joy — and what lessons they might have for grown-ups. (Jason Henry/The New York Times)

Ms Maria Sabangan and her daughter Avianna, five, at Australian DJ Lenny Pearce's "baby rave" party in San Francisco on Nov 22.

PHOTO: JASON HENRY/NYTIMES

Margaret Fuhrer

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Everyone loves dancing babies. Their uninhibited enthusiasm makes them an evergreen draw on social media, the most popular people on a wedding dance floor, the stars of the family-friendly daytime dance parties that have proliferated over the past few years.

But some artists are taking that love a step further, making young children a part of the choreographic process or creating music designed to get them moving.

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