Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt These young ladies are incredible dancers but my girls are 9 & !! and I think I would be horrorfied if I saw this!
Originally Posted By KatieKate123 Thats how I feel too. My girls are in dance, and my one daughter loves it. I am sure she will end up in competitions as she gets older, but I think I would be horrified if she was wearing this outfit and doing this dance.
Originally Posted By barboy2 ///Their costumes cover up way more than what I see even toddlers wear to the pool & lake.///, Covering up is not the issue; sexuality bestowed on the young is. There is a proper context for clothed children and non clothed children. Non clothed children doesn't necessarily translate to sexuality and fully clothed children doesn't necessarily correspond with virtue and safety. And by the way a totally nude child on a beach/lake could be perfectly fine whereas a fully dressed child on stage could be wholly disgraceful....... it depends on the context. ///this dance should have never been posted to the general public. It should have stayed where it belonged, at the dance competition & between family members. It's a pedophiles dream & should have never been posted public./// You do realize that those who seek inappropriate behavior with children are aunts/uncles, moms/dads, sisters/brothers, teachers, police and, yes, even those involved with dance competitions, right? So if that video is child smut(and I suspect it is based on the outrage)then it doesn't belong among the dance community either. Conversely, if the little girl performance is appropriate for the dance competition then it is appropriate for the public at large as well.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder I just don't get anyone trying to justify this video. A very interesting yet nonetheless very sad statistic to follow will be to see how many of these girls end up pregnant by 15-16, or had sex, voluntarily or otherwise.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Bottom line, kids aren't kids anymore, by the time they reach school age. The innocence disappears way too quickly, and that's sad. Yes, they're all great dancers. But they don't have to perform like they're in a Britney Spears video to show off their talents.
Originally Posted By tapdancemom I have a dance studio and have been involved with the business for over 30 years and I hate to see young girls doing moves like that, in my opinion way to skimpy of a costume. Granted they are technically superb little dancers, as good as a lot of teenagers that we have at our school. It's too bad that they aren't more appropriately dressed & using a song more suited for their age. As a former competition judge I know that that's out there but I would have given them a low score, with comments for the instructor. At national teacher training sessions ths topic always comes up. While most other instructors feel the way I do, there are those that do not. Judges will often score them high, but the higher caliber of judge usually will not...and make appropriate remarks to the teacher of the students. I can't believe that parents are ok with this, especially the dads. My husband would have a fit if his daughter was made to perform like that. We run a high quality school, with appropriate costuming and music choice that I feel proud to put out for parents, family and friends. Our dancers don't do competition, but have danced many time in Disneyland. Let me tell you that what I saw in that video is not something that would be acceptable there.
Originally Posted By SuperDry Here's a follow-up story about the story that appeared on CNN recently: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/27tow46" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/27tow46</a> The unscientific response to their first story on the issue was that 90% of the people thought it was inappropriate. Then they showed a few parents that thought this sort of thing was a great way to showcase their kids' talent. I'm somewhat surprised at the response by some in this thread in support of such dancing, but I guess it explains why such a thing exists at all.
Originally Posted By Labuda Thanks very much for coming in and giving us your POV, tapdancemom! You and Wendy are the two "experts" on this whose opinion I most trust.
Originally Posted By wendebird If the judges felt the way 90% of the people on Facebook, this type of thing wouldn't be an issue. Why do these judges give these kids such a high score? Why do they deem it appropriate attire? Why do they deem it age appropriate choreo? I also watched the clip SuperDry posted & I have to say I've never seen those type of things at a dance competition. ie: kids crying because they don't want to go on & parents pushing them. I think the dance competitions are more closely related to sports, than beauty pageants. They are a team effort. Here is a video, although bad quality & only during dress rehearsal, (so they're not really pushing themselves) of my daughter & her 2 friends. They did take this dance to competition. They are 9 & 10 year olds. This is a sample of what I deem appropriate & yes, they're wearing hot shorts! <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73wBKOSOpCk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...BKOSOpCk</a>
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <I'm somewhat surprised at the response by some in this thread in support of such dancing, but I guess it explains why such a thing exists at all.> Did anybody here come out "in support?" The most I gleaned was "they're talented dancers," but usually followed by some version of "but ick."
Originally Posted By barboy2 ///This is a sample of what I deem appropriate/// Some moves in that video were laced with blatant sexuality----- I don't agree with calling that type of dancing(based on ages of the performers)"appropriate".
Originally Posted By Labuda barboy - what, specifically are you referring to? Me, my semi-prudish eyes, and I only think that maybe the thing where they lay down and put a hand on the hip could be construed as less-than-age-appropriate...
Originally Posted By barboy2 ///they lay down and put a hand on the hip/// Yep. And standing with hands on hips while doing a pronounced ass-shake looks like a sassy invite for sex..... considering these are children it looks pretty damn provocative and uncalled-for if you ask me. Do children really need to act like that? When will children get to be children. Parents should not allow their kids to emulate/imitate Brit Speers, Lady Gagga, Beonce Knows or 2 Short(I'm not accusing you of that wendebird).
Originally Posted By KatieKate123 I have to disagree with you barboy, about wendees daughter video. It might have had a little sexiness towards it but not to the point where you are like oh my goodness they are growing up too fast. Girls love to dance, girls love to shake their bootys but going overboard is going overboard and in her video that is no where near the other video towards sexiness.
Originally Posted By wendebird Thank you Katie, for a second there I thought I had become blind to something because I didn't see anything as being blantantly sexual.
Originally Posted By barboy2 ///It might have had a little sexiness towards it/// I only make these comments because of the context. If the girls were home and dancing around the house spontaneously and just happened to shake their behinds who gives a rip----no harm, no foul....kids just being kids. But this was choreographed and on stage and thus should be scrutinized more carefully. If a dance move could be considered risque/sexy for the age then remove it just to be safe because a little sexiness does not belong among the very young. Just to be clear I really appreciate your incite on these types of competitions and I am sure you're a great mom---I really mean that because you obviously care about your girl and you take a great interest in her dancing. I'm sure if she sticks with it your girl will be a mighty fine dancer with you leading the way.
Originally Posted By KatieKate123 I agree with you most dances have a little sexiness to be thrown in. It is wrong but I am not sure what you would do about it. All of the dances would be bland and boring if they were the same. Yes its wrong, but thats what dancing is all about. It is also about confidence, and commitment. The video though was just overboard an totally wrong (the one posted first)
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder This just doesn't sound like barboy. This is a barboy2, and the misspelled words, the cadence, a certain attitude just doesn't seem like him. I could be wrong, but something's amiss.
