wish i could move my ass like this

[rainbabies]

soooo....this is making the rounds on the iternet. they can move, great little dancers...but MY GAWD!!! why are the insructors and parents allowing these moves and costumes??!!! hi pervert, meet our SEVEN year old girls.
um...and my girls aren't allowed to even wear bikinis.
check em out...they've got talent! (the one in the middle is really good!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjehi...layer_embedded#!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXCDv0IorMQ

[scrub-jay]

Completely agree with you. Very talented dancers, but costumes and dance was a little mature.

that made me squirm! those little girls clearly have skills, but I think there are more age appropriate ways to display/encourage them. ick.

[Pollyanna]

I've been a dance mom for the last 7 years. The costumes/dance is WAY over the top for that age group but is also pretty standard fair for most dance competitions and some studios. Some dance competitions have more of it and some less. Some competitions score higher for stuff like that and others don't. I've seen seven year olds in white nurse outfits, mid-drift bare, with hearts on their chests. The most important thing if you want your child to start dance, and if they become interested in doing it competitively, is to go to the recitals/competitions and see the dances and costumes of the studio you are interested in. Our director always picks what I consider age appropriate costumes/dances. We have even received letters from other studios complimenting us for that very thing. At the same time there are plenty of parents that complain when costume time comes. The following link is a compilation of last years recital. I do not have an issue with any costume or move done by the dancers but some did. There is a happy medium in dance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StmXH6-5kuA

[HouseofWool]

I have to agree that the first video is too much for me. I would be appalled if that were proposed for my daughter. All of it, costume, choreography, lyrics, were WAAAAAY to suggestive for 7 year olds. Heck - for 17 year olds.

On the other hand, I didn't see anything out of line in Tara's link... A couple of the hip hop moves were suggestive, but as they were done with the dancers wearing baggy sweats, it too away the pole dancing aspect of it, for me at least.

[ladymoreta]

Yeah, good dancers, but just way too creepy... Polyanna, that looks like a great studio. Very tasteful and talented!

[rainbabies]

i didn't see anything in the link you posted tara, that was like the links i posted. a little bit from the older groups, but at least they had clothes on. and they weren't 7 years old. i liked watching it... thanks.

[JaneDoe]

Wow, I only watched about 15 seconds of it before turning it off. The costumes as well as some of the dance moves are highly sexualized. How sad for girls. Yuck.

[Sheherezade]

I think the first video was insane. INSANE! I can't imagine being the dance studio that proposed that. It seems like something they'd think up when they are sitting around drinking. You know, a goof idea that you'd rethink in the morning. I'm guessing they were going for the full on, no holds barred "we are so daring" effect. Anyway, I have no doubt that the majority of non-dance world parents, liberal OR conservative would find that an odd choice.

I totally get what Tara is saying though. My daughter is in a ballet studio and the costumes are tame, tame, tame. That said, they get complaints about costumes every year. One year, my daughter's group had a choker with a flower on it as part of their costume. Several parents yelled "hooker!" and the call was to change the chokers to headbands.

[houseelf]

My eyes are goggling out of my head. I'm surprised that the comments under the youtube videos sound like endorsements. I would FREAK if I enrolled my daughter in dance and this is what she was told to wear and jiggle. You have GOT to be kidding me.

Tara, your dance studio looks much more appropriate and wholesome. It also appears that there is some serious talent there too.

[Pollyanna]

Angie, that is exactly my point. You have the CLEAR sexualization of young girls as demonstrated by the Single Ladies video and sexualization as perceived by some parents in nearly every aspect of dance. I find it disturbing that a choker combined with a ballet costume is considered sexual, that is just beyond silly and I would venture to say harmful in a different kind of way.

[SuzySunshine]

wish i could move my ass like this

I just saw a commercial for Inside Edition they're going to have the parents on. Not the best news show but we'll see what they say.

[SoonerTexan]

This one isn't any better, maybe worse--ironically I stumbled across it the other day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXCDv0IorMQ

[v-girl]

This makes me sooooo glad we are at a classical ballet studio. They do have jazz, modern and hip hop classes, but the focus is on ballet. And the owners are so conservative with their students that we don't even do recital costumes -- color coded leotards with a short ballet skirt and a slick ballet bun.

[SuzySunshine]

So the parents basically said the moves are not sexual at all and that these girls worked 10-12 hours/week on this routine. They said they see no issue with the costumes even though the reporter even made the comment that the girls had less clothes on then Beyonce did in the video.