Dance photos of children

[GrandmaSharkdodo]

I've had a violent reaction to a family members photos of her child and not sure if I'm just an old fuddy duddy. The girl is 13 and is a great dancer, competing at regional competitions. She's recently gone for some studio photos of her "dancing" and I think they are highly inappropriate and over sexualised. I know young teens often take risqué selfies as they want to look older, bit this was paid for and overseen by her mum. Obviously I can't and won't put the actual photos on here but this one is quite similar to one of them .. the photos are all over Instagram and are public. AIBU or is it a bit too much?

It's the boiled frog analogy, pushing the boundaries everywhere very slightly in the hope that no one will notice. It is doing harm. Children are in the midst of a worsening mental health epidemic.

Pika - yes, I’ve seen many, many boy dancer equivalents. I can’t link because I know the kids.

These pics aren’t generally for a portfolio, they are done in the same way an adult might do a makeover photo shoot, for fun really. My daughter has never done them. The few pics we have of her were taken on stage or in workshops.

ScottishDoll

That’s possible with individual girls. I am not commenting on that. I don’t think there is anything particularly awful about that picture and I have no desire to protect teenagers from every single thing that could possibly be deemed “sexual” until they are 18, as I don’t think that will help them with mental health either.

Hi all,

We've had concerned reports about the photos in this thread. We're going to delete them now - but leave the thread to stand. We don't normally do that, really, as the thread then doesn't make much sense, but we don't want to prevent discussion.

I said that one was an art and one was sport

Dance absolutely is sport.

Nobody is suggesting children are kept in a cupboard until grown!

They should be allowed to have wholly innocent child centred activities without a cloak of sexualisation applied and normalised for the benefit of warped adult taste.

Now that’s a whole debate in itself.

I think dance is an art, but dancers are athletes.

jacqueshammer

No, Dance is an art not a sport.

ScottishDoll

I entirely agree. The picture doesn’t bother me because I don’t find it particularly sexual. I also think 13 is getting to an age where insisting on “child centric activities” is locking them in a cupboard (metaphorically speaking). They are no longer children but adolescents. You can ignore that, but it doesn’t go away just because you pretend.

It is the very nature of dance being open to opinion that makes it an art. What comes with that is the pressure on image that just doesn’t exist in sport.

hercule, ScottishDoll talks about the boiling frog analogy. I really don't see how you can ignore/dismiss that in this case.

No, Dance is an art not a sport

The definition of sport.

“an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment”

Sport can, of course, have aesthetic elements, even artistic elements.

What comes with that is the pressure on image that just doesn’t exist in sport

Oh gosh the pressure on image absolutely does exist in sport.

But then, of course, not ALL dance is about image in terms of the lazy trope of “fake tan, skimpy clothes”.

DarlingNikita

I’m not. The second image is questionable and I can see that the girl we are discussing might be vulnerable to the pressure to be over sexualised.

The fact that looks play an important role in dance might be the reason you end up with pictures and pressure on some girls to look a certain way that just doesn’t exist to the same extent in sport. Fitness is important in both but aesthetics for aesthetics sake exists only in dance.
It may also be the reason far more little girls are taken to dance class that boys.

@butterpup Sport is first to cross the line whereas dance is subjective.

Figure skating is an Olympic sport. It's dancing to music on ice. There are technical aspects, sure, but how is that any different to ballet? You can't half-arse a grande jete or a fouette either. There's an objective skill level, and then a subjective view on artistry displayed in both.

I would add to perfectstorm's post - is gymnastics an art or a sport?

In particular in floor work, many of the moves are 'dance', and would not look out of place in many a 'modern theatre' or 'acro' dance piece across the country. Does it become a sport when the arabesque is on a beam not on the floor?

13 is getting to an age where insisting on “child centric activities” is locking them in a cupboard (metaphorically speaking). They are no longer children but adolescents. You can ignore that, but it doesn’t go away just because you pretend.

Teaching 13 year olds to display their dance prowess through the use of glamour style photography is misleading them. Helping them make age appropriate costume and active dance photo choices is not locking them in a cupboard but is protecting their innocence and self esteem.

Children need to be allowed to learn about boundaries and choice. Bombarding them with adult versions of themselves when they are still children is messing with their heads. If their peer group is normalising this it has a domino effect, that's where parents need to see the big picture. All adolescents compare themselves to adults, puberty is a big drawn out adjustment, really difficult in the best of cases. Why make it harder by forcing adult boundaries on children instead of adolescent boundaries?

Dancers are athletes, the focus should be on their skill and athleticism.

About body image in gymnastics

tbh, most gym costumes are also far, far more revealing than most dance costumes - as are most examples of kit worn by female sprinters...

ScottishDoll

I don’t think the first image risks that. It’s not sexual (to me) and is age-appropriate (to me). I see no reason to force adolescents to continue to behave as they did when they were 8. It’s a misguided attempt to protect them from what is - at their age - a natural enough sense of themselves as changing and developing. The image does not strike me as sexual, and therefore I don’t think it is suggestive of adult boundaries.

You keep talking as if we see the image in the same light and we don’t.

Perfectstorm

I would argue, and many others do, that ice dance is not a sport either. It is open to opinion. However they have strict marking schemes that the judges all adhere to whereas dance competitions don’t really. I mean a dance competition doesn’t require a dancer to execute a set group of steps does it?

My DDs ran competitively.

I was frequently gobsmacked at the inappropriateness of the outfits girls as young as 12 were wearing - crop tops and underpants style running shorts in sleet and freezing wind on a long muddy cross country course.

I’m really not sure this is a great improvement on the dance clothes.

I can't see any photo?

However they have strict marking schemes that the judges all adhere to whereas dance competitions don’t really. I mean a dance competition doesn’t require a dancer to execute a set group of steps does it?

Yes, some dance competitions require just that!

I do not think, btw, that glamour photography - as opposed to action, or posed, DANCE photography - is appropriate, though tbh it is seen far more often in fashion and the music industry than it is in dance per se.

Implying that all dancers, and all dance schools, promote or embrace inappropriately sexualised glamour photography is simply wrong. IME it is a 'fringe' activity - often by those who are less good at the pure dance and therefore are going for looks - rather than inherent to dance at the highest level in most genres.