7-year-olds & Single Ladies: Appropriate?

[Rapscallion]

In the video, Beyonce and her dancers wore long-sleeved unitards that would have been a bit better.

I can see where you're coming from, but those (Beyonce's) are pretty much skin tight. I suppose it depends on the individual members of the audience, but those can be considered somewhat more provocative.

For me, that's a very energetic dance routine and needs clothes that will both stay on and allow freedom of movement. Are the costumes too skimpy? I've seen more revealing costumes at the beach. I can live with them

What I will say is that I'm impressed by the skill and practice shown by the dancers.

Raspcallion

[Wingates_Hellsing]

Raps pretty much summed it up as well as I might.

Their outfits are only skimpy by normal wear standards, but they're for a specific purpose and not all that revealing compared to other purpose built outfits like bathing suits.

And considering the usual quality of any school production to say nothing of grade schoolers, this was impressive indeed.

[Boozy]

The dance itself is not overly suggestive, but those outfits are clearly meant to depict lingerie.

I don't understand how that's getting missed. These aren't bathing suits. An outfit is more than how much skin it covers. These girls are wearing satin-and-lace bra and underwear combos with matching thigh-highs. I'd have to dig pretty deep through MY underwear drawer to find something that sexy, and I'm 32.

I was uncomfortable watching that video.

[IDrinkaRum]

As for saying that the outfits are close to bathing suits? My daughter is 6 years old, and I buy her a one piece. (I wear a one piece also, ftr).

I have outfits that look like that in my lingerie drawer. However, I don't let Child Rum see them, and I wear them only on "special" occassions. I do not wear them out dancing on a stage.

The girls are good dancers, I have to admit it, but it's the outfits that get to me. Adults had to have approved them.

[fireheart17]

Good dancer. Costume: questionable. I won't say much else there, as I think I've summed it up.

At the dance school I went to when I was younger, there were no exams. We basically spent a term learning a routine to a song, going over core movements in general and then after the school holidays, we'd learn another routine. At the end of the two terms, we'd do a concert with all the other classes and locations (the school I was part of had classes in five different locations)

Of the costumes, in my first few classes when I was younger, the only one I can remember was for "Last One Standing" by some UK group I can't remember. That one consisted of basically "cool but casual" meaning that we had to raid our own wardrobe and come up with suitable clothing. Mine at the time was a long-sleeved shirt and black pants.

For the two I DID actually perform, they were to "Turn Off The Light" by Nelly Furtado and "All For You" by Janet Jackson. Neither one involved inherently sexual themes and the costumes were fairly simple-both consisted of tank tops (one had wider straps than the other) and black pants. For some of the other classes, one was to "Case Of The ex" by Mya which did have some inherently sexual themes in it, but at least the costumes weren't over the top. The advanced dance group above my teenage group, they did "Play" by J-Lo-not overly sexual, but they DID go for the full version where she screams out "Play my MOTHERFUCKING" song.

For my sister, the outfits I can remember were:

-White t-shirt and pink skirt (about halfway between thigh and knee) for "Vengabus is Coming."
-Karate gi for "kung fu fighting." (that was cute)

However, both myself and my mother drew the line for the routine that both my sister's group and my group were going to do together. To Pink's "Get the Party started." Not overly sexual in itself, but the costumes consisted of boob tubes and black pants. Boob tubes on 10-year-olds. Not a good look. We stopped going after that.

[AdminAssistant]

The dance itself is not overly suggestive, but those outfits are clearly meant to depict lingerie.

I don't understand how that's getting missed. These aren't bathing suits. An outfit is more than how much skin it covers. These girls are wearing satin-and-lace bra and underwear combos with matching thigh-highs. I'd have to dig pretty deep through MY underwear drawer to find something that sexy, and I'm 32.

Exactly. The unitards used in Beyonce's video would be the norm for a young girls dance class - maybe with a skirt or tutu. It's the fact that the outfits look like lingerie that makes it inappropriate. I mean, they're wearing fishnet thigh-highs with little hearts at the top. I have a pair of those, and I don't wear them dancing, if ya know what I mean.

