Dance mom's new low

PaulaSB12

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Oct 7, 2005
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I know a lot of people defended these little girls dancing to Beyonce's song but how anyone can think this is appropriate I don't know

Lifetime's Dance Moms has hit new lows by asking its child contestants - the youngest of whom is just eight-years-old - to dress in nude bikinis and perform a burlesque routine on stage.
The raunchy dance moves are usually the domain of striptease experts, the X-rated acts brimming with nudity, nipple tassels and sexually explicit poses.
But a clip from this week's show sees dance teacher Abby Lee Miller dressing the children in tan bikinis to give the audience the impression of full nudity, before asking them to act as if a man 'cant' afford' them.

Upon announcing the suggestive routine - 'the audience should think that you are nude', reveals Ms Miler - the show's infamously competitive moms and their daughters are clearly shocked, as shown in the preview at Jezebel.
A wide-eyed eight-year-old Mackenzie tells the camera: 'I don't want to be naked on stage.'
Blonde-haired mother Christi is unequivocal: 'No-one ever wants to hear the word nude associated with their ten-year-old. Ever.'
The unease is palpable - a parent is heard loudly commenting: 'So much for being conservative'.
Christi's eyebrows adopt a default position halfway up her forehead. 'Those are crazy looking' she says, under her breath, as she watches the girls trying on their revealing ensembles.
Ms Miller, who has never been a professional dancer but has been teaching choreography since she was just 14, talks her young charges though the famously tittivating routine, instructing them to 'hide' behind then 'look' from the modesty of their hot pink fans.
As much as she may believe the audience will be so focused on the quivering, sweeping feathers to not notice the apparently nude children holding them, her intentions clearly suggest she wants onlookers to think 'prostitute' when they see the dancers.
'I'm hot, I'm mean, you can't have me, you can't afford me' she says to the girls during practice.
'It's crotch, ****s' she says of the fan positioning - despite all of the girls being too young to have much in the way of breasts.
It's not just the routine that is inappropriate. Even the girls see that their skimpy outfits are uncomfortably revealing.
'How's this going to fit me?' says Mackenzie. 'I can fit this on my American doll.'
The fierce dance madam apparently sees no insensitivity on the misguided outfit choice, explaining that 'you give the allusion that you're nude underneath the fans... we all know you're wearing tan bras and tan pants.' The fans, she says, are for covering the body.
'Everyone in in the industry knows the girls are completely covered and everything is harmless... These mothers need to stop questioning me. What I do works.'
Yet, despite the initial shock reactions and obvious anxiety caused by the inappropriate idea, the mothers do not successfully intervene.


I am sorry this woman needs to be taken off the screen what she is doing is so wrong on so many levels.
 
When our daughter was in first grade she participated in cheerleading. We paid about $10 for a team t-shirt. When the t-shirts arrived, the picture was clearly of the "Big Johnson" cheerleaders variety - a picture of grown women with large breasts and bottom hanging out of short skirts and low cut shirts, all in suggestive poses. (I have NO idea what our coaches were thinking when they chose this design???) I know a lot of people find these t-shirts funny, but it's not something I would ever wear and I will not allow my children to either. In my opinion, it was beyond inappropriate for my seven year old.

I explained my feelings to the coach and told her that our daughter would not be wearing the shirt and we would provide a plain white t-shirt for her to wear. The coach was fine with that, but if the coach had made an issue of it, we would have withdrawn from the team. We don't approve of quitting team activities mid-season and our daughter would have been very dissapointed, but we would have made that decision. The shirt was that far beyond our standards.

So my only opinion is these dance parents need to MAKE A DECISION. Either you are on board with your kid wearing a suggestive dance outfit and participating in suggestive dances or you are not. But don't participate and then sit there complaining about it.
 

