Katherine Heigl Rages Against Lifetime, Dance Moms
by Free Britney at .Katherine Heigl has beef with Lifetime's series Dance Moms.
In her weekly iVillage blog post, the 33-year-old actress and mother of a three-year-old daughter slams the popular show for sending inappropriate messages to young girls.
"I watched with open-mouthed amazement as girls as young as seven were encouraged to dress provocatively and shimmy around a stage doing a dance performance that could just as easily been a burlesque routine," she writes.
Wonder if she's seen Toddlers & Tiaras.
"I kept thinking all these girls were missing is a pole! I was also horrified by the way their instructor spoke to them when she felt they weren't up to snuff," Heigl writes.
"It was demeaning, belittling, and downright unkind."
"There is no reason to break anyone down in order to prepare them for inevitable disappointment or unkindness. There is no reason to diminish anyone's self-esteem in order to get them to try harder next time. Especially not a child's."
The One For the Money star is bothered by "the amount of value we place on a woman's looks, body and ability to drop it like it's hot on the dance floor."
"It's one thing to walk into a club and see 20-somethings embracing their sexuality and having fun, but it's another thing altogether watching 7-year-olds."
"Shaking their booties, bellies and nonexistent boobies on a stage in a room full of adults and be handed a trophy for it? What in the world are we telling them? That sexy is the prize and is the talent they have?"Heigl doesn't place the blame on the children, however.
"The young girls on Dance Moms are wonderfully talented, spirited ladies who should be encouraged to perform," the Grey's Anatomy alumna explains.
"I just wish they were being inspired, instructed and supported for their gifts as I was when I found my creative path."
What do you think? Is Katherine on point?
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Comments (9 Total)
Well, I agree that they are talented and that sometimes Abby sometimes over does it but I do think that Katherine is somewhat wrong on this subject.... has she seen Toddlers and Tiaras? Now thats a subject to talk about! I also think that Christi had some right to tell Katherine to "suck it" because Christi MUST have been mad... Cut to the Chase I personally think that if you'd like to bring up a subject like this talk about Toddlers and Tiaras
this is the dance coach who had the young black girl do an 'ethnic dance' - song by laqueefa (does she even know what a queef is?) the drag queen. Now - Nothing at all against the drag queen. her act is hilarious. but it is entirely adult content. If the dance coach's idea of 'ethnic dance' is having a child dance in a disco outfit to a song about a pimp who is his/her own prostitute, c'mon. out of touch, racist, and stupid
I agree with Heigil, I think it is so sad that these little girls are being treated like they are so much older then they are!!! They are only 7 years old. Give them time to be little girls. People wonder why we have so many young teen moms and so many young people having sex. Well when we start teaching them to act or dance sexy when they are so young we are just opening a door to a lot more problems later on. A little girl this age should not have to worry about being Sexy she shouldn't even know what that Means!! In a way you are robbing these children of there Innocence. I myself have a daughter and my husband and I want her to grow up to be a godly young women. We want to teach her the things that are right and important. These parents really need to think what they are teaching there children.
She doesn't even know what she's talking about. Everyone takes this way too seriously. It's dance, just a dance. So maybe it's not what you think is right, but you're not part of the dance world are you? It's perfectly fine, all the people like you take things like this way too far. And I seriously HATE when people say the parents are living vicariously through their daughters. Have you seen the show?!?? They may not always look or be happy but honestly. Try to take dance out of those children's lives and they will be miserable. They WANT to be there. More than anything. Get it right.
Katherine... I love you pretty talented amd SMAAAART!