On Wednesday evening, my Bolder
Options mentee, Violet, and I attended a Hip-Hop dance class at the local
Lifetime Fitness in St. Louis Park. I
had always wanted to try out the class, but had not made my way to one yet
because: 1) Of the five areas of physical fitness (speed, endurance, strength,
flexibility, and coordination), I definitely need to improve the most with
coordination, and it is embarrassing; 2) Related to point #1, I was a few beats
and dance moves off at the last fitness dance class I accidentally attended at
Lifetime; 3) I just keep getting busy Wednesdays.
Once I had set the date with
Violet, I had no more excuses. Even
better, she could be my excuse in class for why I was looking like a goof in
class. “Well I wouldn’t normally be here, but I am being such a trooper by
bringing my mentee here,” I could imagine myself telling the other class participants. “I look
ridiculous, but it’s okay because I’m doing it to spend time with Violet.”
We got to the class a few minutes
early, only because I thought the class started at 7:00 instead of 7:15. As usual, we stuck out a bit with Violet being
the youngest participant, having the darkest skin, and being accompanied by
pale-skinned me. We took our place at
the back of the room, and, for once, we stayed out of trouble.
The class started with some warm-up
dance moves – arms pumping, butt shaking, and hips swinging side to side. Just
as I had feared, we then moved quickly into a complicated choreographed dance the
class had learned last week. Violet and
I tried to follow along as best we could.
I was trying too hard to keep up to take the time to look if she was
fairing any better than me. But even
though I was looking silly, I was having a lot of fun trying to get my body to
move to the rhythm. We moved to another
song with easier moves, although I became pretty disturbed to be shimmying and
shaking my butt to Soldja Boy’s “Superman Dat Hoe.” I tried to ignore my feminist talk in my
head, “This is degrading, objectifying,
and disgusting. What are you doing? You brought your mentee to come shake her
butt to “Superman Dat Hoe”? She already
gets enough negative messages about her worth, why are you putting her in a
position to receive more?” I was
able to continue having fun as long as I turned off the dialogue.
However, pretty soon I found myself
doing a move that must be used in strip clubs: I was bent over with my hand on
the floor and with my legs straight and butt shaking as I watched my other hand
come over my head. My feminist dialogue came
on again, loud and proud. Throughout the
class I tried to focus on the fun and positive energy of dancing (a little bit)
in sync with a roomful of other people. At the same time, I felt angry I was compelled
to do some objectifying moves to misogynistic songs.
This is the usual struggle I face with a lot of
pop culture. Most of the time, I just
try to find alternatives or just my head in the sand. But I can’t ignore mainstream culture when so
many people I love and care about do enjoy it.
Violet loved the class and wants to go back ASAP, but I’m struggling
with what I want to do. I want her to
have fun and improve her fitness, but at what cost to my values? Is there a different way we can enjoy hip-hop
and dancing without such problematic songs or moves?
Yikes! Do you think the teacher would listen to your complaints about song selection and dance moves? Surely a club that tries to family friendly would listen to your input.
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