Underdressed teens prancing about on school stage

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I'm feel so old but when did this become a thing?
I've been to a couple of high school showcase evenings this year. Where the kids show off their singing, play musical instruments, do some acting or dancing.
The evenings are really good and it's brilliant for the kids to be able to show off their talents but sometimes the clothes the girls wear for the dancing acts seem a bit inappropriate to me.
The one I went to last week had two teenage girls in what looked like knickers and t-shirts dancing very well but rather erotically to a Beyonce song.
The girls were really good at dancing and would not have been out of place on a stage or a lap dancing club but AIBU to feel it's not very appropriate at a school event?
Do all high schools have these sort of dance classes? Is dancing around in skimpy clothes just a normal thing to do nowadays?
I'll put down the pearls I have been clutching and am fully prepared to be told to get with the times!

Exactly this.
People who don't want to attract male attention won't wear revealing things.

When I was learning to drive, I changed instructors as the first one {Male} I had kept commenting on women that we passed ''Look at her! ..fancy going out like that!'' &c &c.

The second one was lovely and didn't comment at all.

You really think females are only concerned about getting male attention? I wear a tight swimming costume 3 days a week - it's always so I can swim comfortably and never to attract male gaze.

Here is a photo I took years ago. The shorts on the left are boys age 1. The ones on the right are girls aged 2-3.....

Well, being close to the stage apparently upset them so....

Yes, girls tend to be shorter for some reason. I'm not sure if there's much average body size difference at that age tbh. Nobody is forcing anyone to buy clothes they don't think are suitable though.

Well.. you could ask why male gymnasts wear shorts and why gym coaches often have instructions about the cut of leotards on the bums and thighs and whether girls should wear underpants.. You could also ask why female gymnasts wear make up and sparkles. You could wonder why female competitive swimsuits still tend to very high cut legs.

Or you could continue to argue that those things are for athletics reasons.

I used to wear hot pants to go out in 16+. But never on they're own. Usually under a skirt that was see through. As that was the fashion back then.

Female competitive swimsuits tend to have at least thigh length legs.

I know where you’re coming from but I really don’t think it’s an unusual response from men in a position of power and trust to be uncomfortable seeing their 15 year old ish students in dance costumes when they’re doing provocative dance moves.

I remember about 30 years ago my school did a Christmas tea party for local pensioners and the children did some entertainment. One boy, 12 or so, did Michael Jackson, gyrating and crotch fondling . It's not a new thing, my granddaughters looked much older in their sparkly leotards for their dance school shows.

I bet the boys were fully clothed in loose comfy garments. I have noticed the trend.

We've still not established how 'provocative' this actually was.

In the last 10 years maybe but definitley not all of them and they seemed to have gone back to high cut legs last time I watched.

What about the leotards?

The thing is that some teenage girls do actively choose tight/skimpy whereas boys don't tend to (though there are a few around my area who do - their choice).

I marvel at teenage girls' inability to leave the house wearing anything more on top than something that resembles a sports bra these days. Even in January it seems obligatory to have your entire midriff on show, which of course you then need to stick a huge, quilted jacket over the top of, left gaping open at the front, naturally, because it's only 2 degrees outside. Did your mother not tell you about the benefits of layers?

Also, when I was young, cleavages only went so low for daytime. Anything more risque was limited to nighclubs. These days it seems that bosoms can barely be contained at any time of day and there is nothing considered too skimpy or too sexy for walking round Asda or Primark at 11 am. It's all very odd. I'm not sure I approve.

It was more leg suits at competition last time I watched however even the high leg suits still cover all the important parts. 😬
The German gymnastics team at an event recently wore more body suit type attire than leotards, so that is an option.

If they look at the skimpily dressed girls cavorting, then they are clearly pervs.

If they don't look at the skimpily dressed girls cavorting, then they are clearly pervs apparently.

And then we need to figure out why this is. Why supposedly free choice by girls is always displaying their figures. I don't believe choice is entirely free given how sexualised girls are from an early age.

Isn't it partly hormones kicking in? Much as we avoid it, humans are animals essentially trying to attract (a) mate(s).

My school would never allow this even for dance a and extra curricular. Kids woule be sent home if they wore anything innaproproate.
I graduated in 2005. Not a religious school at all.
Of they want to dress that way at home up to the parents but not at school!

Dancing potentially 'provocatively' has now become 'cavorting' it seems. 😔

Yes, and schools etc have cracked down on it for years.

I don't like the whole "girls can't show their shoulders because it distracts the male students" thing. But at the same time - trying to push the boundaries as a young teenager (by rolling up your skirt, wearing leggings instead of trousers etc, doing very provocative dance routines) is very normal. Girls compete with each other and copy each other as part of a female social hierarchy thing. It is normal but its also normal and healthy though for schools/adults to push back on it. It is important that they do because otherwise it just gets more and more extreme. And girls who are teenagers but still basically children end up sexualising themselves in a way they don't really understand.

Its like the problems with tiktok where younger teenagers start filming stupid stuff and are then encouraged to "twirl for the camera" "do a full body shot of the outfit" etc in exchange for online payment. The (adults) encouraging this are disgusting of course. But there are predatory adults out there and if all the normal adults step back and refuse to show children there are any boundaries on what clothes they should wear/what dance moves are sexualised, you are leaving children to navigate that world themselves. And its not fair.

TL/DR 20 years on I will grudgingly concede my old form tutor Had A Point and was not just being a grumpy fun sponge.

I worked at a college and felt sorry for the young boys when young girls came into class with bare stomachs tight shorts and low cut tops..made it hard for the boys to keep focused on their work!

YANBU to query this at a school event.

Outside school children can dress / perform as suits them and their parents.

In school, there’s a duty to provide a safe, age-appropriate atmosphere and I don’t think a performance that is (a) in skimpy clothes and (b) set to sexualised music, is appropriate.

Skimpy clothes such as swimming costume or leotard are totally different in context of swim gala or gym display.

The lyrics and dance moves of so much pop today are seriously disturbing when copied by children.

Seriously?
Do you also blame women's clothing when men attack them?