I'm a theater person. I've been a dancer, and now also a parent of dancers, for the past 20+ years. That's a long time to be around the performing arts, and I've seen quite a range. Over the past few years, I've gotten a lot of questions from parents wondering about dance schools for their kids. A question that comes up time and again is about modesty.

How do you deal with immodest costumes? What if you don't like the choreography? Can you adapt the costume or uniform?

Here's my radical answer to the whole premise of the question: I don't believe in modesty as a concept for young children. I think it makes far more sense to approach clothing choices for kids by asking if it's age/activity/weather appropriate.

Context first

Going to church requires a very different set of clothing choices from a day in the woods or attending Ballet class. It is not possible to decide what is or isn't age appropriate without first factoring in context.
When we are talking about the dance context, the primary reasons for clothing design are 1) safety and 2) storytelling. In class, the tight fabric allows the teacher to see exactly what the student is doing, and correct any bad habits that are forming. That correction is what prevents injuries. In performance, costumes are designed to tell the story, set the time and place, and clearly indicate character.

Now is there wiggle room? Maybe. There are such things as bad design choices. If a costume is chosen that does not mesh with the age of the dancers, it is a bad choice. But I always approach those conversations from an age appropriate stance instead of one of modesty.

Be Goal Oriented

Why wouldn't I tell that studio director her costume choices are immodest? Because there is no uniform definition of what is modest - especially when you factor in different ages and contexts. We would easily be talking past each other. My goal is not to "win"; my goal is to reach a solution. In order to do that, I need to treat the director/costume designer/whoever is in charge with an understanding for the various factors they are juggling and a desire to be on the same page.

Sometimes it's just not a good fit

Perhaps there's a studio that's very close to you, but they focus on a type of dance that does not fit your taste. If you're not inspired by the end goals of that school, then it's probably not the school for you. If that director thinks two piece costumes that show off little kid tummies are SO CUTE, but you're not down with it - it's probably not the school for you.
Too often people interpret one school being a bad fit to mean that dance as a whole is not a good choice for kids. Please don't make that mistake (but I have a whole piece on it if you want more on that topic.)

What can you do?

Here are some ways I have seen dance schools in particular grow and improve when it comes to age appropriate choices:

• Having all young dancers wear their tights and a nude leotard as a base layer for their costume. They get dressed at home, the costumes get a little extra protection, and changing awkwardness is banished. Yea!
• Some schools have moved to not even having costumes for recitals at all. Instead those are saved for larger performing opportunities, and recitals are done in their regular dance uniforms plus a hair piece or cummerbund. Budget friendly, less waste, and no worry about costume choices.
• Learning stage make up is a necessary skill for a performer. Don't be afraid of it! There are many YouTube videos now for stage make up for the young dancer (including ones for young male dancers). Make up is necessary under stage lights, but lots of places have figured out exactly what is needed and what is not.
• The single most powerful thing for the parent of a little performer to understand is why. Why are things done this way? Why is this useful? What is the end goal that this is all building toward? Some schools offer occasional parent lectures, observation weeks, regular teacher feedback, lending libraries, and other ways for parents to understand what their child is working on.

Modesty is a huge concept! This is a particular area of my experience, but I know many other art forms and schools handle the question of modesty for young kids with very different solutions. What has worked for you? Do you do things different with your own kids than what you had growing up? Did anything I said make you think differently about modesty for young kids?

Life is Moving Fast!

Linking up with This Ain't the Lyceum for 7 Quick Takes!

It's been a while since we had a life update on the blog. Here's what's been going on!

1

We're at 33 weeks tomorrow! 

This pregnancy has gone very quickly. I suppose that's what happens when there is a move halfway across the country and massive summer travels.

2

This week I have been finishing up gathering the materials for our birth kit and making up my own postpartum and labor support kits.

I like kits. They're helpful.

I'll have posts about what I put in those kits soon!

3

One thing I'm doing differently with birth is setting up a "reward meal" for after the baby is born. I have zero ideas about what the food should be, but I know I would like to try a good local stout. Moving to a new place that does really good beer while unable to partake has been sad.
The reward meal is even on the birth supply list from my midwife so I'm deciding this is legit.

4

We start school next week!
With the baby expected in September, I figured it would be better to get the school ball rolling so we don't get too far behind in the new baby flurry.



John is starting Kindergarten (real school!) this year with Mother of Divine Grace, and Therese will be starting her first Preschool year using 26 Letters to Heaven.
More on this year's homeschool plan next week!

5

If this works it may be one of my more brilliant ideas - preschooler busy kits!

I found these large clear boxes they sell to store scrapbook paper on Amazon and made each one a different theme. We only do school four days a week so there are four boxes. Each one has a different theme. When I am working one on one with John, Therese can choose one of the boxes each day. They're big enough that I'm hoping the box itself will help contain some of the messy (looking at you pony beads and play dough.)

My other brilliant idea, supply boxes for school time only (because I have LEARNED). The kids picked their colors for the year: John is orange and Therese is pink (no surprise there). The individual blue separators come out of the kits so I put their color sticker on the bottom of each piece too.

6

John did a wetland nature camp most of this last week of summer break. The nature center is less than a mile away from us, which is SO NICE!

About an hour in to John being gone at camp Therese gets forlorn and starts asking when we can pick up John about every 20 minutes.
Then he runs out and they reunite like this and my momma heart melts!

Also, this kid got glasses this week! It's cool because he thinks it makes him look more like Daddy. Whatever works buddy.

7

In Ballet world update, I think we have picked a ballet school for John and studio for me! This will be his first year old enough to be in the boys program and he's very excited.

