Rep: 'Single Ladies' Girls Did 'Nothing Provocative'

1918 Comments

By Amber James Posted May 14th 2010 07:40AM

Earlier this week, a YouTube video surfaced from The World of Dance competition in which a group of young -- and we mean really young -- girls wearing midriff-baring tops, short skirts and black stockings dance to Beyonce's 'Single Ladies.' The dance troupe, called Precision Dance, hails from Orange County, and definitely "put a ring on it" during the competition in Pomona on April 10.

Larry Peters, executive vice president of The Hozman Group and rep for the dance competition, says the controversy was blown out of proportion. "There has been a great deal of controversy regarding this performance, and it has been taken out of context. It is a little sensitive now, to say the least," Peters tells PopEater.

"All the dance troupes do so many different dances, it is a very personal choreography and expression for every troupe and individual. These girls were amazing that day," Peters says, adding, "They were two minutes of an eight hour performance event."

Melissa Presch, the mom of one little dancer and Cory Miller, the father of another child in the group spoke to Inside Edition about the controversy. "I'm shocked, quite frankly, that people would suggest such things and say such things about 8 and 9 year old girls," said Melissa Presch claiming the girls got their moves from the 'Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel' movie -- not Beyonce's music video.

Miller added, "As a father, when you're watching your kid, no. You're looking at it as a proud kid who has really high energy, who doesn't really know what she's doing."

Peters was in the audience during the group's performance and admits, "It was the very first WOD event I had ever attended, and I can tell you the cheering and screaming you heard on the video was from other parents and dance teams that were just blown away by their dance performance and precision. There was NOTHING provocative about what they were doing."

The World of Dance Tour is the largest national urban and street dance competition, and in 2010 is taking place in nine major markets throughout the U.S. Top dance troupes partake in competition, which focuses on the art of street dancing and today's new age choreography -- embracing urban dance and youth lifestyle.

The video brought mixed reactions from media outlets across the Internet. PopEater's Facebook fan Christina Powers admits, "As a coach for national champion competition dance teams at the high School level, I blame the coach. This is completely inappropriate even for high school girls."

Meanwhile The Huffington Post writes, "Age appropriate or not, there is denying it's one heck of a performance."

Kate Ward from EW writes, "Miley, you've got nuthin' on these girls ... But if little girls must gyrate on stage, is it absolutely essential they wear midriff tops? Even Beyonce and her back-up dancers were more covered up than this!"

Follow Amber on Twitter

Tags: single ladies

Comments

(1918)

Friday 14 May

By Caterpillargirl

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

BS its not provacative? thats all it is! these parents and organizers can make as many excuses as they want, simple truth is this routine was the wrong one for these 8 year olds to do, BUT someone down the line whether it was a dance teacher, a parent, or whatever wasnt looking out for the kids and everyone else just went with it to be popular.

Saturday 15 May

By PaleRider

I'd have to agree with you, Cat...

This is WAAAAYYY out there. Especially with all the waste-of-skin pedophiles running loose EVERYWHERE.

Just another sign of the further degradation of everything we know. While we're held captive-bound and gagged forced to watch...

I, myself, am

By alexandra

they are 7! and im in high school and some of the girls at my school dont even dance like that..

By Tiara

This was a great performance. I know how much work goes into choreographing. Just to get the dancers in a position where their timing is on point and their routine is put together is a feat. It is NOT the performance we are knocking. IT WAS GREAT! It was the wardrobe choice. The choice in clothing is what detracted from the performance. It was hard to watch these girls do spins and kicks while wearing close to nothing. They should reshoot this but with more age appropriate clothing.

I think that is what the problem is: peformance = A+. Wardrobe = "not my child!"

By ews1040

Surely the parents knew what the children were wearing and surely they had seen the routine - what were they thinking - or not thinking is more like it. Good parents don't leave it up to third parties to protect their children from unaceptable issues.

By Cal

It's interesting that several people have said that this is how dancing is now or that little girls wear less at the swimming pool or beach. That doesn't make it right. As a society we not only allow kids to grow up too fast we push them to do so. I agree wholeheartedly that these girls are extremely talented and feel like they did nothing wrong but as adults we must draw the line somewhere. Unfortunately that line is disappearing.

By fiona

Lolita had nothing on these kids as far as their get-ups go. Red satin with black lace and ANYTHING see-through is, by any strippers standards, meant to titilate...especially when the top is little more than a tube top and the shorts are skimpier than hot pants. A therapist friend who deals with mental health and child abuse cases quickly dubbed this as 'a performance that would have super-charged any pedophile in the audience...to the point where he would have had to excuse himself even halfway through. Disgusting'.

By Stephanie

Wow, my sister an I were in dance troups like this as kids. And the costumes were sometimes a little on the skimpy side, leotards and such. I read this expecting the clip to be a standard girls routine blown out of proportion, but NO. Those were not dance moves, those were stripper moves. It doesn't take any talent to bend your knees and grind your hips around. TOTALLY inappropriate. I have a daughter in that age group and it would be over my dead body that she would be allowed to move like that, stage or not.

By OhLori

Not provocative???? You have got to be kidding? This is every pedophiles dream. You people are SICK if you think this is appropriate.

By csp8

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

its only provocative when we project that onto their performance. theres nothing provocative about it otherwise. what, should everyone make sure kids wear parkas on the beach because there might be a pedophile around?

By mbrul

anyone defending this is a perv. why not give them a pole to dance on too?

By rox

how WAS the dancing provocative.. I didnt see that at all .. that how normal dancing is .. they were doing awesome twirls .. the only thing that was provocative was the outfit.. they could have changed that

By Tina

I just watched full video.. TV only shows you what they want too.. Now I will say these girls are great dancers but some moves maybe not so much for the age.. Reminds me of kids in pageants... Just my point of view..

By Shannon

Wow so they sucked!!! If you let your kids dance like that at least make sure the know how to do the routine. They were always one turned the wrong way.
They may have been only 8 but now days there are 8yr old pregnant girls/moms. If the parents feel they believe its okay for them to have those girl boogie down as if the were "single girls up in the club" those parents also need to say condoms rule and boys STILL have COOTIES!!

By Anna

When people were saying it's not provocative at all, I decided to watch the video to see if maybe it was just what they were wearing. The way they were moving at times was excessively sexual and the clothing was too risque. How is this not inappropriate? If I was one of those eight-year-old girls, I'd keep the video of this performance, look back on it 10 years later, and be extremely shocked and mad at the coach for encouraging something like this!

Sunday 16 May

By emilyy

Exactly! With all the creepers and pedophiles in the world, you think they arent "enjoying themselves" to your daughters' dancing? These parents are so blind!

By Abby

@shannon, pregnant 8 year olds? Seriously? Girls don't hit puberty that early.

Also the dancing was a little over the top in places, but on the whole I think the main problem was the outfits, even if they weren't technically bare-midriffed, (look closely and you can see they are wearing leotards and tights) those outfits were definitely 'stripper-ish.'

By j

This is not right . I dont agree . These are little girls . Not women . Let them grow up a bit . why rush them

By Mark

I know where they got it....The movie "Little Miss Sunshine"!!!

There's NO excuse for parents allowing their little girls to dance and display themselves so provocatively...NO EXCUSE!!!!

By gene

Thanks, I totaly agree with you .

Page 1 of 96