Nora Gross was singing in the first row of the children's choir at her church's annual Christmas concert. Then, the 2-year-old, who turned 3 a few days after the concert, went rogue in a moment that has since gone viral on social media.
Nora, wearing a silver and red plaid dress, gently stepped out of line and moved to the front of the stage. Still singing, she spread her arms, twirled and hugged the instructor. Off camera, she visited the musicians.
When Nora returned to the camera frame, she started to conduct. Rather than encourage her to go back into the line, the music instructor helped little Nora mimic her movements.
In a video recorded by parishioner Jennifer Farrar and uploaded to TikTok, the crowd cheered for Nora.
Farrar tells TODAY.com that her eye had been on Nora before she started filming.
"When the kids began singing and I took a short video, I saw her step forward and thought, I need to follow her something special is about to happen. She certainly did not disappoint. The entire audience erupted into applause, and in that moment, we all knew we were witnessing something truly special," she says.
For parents Jayna and Otto Gross, this moment was adorable — but not surprising. This is classic Nora, they tell TODAY.com.
"Nora is very free," mom Jayna says. "She's very confident. She'll sing, dance. No fear."
"She's definitely brave," dad Otto says. "She has two older siblings. She's not afraid to try anything. So getting in front of a group of, 3, 4,000 people — I don't think that fazes Nora at all."
Her parents weren't sure what would happen as they watched Nora break from the choir formation. Jayna was watching from the balcony, where she encouraged the kids to smile while singing.
"When I saw her moving, I thought to myself, 'Oh no. What's about to happen?'" she says.
Otto, meanwhile, was on stage and directing the concert. "My brain was really hoping this goes OK. And it turned out great," Otto says.
Nora's decision to conduct was like a sweet ode to her parents, who are both musicians. Otto and Jayna met while studying at the Berklee School of Music and went on have careers in music — Jayna as a music teacher and Otto as the worship director at Christ Church Nashville, the interdenominational church where the concert unfolded.
"She's grown up seeing us (conducting). I don't think it was anything outside the norm for her," she says.
Nora's older siblings, meanwhile, were also onstage. They saw their sister but were "so locked in to what they were doing" that they didn't stop.
Today, they have four kids and a house full of music and "joy," Jayna says. The Gross children often attend choir practices that their father directs, where they run and dance.
"Music is just what oozes out of us as a family. It manifests in many ways. It can be dancing, it can be singing, it can be playing an instrument. There's no telling what you'll get, but it's always some form of creativity," Jayna says.
Jayna says in that sense, the kids — son Otto and daughters Nova, Nora and Noelle — take after their father.
"Walking in the grocery store, this man will break out in dance," she says. "Joy is a key scene in our family and these kids know how to bring it."
Jayna and Otto say they've never "forced" their kids into music, but that all four are musically inclined and gravitate toward it naturally.
In the comments of the videos, people applaud choir instructor Beth Kolwyck for encouraging Nora, a feeling her parents share.
"It is easy for someone to snatch up and say, 'No, get in line.' It's easy to conform, but the expression of freedom, I think that is the heart behind creativity, behind music, behind love. I'm grateful that that was encouraged," Jayna says.
