| This article is about the character portrayed by Peyton Alex Smith. You may be looking for the character portrayed by Jalil Williams. |
Jamal is a main character of the episode "Dancing", which was part of the tenth season of Barney & Friends. He was portrayed by Peyton Alex Smith (credited as Alex Smith).
As the other children go inside the caboose to see if the dancers for the dance party are here, Jamal hangs back and continues to sit on The Idea Bench. Noticing that Jamal isn't coming, Barney asks if he's coming. Jamal replies no and adds that he won't be at the dance party because he can't dance like the others and doesn't know how to in general. Barney encourages him to try a little step to which Jamal believes he'll look silly. With that said, Barney encourages him to dance a silly dance and have fun. Seeing that Jamal doesn't have the courage to do so, Barney assures him that he doesn't have to dance. Hearing some noise inside the caboose, the two of them go inside to see what's going on.
Jamal and Barney watch some hip hop dancers dance with brooms and trashcan lids. Afterwards, BJ asks everyone if they'd like to try out some new moves, which excites Barney, however he notices that Jamal disappeared. Barney eventually finds Jamal sitting alone in the park wondering if he's okay. Jamal expresses to Barney that he can't dance like the hip hop dancers he saw. Barney expresses that if he tries, he'll be surprised at his abilities. Eventually, Jamal watches a Native American dance and soon sees Baby Bop doing ballet. Jamal tells Baby Bop that he can't dance like her. Asking why he doesn't try, he tells her that he's unable to. Barney and Baby Bop encourage him to try, to which Jamal says that he might try one day but at the moment, he was going to go home.
Barney thinks and eventually tells Jamal that his problem is his shoes, given that they're not dancing shoes. Barney presents Jamal with a pair of dancing shoes and tells him that anyone can dance in those type of shoes. Barney demonstrates a dance move for Jamal to try and Jamal eventually repeats the step with his new dancing shoes on. Ecstatic, Jamal begins dancing around the park with Barney and everyone else sees Jamal dancing in his new shoes. As everyone in the park cheers for Jamal, he expresses that dancing was easy with his dancing shoes. Looking down, he notices that they're gone and are replaced with his old shoes, to which Barney expresses that his old shoes will work just as well. Jamal sees that Barney is right as he did a dance move in his old shoes.
Jamal comes to realize that he never did need the dancing shoes, to which Barney expresses that given he's a great dancer, he can dance in any kind of shoes. Jamal expresses that he appreciates Barney's friendship to which Barney shares the same sentiment.