I guess they got all worked up over there at FOX:
Fox News television host Bill O'Reilly's show recently blasted Rio's song team for provocative dance moves during a performance at a back-to-school rally.First, except for furtive book perusal in the bleachers, few people ever go to the gym to study algebra. Even back in the Jurassic Era, when loud-mouthed Bill went to school, hardly anyone went to the gym to study algebra.
His "Culture Warriors" segment featured Fox commentators Margaret Hoover and Gretchen Carlson dissecting the dance routine while a recording of the most titillating moves played over and over on a loop. "They were absolutely overtly sexual," Hoover said. "What do you call spreading your legs and shaking your booty? They look like they're in an MTV music video, not at a high school performance."
Then Carlson chimed in:
"Can you imagine the young teenage boys sitting in that school audience? How in the heck were they concentrating on algebra after that?"
Not very well, apparently.
Senior John Butterfield, 17, had a front-row seat at the performance. He left the rally so shaken that he wrote an opinion piece for the Mirada, the school's student newspaper.
"Moves like we saw at the Aloha Rally are not allowed at normal school dances or even in most socially acceptable settings," Butterfield wrote. "This is a high school rally, not the latest music video, and when the song team spends most of the routine bent over, while it may (elicit) catcalls from the audience, it is simply not appropriate."
About 50 parents attended the Aug. 24 rally, and none of them complained, Principal Brian Ginter said.
The song team's routine didn't strike him as anything particularly noteworthy. By high school dance team standards, the girls were modestly dressed in loose-fitting light pink blouses, full-length pants and sneakers.
"What our girls did at their dance routine wasn't really anything different than I've seen in dance routines across the country," Ginter said.
Butterfield's 450-word piece Sept. 25 on Page 6 of the school newspaper ignited media interest. First News10 did a segment, and then O'Reilly.
"I enjoy the fact that people are talking about it," Butterfield said Tuesday.
The song team, on the other hand, is not so happy people are talking about it. The coach and student dancers declined to be interviewed for this story. Ginter said they feel the television coverage was unfair to them.
The girls face no discipline because they didn't break any rules, he said. And even before their routine was skewered by Fox pundits, Rio's song team had revised its dance in response to Butterfield's criticism.
"They went through the video and the article and looked at the things he felt were inappropriate. They looked at the dance they did and said maybe this is something that could be considered overboard," Ginter said. "There were adjustments made."
Trent Allen, spokesman for the San Juan Unified School District, said the only complaints that have come to the district have been from O'Reilly viewers outside Sacramento. He praised the song team for accepting Butterfield's opinion as constructive criticism.
"That shows a huge amount of professionalism from a high school team," Allen said.
For Butterfield, the whole episode has been a lesson in the power of the pen. He's thinking about how he can spin the story into an essay for his college applications.
"It makes me feel good that people considered what I wrote in the paper and thought about taking action," Butterfield said. "In high school, a lot of the time we feel powerless. � It makes me feel hopeful that if the adults keep listening to what we put in the paper, things will get better."
Now to the video:
(After watching the video) Great dancing! I like the way they hit the floor on their knees, and not be crippled for a week, like I would be if I tried it.
Nevertheless, this supposedly overt sexuality doesn't even approach the level offered by other high schools across the country. The dance wasn't choreographed to be over-the-top sexy. It was choreographed to be hip-hop. When, according to the commentators, the coach said that the team was trying to keep up with the competition, he meant the hip-hop competition, not the sexiness competition. There are strict standards that must be met, and Rio Americano can't fall behind! Dance standards, fool!
The dancers weren't trying to make a statement about sexuality or teenage life, but it certainly gives an opportunity for others to grab a soapbox and do so. I like Margaret Hoover's forthrightness when she declares: "Girls need to know, Bill, that the most important thing about them is their character and their intelligence, not their sexuality." Nevertheless, she is wrong. Adolescence is when sexuality inevitably becomes an important part of their life and they have to successfully integrate it with their character and intelligence. That is as it has always been, in every society, always! To try to deny "teh sex" is to deny reality.
And I wonder about this John Butterfield fellow. The song team did not spend "most of the routine bent over". Look at the video again, if you disagree. It's time for Butterfield to spend some time trying to successfully integrate his sexuality with his character and intelligence. And it would be helpful if he learned something about hip-hop. He speaks from a position of ignorance.
No comments:
Post a Comment