I'm using our local Y more to get cardio in on the elliptical and use their barre space. I'm still doing a lot of Pilates and stretching at home, but I'm at the point in pregnancy where I have to be careful how I move so I don't set off the evil chain of cramping. I've found using the elliptical as a warm up is very helpful in that respect!

Our local Y has a fabulous kid space and it's amazingly easier to hold counts in my head without the 2 year old in my face going "WHAT YOU DOING MOMMY?!"

Building a Healthy Body Positivity

Honest truth, I was the chubby kid in ballet class.

No one called me that, but like most kids I was observant enough to notice.

I was too tall to be in the front of the class, and muscular enough that I often partnered in the guy's role. Dance school uniforms meant that I could not hide the fact that my leotard and skirt looked very different on me than on my classmates.

Going through puberty in front of a mirror was a struggle. I could not ignore what was staring me in the face many days of the week.

The dance world had woken up to the idea that the need to conform to one ideal of a "ballerina body" was driving out talented dancers. There was less pressure to eat a certain way or look a certain way. However, there was a cone of silence around navigating normally fluctuating weight - especially during the puberty years. After years of getting it wrong, everyone was trying so hard to do right, they did nothing.

So I plodded along, unsure of my strengths, and clueless for how to address the weaknesses in my dancing and in my body. I started to think maybe the problem was ballet. Maybe I just did not have the body for ballet and I should find a dance style that would be a better fit.

I did ballet-modern and learned a number of other styles, in addition to the tap and jazz my dance school offered.
I went vegetarian for a few years to see if that would help.
I generally flailed around trying to figure out where I fit. Kind of how puberty goes down for a lot of people.

Now, as an adult, I aim for a healthy body positivity. This means largely accepting the realities of my body while working towards strengthening my weak points.

Ballet will not let you be in denial about the realities of your body, it's true. I think that's a good thing.

Even the most perfect ballerina does not have a "perfect body". We all have unique quirks and struggles.

I have hyperextension all over the place. Which is a genetic gift when I need to make a pretty picture pose, but it makes it physically impossible to close my legs in fifth position. I need to use fifth position a lot.

I have very flexible feet. It's great for pointe work, but it also makes me just as able to sickle my foot (bad) as much as I can wing my foot (good).

I am not a tiny person. I build muscle fast, and I will never have the ballerina look. It is a fact of my physiology.

Accepting my bodily reality is not saying I cannot improve or that I cannot dance. It merely means I am accepting the truth of my body and am choosing to work with that reality. Choosing to work with an impossible ideal in mind is not only an unhealthy choice, it would make me a bad dancer.

What I wished had happened during puberty was someone taking the chubby dancer in the back under their wing. She needed someone to walk with her to learn how to see how these strengths and weaknesses were interconnected.

Your mainstream "body positivity" does not work well for kids who are growing up in front of a mirror. It reeks of hypocrisy. Telling a kid just to love the body they have and to not try to change it is in direct conflict with the message that if they work hard they can achieve their dreams.
Kids are smart. They notice these things.

A healthy body positivity discerns the difference between working with the body you have and being resigned to your body. Working with your bodily reality is empowering. It acknowledges that I have agency over my body. Being resigned to my body would mean letting the body control me. It would be disordered and fundamentally unhealthy.

What are your thoughts on building a healthy body positivity? Has this been a struggle in your life?

Are We Ready to Stop Hating on Ballet Yet?

There is something that is really bugging me on the internet. It has become popular to hate on dance, and ballet in particular, with the argument that ballet is not safe for our children to participate in from a body image and sexualizition standpoint.

I have been in ballet starting from the age of 4, mostly took a break in college, and came back after my second child was born. I have enrolled my son in ballet this past year and he will continue into a boys program this year. I have seen a lot of dance schools, styles, teachers, and dancers. Professionals, the professional aspiring, students, and just-dancing-for-fun people.

I cringe when I hear that parents are avoiding letting their children participate in dance because they "want them to have a healthy body image." Especially when the follow up is "do sports instead!" Y'all, sports are not an immunization against negative body image. It may even be worse if parents assume that sports are safe thus they don't need to be looking out for negative body image or a distorted relationship with food or exercise.

Sexism, sexual exploitation, and "competitive thinness" are all very real issues in sports, and even more so for female athletes. Parents assuming soccer or volleyball will be immune to such issues only makes it a better primed environment for exploitation.

I have known a lot of very serious athletes. They also train extremely hard, struggle with the physical and mental demands of their sport, and see the good and the bad in their sport.

The common denominator between the bad experiences is that they happen when parents, and athletes/dancers, sign onto a team, a dance school, a program without doing their own legwork to see if it would be a good fit.

Please do not assume something that was a good fit for your friend will be a good fit for you. Instructors change, coaches change, teammates change. If parents do not take the time to check into the particular class/team their child will be enrolled in, then reality can be wildly different from your expectations.

It is being a smart consumer to check it out before you sign up, but also to check in with the class instructor/coach and your kid as the year progresses. Attend any observation days. Know what goes on in a typical class/practice.
I am not saying be a helicopter parent. Anyone who has ever taught a class with little kids can tell you there is a balance between being involved and being overbearing. I am saying to pay attention.

If your kid wants to take a ballet class and you have never been to the ballet or taken a class yourself, please try and educate yourself about the dance world. If you do not understand what is and is not normal for a class at your child's level, it will be very hard to express your concerns or combat negative situations.

Ultimately parents have to make the right call for their own child, but enough with letting a bad experience taint your perspective of an entire art form.

**************

On Wednesday I'll have a post on healthy body positivity, my perspective as a adult in ballet without a stereotypical "ballerina body", and navigating puberty in front of a mirror.
Come continue the discussion!