May 16, 2005

  • The inability . . . or unwillingness . . . of people to heed simple
    instructions absolutely baffles me.  At Brianna's dance recital on
    Saturday evening there were prominent signs posted:  "NO FLASH
    PHOTOGRAPHY!" plus an announcement was made to the same effect before
    the show began, and as the lights dimmed.

    Yet it looked like the paparazzi had arrived en force,
    judging by the flashes of light going off around the auditorium during
    each number.  The injunction appeared to be totally ignored. 
    Yeah, parents, teach those kids respect for the rules, why doncha? 

    And remember the Texas legislature taking up the matter of sexually
    suggestive moves by cheerleaders?  Someone ought to start griping
    about the same regarding children's dance classes.  Why are little
    girls being stuck into dance costumes unsuitable for their age and
    stage, and taught to dance in a provocative manner?

    Yet this is common, and I regret to say encouraged
    by many of the families of these girls, judging by the enthusiastic
    reaction of the audience (my family being a notable exception...we'd
    mostly sit and glower in disapproval) whenever a line of six or seven
    year old girls would do a bump-and-grind motion, or shake their
    shoulders and arms.  Believe it or not, not only would the parents
    cheer these disgraceful, immodest moves, but I actually heard yelled by
    one father (based upon his use of a video camera), "Work it!"

    Are these people mad? 

Comments (9)

  • I have to comment on the photos below...that baby is just too cute!!

    And I agree with you I think that people are mad these days. I am pretty picky about how my kids dress (of course with boys it's a different battle, I've not had to battle with Katherine yet). Miss Katherine saw the picture of your little dance princess and immediately changed into her princess dress and had me put up her hair. I hope she plans to wear clothes that completely cover her until I'm dead...

  • Aw! How precious that Katherine decided if Brianna's doing the dress-up thang, then by golly, she will, too.

    And I didn't say so (only trouble with the NewsGator thingummy), but Katherine was cute as a bug in her shrug. Is that the right word? Shrug?

  • Thank you and Yup, shrug's the right word, a shrug is a sweater that really only covers your arms and shoulders. According to Lois they were popular in the 40's and 50's, and from what I've gathered (and seen in knit patterns) they are all the rage now.

    I think that Katherine and Brianna are about the same age. Katherine will turn 4 on May 29th. Everytime you post a picture of your grand daughter's Katherine tells me that they are her girlfriends. Such a funny age (and so different than my boys were!)

  • Brianna will be 5 on June 30, so there's a year between 'em but that's all. I know the two would get along famously if only they could meet.

  • "Work it"?  Should I ask...?

    =8^o

  • Ask Mike.

  • Yes, they are. What infuriates me is that antics of this sort were the last straw that made us leave an inner-city, community-funded ballet school at the end of last year (actually we pulled one of our girls from the recital because of these issues, though the other finished the year.)

    Think about it. Here's a program that was ostensibly originally set up and government-funded, with one of its stated aims to be to give children a positive, character-building activity that would keep the out of various forms of trouble, that in their troubled neighborhood and socio-economic class, were always lurking about them.

    So this is how they go about it? Training them to look and act like the women the police come by and pick up every now and then? >:|

  • I'm 77 and I took tap and ballet as a child and my girls took tap and ballet as  children and, believe me, no little girl ever dressed and danced the way some of the schools teach. There are dance classes that teach in a classical way  but I don't know which ones they are. I firmly believe that the "beauty contests" and "talent contests" that allow and teach little girls to dress in a "sexy" manner and dance provocatively are encouraging men with sick ideas to think that , yes, they do "want it" and are being given permission to look at children as grown up women. 

    Good for youall seeing that "the King has no clothes on".  A great grandmom

  • We switched to the local "ballet company" school for this year, though because of the significantly increased cost, we could afford to send only one of our girls (the one with the most apparent dance talent) and couldn't afford any of the "extras." Most cities have something like that -- rather than the "Miss Judy's storefront" type of school where they teach the tap, a little ballet, and a lot of showgirl antics, these are associated with professional performing ballet companies. Apart from the other concerns about not wanting my daughters trained to be little saloon girls, the company schools tend to really TEACH ballet according to formal methods, and train the kids in a challenging, worthwhile activity, not just teach them to show off and look cute so they can get the parents to keep shelling out.

    Actually, the company school we go to now is cheaper than the storefront type schools anyway, it's just more than the community center, heavily subsidized program we were in before. So expense isn't really an issue if you're already shelling out for dance lessons to begin with.

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