Little Girls Dancing; Too Young to 'Put a Ring on It'?

[shan]

Icky all the way around -- valid moves or not. Some of the expressions on their faces were a bit creepy too.

[Glide2]

I think if the outfits hadn't been so.....slutty.....there wouldn't be as much outrage. There are a couple of questionable moves, but with a cuter, less revealing costumes, they wouldn't stand out so much.

I agree. It's the outfits. But the audience at the performance seemed to be responding to the girls attitude and confidence and not the costumes. On one entertainment show they had a video of a different dance performance by the girls in plainer outfits. It allowed the viewer to focus on the dance instead the vivid, odd costume.

[talldrink]

I found it disturbing to watch the little girls do hip gyrations and shoulder thrusts. One of the last moves they did was the girls squating and thrusting their hips forward. Ick.

[PDilemma]

I found it disturbing to watch the little girls do hip gyrations and shoulder thrusts. One of the last moves they did was the girls squating and thrusting their hips forward. Ick.

Yeah...that bit at the end. The outfits are only part of the problem here.

[Beefcake]

What's the uproar? Whoever created this routine should be commended for teaching little girls about saving themselves for marriage! Now if the lyrics were "if you want it, better put a $50 on it [the nightstand]", that'd be a different story.

But, seriously, yes it made me feel a bit pervy. Those girls were fantastic dancers, though, for their age.

[Prancer]

Just not liking that pedophiles could watch this and get off to it. It's right up their alley. Gross.

You know, people always say this, but I thought that what attracts pedophiles is innocence and childishness and not "mature" behavior. They are attracted to children, not to short, undeveloped adults.

Otherwise, not surprised by any of it. But I've been to some dance recitals and cheerleading competitions and fashion shows in the past few years, and while it's all kinda out there on the fringes, it's not all that different. The hip and shoulder bits at the end are right out of the video, as are other bits and pieces. If you send a little girl to hip hop dance classes, that's the kind of thing they learn.

[Lacey]

Oh my holy bananas, I'm going to encourage my granddaughter to do something other than her dance class, just in case it is headed in this direction. Other than not liking the content, I think these particular girls can actually dance quite well, in fact, spectacularly, and I am surprised that they are this flexible at such a young age.

[numbers123]

It is up to the parent to voice concerns. My niece was in hip hop, tap, ballet classes at a young age. She was talented, tall for her age and in classes with older girls. When the teacher wanted the girls to wear lots of make-up to look older, sister put her foot down and said no. Also had some input to the costume design.

[kwanfan1818]

We also thought it was obvious that the girls didn't have the slightest idea what made the moves so sexy.

If the blond girl who's in the middle at the end of the video didn't have the slightest idea of what made the moves so sexy, then she's the best imitator I've ever seen. Were there no age limitation, she could fit into any pro cheerleading team.

[allezfred]

Hideous costumes and tragic makeup aside, I don't see the problem. The girls are really talented dancers.

[mmscfdcsu]

http://www.popeater.com/2010/05/14/s...ittle-girls%2F

Pathetic. Poor kids.

[Indra486]

Just not liking that pedophiles could watch this and get off to it. It's right up their alley. Gross.

Pedophiles would get off at this regardless of what the girls are wearing.

That said, I've been told this type of attire is normal at dance competitions. I wouldn't know because I've never been to one. The fact is that it would be "more appropriate" if their midriffs were covered. Yes, I understand the need to show body line but a leotard would have sufficed. At the same time, excuse my ignorance, but do little girls even have definitive body lines (ie: leg lines) of adult dancers at such a young age? I figure you develop that as you get older.

[The Accordion]

I agree with everyone who has said that with different costumes it just wouldn't be that bad since the moves would not come across as nearly as sexual.
At the same time - those costumes combined with different moves and music would not be as bad either.
Such a shame since the girls are quite fantastic.

[bobalina77]

Well.. they're dressed like mini Pussy Cat Dolls, and they move their hips better than I do. It is a little disturbing.

That said they are amazing little dancers.

[cruisin]

Hideous costumes and tragic makeup aside, I don't see the problem. The girls are really talented dancers.

This is rare, but I agree with you here.

The outfits are awful, and I agree with those who have said that if the outfits were not so skimpy, probably no one would have a problem with the dance. I can say that sometimes, with dance studios they re-use outfits for routines. These could have been used before with older girls and they just didn't want to spend money on new ones. Not only were they rather tacky and inappropriate, they really didn't even capture the mood of the dance. But I've seen just as bad or worse on young Ice Dancers.

The girls are amazingly talented. This was a family and friends concert, not sure how it wound up on the internet, and while I dislike the outfits, I don't think this deserves all of the public outrage it's getting.

[Satellitegirl]

Take away the hip thrusts and give them new costumes and it would have been better. they're obviously very talented. It's a shame, and the teachers know better.

[Holley Calmes]

That made me physically ill.

If they had been the senior girls, it would still have made me ill.

I guess because I am the marketing director for a serious dance non-profit, I see this kind of stuff as so unbearably trashy and getting these kids nowhere in the dance world. The choreography they were doing was not really that challenging. Everybody's got flexibility these days from the age of 5, and this type of pseudo contemporary-pop moves employ a lot more energy than technique. Put them in a real contemporary class, or a real modern class, or a real ballet class, and we'll see if they are getting what they need. Looks like their next step at this studio is pole dancing class.

This is what happens when the lower-end of the competition circuit gets attention. These poor babies! They are being terribly sexualized at too young an age. There's also a difference between "sexy," "alluring," and "provacative" as opposed to being just trash. This is trash. There's nothing wrong with sexy on the right age dancer in the right way. Sexy can be classy.

I feel better now. But not for those poor children.

[Rob]

That is horrible, and I couldn't even watch the whole thing. Even if they are talented. But I agree with Holley, when young dancers focus on performing and not on technique, they can develop bad habits. Put them in a proper class with some brief age appropriate performing.

I have a friend who has a ballet school and she had very good technique when she was a dancer. But the parents want to see performances and they donate money every year for a really big production. Nice sets and costumes and everything is age appropriate. But they stop classes mid-year and spend all their time rehearsing for this thing and you see the most god awful bad habits on the younger children - sickled feet, supporting leg turned in while they are trying to force the working leg to turn out too much at that age, etc.

[barbk]

Really unfortunate that the dancer's parents quoted in the article see absolutely nothing wrong with the attire or pelvic thrusts. Probably the same kind of folks who when their daughter gets to middle school will see nothing wrong with hugely inappropriate clothing at school either. Not sure what it will be by then, but a half dozen years ago we had a 6th grader with high thong underwear sticking up in the back above jeans cut impossibly low in the front -- her parents couldn't understand what was wrong with that as school attire either.

[Stormy]

Hideous costumes and tragic makeup aside, I don't see the problem. The girls are really talented dancers.

I agree. The costumes were awful, but they are great dancers. Are those girls wearing outfits like that to school? I doubt it. You cannot correlate a dance routine to how those girls act in real life. It's completely ridiculous for anyone to assume their parents would let them wear hugely inappropriate clothing in school. You don't know that. I just don't see a problem with this. It's just a dance routine.