I am not agreeing with what Abby did...but those pictures on that link are touched up to make it look like the girls are really topless. Yes, they had tan bra's, but when they performed the bra's were decorated with a lot of rhinestones.
I just finished watching the 2nd half of the show (I fell asleep watching it the other night)
Again..I am not agreeing with the costumes
 
As a Dance Mom of a 10 yr old DD I was horrified by this episode. If my child's dance team attempted to dress her as a prostitot and then have her dance in such a way she would simply not be dancing. Don't even get me started on what DH would say to that woman:sad2:
 
I don't watch the show, but if what the OP posted is true, then the only ones to blame for it being allowed to happen are those mothers. If they didn't pull their dd's out of the routine, or out of the school for that matter, then it is nobody's fault but their own.
 
I only saw the promo clip as I was watching something else- it showed her doing the I'm hot I'm mean you can't afford me part.
As someone that pulled her daughter out of dance when she was 7 for less than that- clearly I would have an issue with it. Agree that it's the Moms more so than the dance instructor.
 
I agree that the costumes and routine were completely inappropriate. What I think a lot of people don't understand is that this show is completely manufactured. I am the mother of a competitive dancer and watching this show makes me cringe (so much so that I stopped watching midway through season 1).

You must register and pay for a competition at least a month in advance. At that time you must list the name of the routine, the participating dancers and their ages. There is no way to decide to do a new routine just a week before a competition. It would be a scheduling nightmare for the competiton organizers. Dancers also practice routines for months before a competition. The idea of learning a new routine a week before performing it is ridiculous.

It is clear to me that this entire show is staged. I believe the moms, girls and teachers are all following the producers' outline and that outline is filled with drama and controversy just for ratings. While most reality shows seem to have producer input or are editied to be more interesting than they really are i believe "Dance Moms" takes that a step too far. It's like "The Hills" or "Laguna Beach" in a dance studio. That's all well and good, but people shouldn't be misled into thinking it is anything close to reality.
 
:scared1:

That is discusting
Those Moms should get their DD's taken from them:sad2:
 
The costumes were full of rhinestones and you could definitely tell the kids were not nude at the performance. The pictures they show are before any work was done of the bras, so they are just plain nude colored bras.The shorts were actually white. I would never let my child do that type of dance, but the costumes weren't all that different from others I have seen worn in that kind of competition. It was the size of a 2 piece swimsuit, and when watching, it was obvious they had on bras and booty shorts.
 
:scared1:

That is discusting
Those Moms should get their DD's taken from them:sad2:

Oh please, I think CPS has more important things to worry about than a reality TV show. Did you watch the show? They took the flesh covered tops, covered them in tons of bling (dispelling the illusion that they were naked), darkened out the clear strap so you could see them, and they wore silver boy shorts. I've seen less at a beach on a 10 year old.

But it really doesn't matter - they're doing this for the ratings, for money, for 15 minutes of fame. This is as real as pro wrestling. And maybe the some of the girls will get an opportunity from this brief moment in the limelight. I mean, they're from PITTSBURG, not the center of the arts. Heck, have you seen the girls' teeth?! Maybe they'll be able to afford braces.
 
Costumes aside it's what was said that would concern me if I had a child in her class.

That some woman would be asking my child to act like a pro and flash her non existant b**bs and wiggle her behind would get me very mad.

'I'm hot, I'm mean, you can't have me, you can't afford me' . That's how they are supposed to looking according to a never been professional dancer turned "teacher"

:sad2:
 
The costumes were full of rhinestones and you could definitely tell the kids were not nude at the performance. The pictures they show are before any work was done of the bras, so they are just plain nude colored bras.The shorts were actually white. I would never let my child do that type of dance, but the costumes weren't all that different from others I have seen worn in that kind of competition. It was the size of a 2 piece swimsuit, and when watching, it was obvious they had on bras and booty shorts.

This exactly, the costume was not nearly as bad as it sounded when Abby first described it. And there were NO nipple tassels :laughing:.

As for the dance, there were a few questionable moves but I am not so sure that there were any more than there are in other dances the group has done so it wasn't as "shocking" as the article makes it sound.
 
