5.16.2010

Dance recitals are strange, strange things

So, by now I'm sure many of you have seen this video - it's been ALL OVER the news in the past few days...and everyone is talking about the young girls (ages 8 and 9) and the dance moves they're performing while dressed like the elementary school version of the Pussycat Dolls.

The parents of the girls claim the "costumes" are just that - dance costumes that were completely appropriate for a dance competition.

Personally, I would not want my daughters to dress that way - I don't care if it's "appropriate" for the dance routine. Little girls should not look like that.

I just don't understand why parents are so insistent on forcing their little girls to grow up so quickly. Why can't little girls just be little girls?

Which brings me to the dance recital I just sat through.

One routine in particular left me scratching my head and wondering "what the heck just happened?"

The dancers in the group were tweens (probably ages 10- 12) and I can't tell you what song they started dancing to, but the routine ended with Ke$ha's "Tik Tok". These girls were singing along to the song as they danced (I don't know why) and yes, they sang the line "I brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack."

Yeah, I'm serious.
Tween girls sang a line about brushing their teeth with a bottle of Jack Daniels.

I couldn't make this up if I wanted to.

I cannot imagine for the life of me (1) what the hell the dance instructor was thinking when she picked Ke$ha's song (which for all intents and purposes is about going out and partying until the "police shut them down" .... not exactly what tween girls should be doing on a Friday night), and (2) what the hell were the parent's thinking when they said "yeah, that's a good idea".

Call me crazy, but maybe...just maybe...there should be an "age appropriate" thought process in things like this. I'm quite certain there was a better song out there ... and one that didn't require little girls to sing about boozing it up with Jack.

3 comments:

  1. Oooh...these kind of things get me all fired up. I agree...certain moms push their girls to grow up too fast. They think it's "cute".

    Umm...not cute. I also don't understand why they make the tiniest little dancers wear makeup? Little girls are cute enough...they don't need clown makeup on.

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  2. Last year, our school put on a music show with the 3-5 graders...there was a number with some 4th grade boys doing some dancing to John Legend's "green light"....ohhhh was that interesting as many parents AND grandparents were sitting there listening to ALL the lyrics!! We just left there very confused about the music teacher! :(

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  3. As the mother of a cheerleader I get both sides. Luckily for me our coach is not a fan of the super short tops and super short skirts. She picks songs for the girls with good beats, but doesn't use words. If she does they don't have bad words.
    On the other side, if my daughter wanted to do dance or cheerleading and the uniforms were short, I'd make her aware that this is only for cheerleading. She wouldn't be allowed to dress that way any other time. We listen to all the pop, country, rock stations so my kids know a lot of songs and a lot of words to the songs. They know not to use the bad words and if they have questions about the songs we talk about it.
    I grew up under a rock and I'm trying my hardest to expose my kids to more than I was exposed to. All within limits though.

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