Baby Steps

Although it's too soon to say if the "Dancing Baby" will grow into a full-fledged trend, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the birth of the tot with all the right moves. An Internet sensation, "Dancing Baby" recently gained prime-time TV exposure courtesy of the popular new Fox series "Ally McBeal."

For those who have yet to catch a glimpse of the rug-cutting tyke, we'll explain: Originally included as a demonstration segment of the Character Studio animation software released by San Francisco- based Kinetix in mid-1996, "Dancing Baby" has attained a sort of cult status among Internet aficionados eager to add new steps to the infant's routine. The end result is lifelike--perhaps eerily so.

"It's phenomenal," says Jim Guerard, Kinetix's general manager, of the interest in "Dancing Baby." "We're in discussions about [future projects]."

And that's about as much baby talk as we were privy to. Even the gender of the groovin' youngster, alas, remains a mystery. Says Guerard, "You'll have to stay tuned."

This article was originally published in the April 1998 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Baby Steps.