Of course what goes on in this show is manufactured. I saw an article online about this showgirls episode a few days ago and what really sickened me was a link to a purported online chat of pedophiles discussing the show, well particularly the dancers and I'll just leave it at that.

While I'm highly skeptical the online chat was real, I have no doubt there are many, many similar online discussions about the show. That thought leaves me feeling I got punched in the gut.

BTW, the straps were being colored with make-up to make them blend into the skin & disappear to the audience, not to make clear straps visible.
 
The costumes were full of rhinestones and you could definitely tell the kids were not nude at the performance. The pictures they show are before any work was done of the bras, so they are just plain nude colored bras.The shorts were actually white. I would never let my child do that type of dance, but the costumes weren't all that different from others I have seen worn in that kind of competition. It was the size of a 2 piece swimsuit, and when watching, it was obvious they had on bras and booty shorts.

yeah people! What is wrong with you? It was clear that these CHILDREN were in bras and booty shorts!
:rolleyes:
 
I only saw the promo clip as I was watching something else- it showed her doing the I'm hot I'm mean you can't afford me part.

As someone that pulled her daughter out of dance when she was 7 for less than that- clearly I would have an issue with it. Agree that it's the Moms more so than the dance instructor.

THAT (bolded) was what really got to me in the whole thing, the way Abby described it. And how she told the girls to dance or act.



yeah people! What is wrong with you? It was clear that these CHILDREN were in bras and booty shorts!
:rolleyes:

In reality, it was very similar to a swim suit, honestly. And they have worn decorated bras before. Chloe had one that was dyed blue a couple of shows back.

Not saying I would have been ok with the dance, but it wasn't as bad as it's being made out to be. Abby's comments were probably the worst part.

I do think that if it hadn't been a "fan dance" and the girls had worn the same costumes for a more age-appropriate dance there would have never been an issue. Mckenzie had it on and wore it on stage without any fans as she did the back flips, or whatever they are called, across the stage.
 
I mean, they're from PITTSBURG, not the center of the arts. Heck, have you seen the girls' teeth?! Maybe they'll be able to afford braces.

If you are going to bash my city, at least get the spelling correct!! It's PITTSBURGH- with an H. :headache:

And yes, we are a center for the arts, a very prominent one. Have you never heard of Carnegie Mellon University?? CMU is one of the most highly regarded performing arts colleges in the country. Pittsburgh has produced a long list of celebrities, to name a few: Josh Groban, Melina Kanakenderas, Dennis Miller, Julie Benz, Holly Hunter, Francis McDormand, Ming Na, Dan Cortese, Scott Glenn, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Keaton, GENE KELLY, Zachary Quinto, Rob Marshall, Jackie Evancho, Christina Aguilera, Coolio, Wiz Khalifa, MARTHA GRAHAM....get the idea.

And ALL little girls teeth look like that. Kids are not supposed to get braces until their teens, and this comes from having a mother who is and has been a dentist for the past 25 years.
 
As the mom of a dancer and competitive cheerleader, my major problem with this is the theming. It is simply inappropiate to ask children to perfrom a berlesque routine. Abby has doen SEVERAL numbers over the course of the show that would definitely NOT have included my DD. My DD would not have perfromed in this or the Electricity number they did in LA to name a few. The idea of bra top/ booty short costumes doesn't bother me nearly as much as the idea that she is trying to get the audience to look at these children as prostitutes.

Tight/ short clothing goes along with dance and cheer. There is really no way around that. In and of itself, I don't feel there is anything wrong with a child in an costume that shows stomach or has short shorts. It think that the way in which these dances present those costumes as well as the colors, decoratinos, ect being chosen are the issue with cotuming. If the same costume was done is purple and gold with arabic decoration and the child was dancing to a A Whole New World I don't think nearly as many people would be up in arms. It is all in the theming, fabric and embellishment choices, and decoration. It can give the same base garment and entirely different connotation. What she is asking these girls to wear is inappropiate not because of the amount of fabric present or not present, but because the costumes are designed to send the message that these kids are prostitutes.
 















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