[Red Panda]

The only people drawing any sexual conclusion to this situation are adults.

Oh, I see. Well I guess that makes it OK then.

People keep crying out "Think of the children" in responce to the video but obviously the children are fine. The problem is the adults who have decided that the human body is automatically equated to sex. The conclusion has been reached that the song and the dancing are fine. The main problem people have are the costumes. However, what is wrong with the costumes? Wearing that costume is no more likely to get one of those girls sexually assaulted or make the immoral.

The trouble adults are having is that they can't see skin without thinking about sex and they don't want to think about sex when they see a child that young. The issue has nothing to do with the children's way of dressing and everything to do with the perception of the adult. People who see a sexual conotation with this video see it because they creat it and they are the problem.

[jackfaire]

The trouble adults are having is that they can't see skin without thinking about sex and they don't want to think about sex when they see a child that young. The issue has nothing to do with the children's way of dressing and everything to do with the perception of the adult. People who see a sexual conotation with this video see it because they creat it and they are the problem.

I should explain I am not saying this video is bad or at least not trying to. I am saying it is for the parent to decide if it is bad or not.

That being said there is nothing innately sexual about a massage. It is mostly about easing muscles. Until it turns to sexual abuse.

Children should not know when something has sexual connotations. They should however know when and where behaviors are appropriate.

They know "Doctor giving me physical good, Stranger touching me the same way bad" because we teach them this.

As a dad I have to be aware of sexual conntations so that I can keep adults from taking advantage of my daughter's innocence like I once was. I may get a bit intense about it but honestly I don't want her to know what that's like.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Depends on the attitude a lot of the time. I remember a girl of about ten who was on this forum (she'd signed up at first lying about being thirteen, but later on revealed that she was only ten) who put photos of herself up all over dressed very suggestively in short skirt and cropped top with captions like "I have a booty like Beyonce!" That kind of attitude is what's wrong with seven year olds dancing to Beyonce, if they think that kind of thing about themselves; ie that in order to be successful, they have to be pretty.

Kind of reminds me of that Simpsons episode where Lisa's Malibu Stacey doll says, "Let's bake cookies so that the boys will like us!" and "I wish they taught shopping in school!" However, if girls are just dancing and having fun, and not thinking anything of the sort, then I see no harm in it. It's only dangerous when they are being encouraged to think about themselves and their bodies in an adult like way.

[Bella_Vixen]

I watched the video and was shocked speechless.

These little girls WERE gyrating and emphasizing their nonexistent bosoms. It was sickening.

Like Boozy said, I'd have to look long and deep in my lingerie drawer to find anything close to the outfits they wore, and I'm 30.

Yes, SOME of the dancing was beyond incredible, talent wise. (The spinning parts.) The rest, I bet even my ex-gentlemen's club dancer niece probably would have drawn the line at.

[LeChatNoir]

I don't think that performance was appropriate for girls that age at all. The costumes were meant to suggest lingerie, and by the end of the dance they were gyrating and hip thrusting...no 7 year old needs to be doing that. Are they talented? Sure they are. But whoever choreographed that dance needs a smack upside the head. As a parent I would be appalled if I was paying for dance classes for my child and discovered that that is what I was paying them to teach.

[KnitShoni]

But the parents thought it was "cute." The dances and costumes can be changed at the parents' request. The parents know what the girls are doing long before they are set to perform. The parents allowed the choreographer to dress their girls/teach them to dance like grown ass women.

[AdminAssistant]

The parents should have been more aware of what was going on and need a good smack upside the head, but the choreographer/dance teacher also has a responsibility to keep everything age-appropriate. I haven't seen choreography that risque (or costumes that revealing) in University productions of, say, Sweet Charity.

[Red Panda]

The parents were aware they just have a healthy enough attitude about the body to not automatically assume that because the girls weren't covered head to toe like a Muslim that it means they are being sexually exploited.

[KnitShoni]

I'm sorry. Allowing 8 and 9 year olds to booty pop in lingerie on stage does not seem like a healthy attitude about the body. The girls don't need to be covered head to toe. No one is saying that. The issue is, they were barely covered at all.