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!

Authority to do what if other teachers have approved it for the stage?

Methinks @Werweisswohin is enjoying this thread a bit too much.

I know women have different standards as regards what is an acceptable way to dress. But I don't see how any one can deny that walking down the street in shorts where all the woman's/ girl's bare buttocks are on display is not overtly sexualising yourself? Surely common sense and common decency plays a part in deciding what is acceptable?

I got off a bus the other day, albeit a warm day, in the centre of the town I live and there was a teenager waiting to board the bus in a swim suit. She was wearing a sort of open shirt over the top part . But since when did this become acceptable wear for getting on a bus in the high street in the middle of a west of Scotland town? Why do that if you are not inviting people to look at you and it is ridiculous to expect people not to see sexual connotations in wearing that in that situation. Do you remember the old car adverts with near naked women draped over the bonnets and all the guys fully clothed? That's the type of vibe. It was very uncomfortable actually seeing this young woman.

I don't think the argument that young women get attention whatever they wear is an argument for them to think oh well, we might as well go round the streets virtually naked then: let's give the guys something really to look at. I think using common sense with wearing appropriate clothes for appropriate situations is the way to go

What’s the difference?

In DD's school, all performances are either choreographed together with the teacher as a part of the dance class or signed off by the teacher if the pupils are doing it on their own.

Remember - Dance GCSE is also a self-choregraphed piece. So it could very well be that this one is part of actual lessons, not just an after-school club.

For years DD did musical production and yes, the older pupils do get to wear more revealing outfits. DD's last one looked as if she would go to a hooker convention when she tried it on at home. On stage it made perfect sense.

For me it's not not only ensuring a child dresses its age when outside but also that as a society we teach boys more about respecting females than teaching girls to dress modestly.
DD was 14 and in full secondary school uniform, tailored trousers instead of skirt though, when she reported that she gets cat calls on a regular basis from men. She should be safe walking down a street at 3pm instead of starting to hide in oversized hoodies outside school so nobody could see her figure.
And the odd T-shirt ending at the top of her normal cut jeans is hardly a crime.
Genetics mean that she has an hourglass figure and wears a 30E bra.

I took that to mean the male teachers were shocked at the girls appearance and didn’t know where to look so they weren’t looking at them for fear of being accused of leering.

Those words are open to interpretation. We don't really know how it all looked or sounded or worked as a piece.

How did her clothing affect your life?

“Goods”? 🙄

Riiigghht.

I don't like the high cut leotards in gymnastics. A pair of shorts over the top, even if tight, would be better imo.

Just noticed the ball boys and girls on Wimbledon. The boys are in long shorts. The girls in shorter skirts.

I used to get so angry when men old enough to be not just dd father but her grandfather looked at her when she was 12 and upwards. She's now 20 and I've had to train myself not to look to see who is looking at her as she likes to wear short skirts. I'll defend her right to wear what the hell she likes but just wish the men who do wouldn't stare at her with such obvious intent. I'm pretty sure women don't leer at boys and men young enough to be their sons.

Actually, feeling deeply uncomfortable in that scenario is a good thing, and how we want adult men to feel in a healthy society. Unfortunately not all men would feel uncomfortable. Some would actually enjoy it. And they are the problem, and the reason I wouldn't want my teenage daughter in a state of partial undress in public.
I think suggesting that normal feelings of discomfort are wrong is really dangerous

I very much agree. As adults we can choose how to dress having full cognisance of all the ways those choices can be interpreted or seen & whether we care about that or not. Here we are talking about children who may not realise the vagaries of their choices.

Clearly it doesn't affect her life, but I imagine she worries (like I would) about how some men & boys interpret the girl's choices.

I also worry about the increasing view of many young boys that girls are there for their gaze-that they should look a certain way- which in turn fuels the cycle of how girls think they should look, which in turn feeds the pressure for many other girls to also look like this.

It's fashion, but uncomfortable fashion.

I was recently in France & didn't see fashion like this at all.

Then shouldn't we be speaking to the boys who are wrongly interpreting her choices?

We ARE, I can assure you. I work in a secondary school. The sheer amount of work gone in over the whole Andrew Tate period has been significant. Unfortunately, we can't affect all the messages coming from home/ community/peer group/ online.

We can't get away from the fact that to young boys boobs/ bums/ camel toes are sexual, not merely physiological. I'm sure if the boys had their pecs/ 6 packs on show with super tight, high-cut, lycra shorts on, the girls would feel the same.

Hard to know without seeing the specific performance.
DD dances and her teachers have progressed the dances and costumes as they have got older - with the aim of becoming good at commercial type dance among other things. I think they get the balance right for her - they also consider the audience.
Shorts & t-shirts, leotards, crop tops are all fine with me.

However we have been to some shows where the dances and costumes from other schools have made the audience uncomfortable. The girls were probably 15-17 but the men in the audience were all 30-50 and fathers of girls and found watching girls in nude body stockings or lingerie type outfits/stockings etc really very unpleasant for them (it was for me too but I think the men felt very wrong)

I can almost promise you they wouldn't be the same

Sadly, you're probably right. It's what we do about it that's so difficult.

There are photos of Bianca Censori today, wearing what would seem to be a most uncomfortable bikini type top, with tiny triangles. She has knicker shorts and Perspex shoes on. Kanye West has long shorts and socks. I expect he’s comfortably dressed. I don’t think she is.

It made me feel uncomfortable.
It made me feel uncomfortable for her and her vulnerability. .
It made me feel uncomfortable that this is what feminism has come to: women parading round the streets virtually naked and men walking round clothed. That's a real power balance isn't it?
How can women ever expect to be taken seriously when they are so so desperate to be seen in a sexual light in everyday situations.

👏 👏 👏

Do you react the same way to the athletes who run in the same attire? Or gymnasts? Or swimmers?

Girls have been wearing leotards for dancing since I was a dancer in the 80's!

There have always been variations of the all in one in all sports that require that sort of attire. 🤷‍♀️

Gym knickers and t-shirts was the required kit for all indoor PE at my school (including dance) and that was in the 80s. We weren’t allowed to wear anything else. We used to have an annual dance performance for parents etc and the girls were mostly in leotards for that, so I don’t think that’s any different from today really.

Just to add...in reference to some other posts.
It's not the "skimpiness", tight fit or lack of material that is the issue.
In some cases there is more fabric.
It's that the designs were overtly sexy - and coupled with dance moves that are overtly sexual.

That's why it's difficult to differentiate without seeing it in person.

It's irrelevant what went on decades ago.

Now everything seems geared to women being sexual objects, there's a lot more men on women violence it feels like and no one seems able to say enough. It's all well it happened before so.. plus all this shit that women are telling themselves that they are empowering themselves by being half naked.