When dh first saw dd's first hip hop costume, I thought he would bust a blood vessel; but once he saw her with it on (in the living room not on stage) with her tights and dance shoes, etc; he realized it wasn't revealing anything. Everything was well covered, there was NOTHING to see.
...
And every move done was a hip hop dance move. If the girls are learning hip hop then those are the moves they will be learning. I didn't invent the dance style, I don't know "why"; it just is. Are there other moves? I am sure there are many. Could they have left a few out? Sure.
Hip hop must be very different in your neck of the woods (though I've seen it danced in competition all over the country, so
) All those pirouettes and leg extensions are not hip hop. The costume is not a hip hop costume. As I said before, the thrusts are hip hop, but are usually done by dancers wearing longer, baggier clothing. Some studios will put a hip hop team in boy shorts, but not very often. Hip hop doesn't require that "lines be seen" to the extent that jazz, pom or ballet do. The gross thing about the video is not any one move on it's own, it's the whole package. I'd even be OK with the finger lick if it was a song about ice cream and they were wearing cute, girlish costumes. I linked to a hip hop montage earlier, which is typical hip hop. These outfits are far from it.
I really don't think these costumes were "revealing" just inappropriate. It's pseudo-lingerie..... a child should not be wearing it. Very creepy. The bare midriff isn't the issue for me.
Well, the Dad admitted the moves were sexual when he said, "They don't even know what they're doing"
That's why you need to step up as a Dad nimrod.
My thoughts exactly!
I didn't like how the Mother played it off. She basically said she didn't understand why people were so upset. I can see if you're in the competitive dancing world and this is the "norm" that you, as a parent may not have minded the routine, but don't play so dumb as to not "understand" why people may have a problem with it. That's just naive, and made her ramblings more mindless.
Despite what some of the sleazier studios convince their customers to believe, it's not the norm for competitive dance in that age group.
Another seemingly bad decision by the parents is how they have explained the uproar to the girls. The girls were interviewed and say how hard they work. One of them says, "We put in 120%. No, more than that. We put in 220%!" and all the rest nod and agree. It appears that these girls think the uproar is about how well they performed. How awful is that? They need to be told it has nothing to do with them. It's the adults who made poor costume and choreography choices that the people are upset with, not them. They did work hard and do have talent, and should be proud of themselves.
Maybe she should have waited until she was 18 but to me this isn't the same thing at all. Miley is clearly trying to break out of the teeny bopper mode and is almost an adult. These little girls have a long way to go yet.
My thoughts exactly. Her video doesn't really bother me, but if I were her parent, I would have made her wait until she was 18 to do that.
Did anyone else scroll through all of the competition pictures? I did. And EVERY SINGLE TEAM had significantly more clothing on than these girls. It was an urban dance competition where people wear street wear, not the feature outfit from the February Frederick's catalog.
Yes! I looked at the other teams, too, and there is a striking contrast. They try to tell us that this is the standard dance attire. Clearly at this competition it isn't!
Without youtube, it is very possible that the kids could have done the routine and not one person ever been upset about it.
Having heard what people in the audience say about routines tamer than this one, I can guarantee you that there would have been people upset by it even without youtube. They would have talked about it amongst themselves, maybe one or two of them would have taken the time to write to the WOD and express their concerns, but it wouldn't have gone much farther than that. I for one, am glad this has been publicized, because I think that will be more effective in getting this kind of thing stopped, than one or two emails from a dance competition might.
As for changing, the changes will have to come from the judging in the competitions. As long as routines like this win or place, they will continue to be a part of dance. The dance schools put their dancers in competitions to win and that is what they aim for.
Its just like in cheer. Many years ago when my nieces began to cheer, the few competitions they were in did not allow stunts under a certain age. Now the stunts get to be more and more complicated. A lot of really young girls get hurt because of it, but as long as the routines are winning compeititions the stunts are going to stay. It has to change at the competition level.
BTW, many people have the same negative connatations about cheer because of their "skimpy" uniforms and their "sexual" moves.
I agree that the judges need to deduct more points for inappropriate moves, lyrics and costuming. That would put an end to it. But parents need to stand up, too. Look at that dad in the video. He is clearly uncomfortable with it, but he just goes along with it, probably because his wife wants to. The mom just repeats "this is the way it is" "you don't understand" again and again, like she's been brainwashed into believing it herself. Your kids are talented! Imagine what they could do with a talented choreographer! One that actually knows how to choreograph a great routine, not a too-fast series of bumps and grinds with a couple of nice dance moves thrown in. Tell your studio you won't let your kids be dressed up as tramps. Put your money behind it and they
will listen.
Obviously the animation would be somewhat different be the basic moves for the dance are in that video. Not the pelvic thrusts and grinds mind you but the hand movements and hip shaking was.
But it's the pelvic thrusts and grinds that we're finding inappropriate, not the hand movements. The Chipettes attire is also completely different and infinitely more appropriate.
lmao: did I really just say that about a cartoon chipmunk?
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