True Freedom Believers for Safe & Age-Appropriate Dance

Somewhere between Timothée Chalamet waxing poetic about the (dying art form of) ballet on CNN in late February 2026 and Alexandra Villarreal’s HuffPo deep-dive on Maddie Ziegler’s rhinestone empire in February 2015, America collectively shrugged at jazz dance’s roots like it was last season’s TikTok trend.

It’s like watching a dance competition where every routine is a Frankenstein mashup of ballet, lyrical, and whatever the choreographer vaguely remembers from the FIG World Cup 2018 in Pesaro, Italy, all performed by teenagers with more hairspray than historical context. American dance culture has this weird habit of treating ballet like it’s the Holy Grail, competition contemporary like it’s profound, and commercial choreography like it’s the pinnacle of creativity — never mind that most of it borrows from jazz vocabulary without ever bothering to credit the Black artists who invented it.

The result? A sea of technically proficient dancers who can whip out a fan kick like it’s nothing but couldn’t tell you where it came from if their rhinestone-encrusted lives depended on it. Chalamet’s whole “Do people even care about ballet?” spiel and Villarreal’s Ziegler-mania both accidentally stumbled into the same cultural blind spot (Maraming salamat po, CS Lewis.): Americans love dance when it’s shiny, viral, or attached to a celebrity, but ask them to trace its lineage and suddenly it’s like watching a toddler try to explain tax law.

Ballet gets reduced to “pretty but boring,” competition dance gets mistaken for innovation, and jazz? And I mean ROOTED JAZZ? Jazz gets treated like that one relative at Thanksgiving who everyone vaguely acknowledges but no one actually listens to.

Meanwhile, the American competition-industrial complex churns out dancers like a factory, pumping out kids who can turn like tops and leap like gazelles — just don’t ask them about Mura Dehn, Talley Beatty, Donald McKayle, Eleo Pomare, Louis Johnson, Dianne McIntyre, Fred Benjamin, and Alice Barker unless you want to witness the world’s most awkward silence. It’s a paradox: we’re a global dance powerhouse, yet our public discourse has the depth of a competition routine set to (shudders) "Le Jazz Hot."

Let’s be real—when Timothée Chalamet waxes poetic about ballet and Alexandra Villarreal frames dance like it’s just sparkly costumes and TikTok trends, it’s painfully clear America’s dance literacy is hovering somewhere between So You Think You Can Dance and a toddler’s jazz-hands debut at a suburban recital. Forget rooted jazz traditions; most folks think the Charleston was invented by a Disney Channel choreographer. But Shannon Dooling-Cain swooped in like a guardian angel of rhythm, tossing out advice so good it could resurrect Josephine Baker from her grave.

Ditch the couch and actually go watch dance that doesn’t involve toddlers in sequined bikinis shuffling to Xtina's "But I Am a Good Girl." (Aye-sos!) Real, sweaty, Filipino streetdance battles? Yes. That underground Lindy Hop collective? Absolutely. Show Villarreal, Chalamet, and other non-dance audiences that dance isn’t just a backdrop for indie films — it’s a living, breathing thing, and we’re all invited.

Join every dance org you can find— Dance/USA, NDEO, Dance MetroDC — because nothing says “we mean business” like a bunch of dance nerds storming city hall with tap shoes. Strength in numbers, baby. Then, teach like your life depends on it. No apologizing for actually knowing your stuff.

Explain why it's better to stick with a double outside turn rather than a quadruple one and why the Camel Walks have more history than the entire Dance Moms franchise. And hey, if little Timmy doesn’t get a plastic trophy for his interpretive robot dance, he’ll survive. 86 the Insta-famous choreographer du jour and book the brilliant Lindy Hop elder who can trace jazz steps back to the Savoy Ballroom. Extra credit if they side-eye you for calling it “vintage” instead of “sacred.” Fame is fleeting, but a solid shish-ka-boom-ba? That’s forever.

For starters, one ought to devour books on dance history like they’re stale protein bars left in a studio locker — necessary, if not always delicious. Study teaching manuals until your eyes cross, because nothing screams “prepared professional” like muttering pedagogy terms in your sleep.

And for heaven’s sake, take a class in some obscure style you’ve never tried — preferably one where the instructor insists on calling moves by their original 1920s slang, just to keep you humble. (Solo Lindy classes do JUST THAT.)

As for books on jazz dance history, Lewis wasn't wrong when he said he wrote: "None of us can fully escape this blindness, but we shall certainly increase it, and weaken our guard against it, if we read only modern books. Where they are true they will give us truths which we half knew already. Where they are false they will aggravate the error with which we are already dangerously ill."

"The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books. Not, of course, that there is any magic about the past. People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes. They will not flatter us in the errors we are already committing; and their own errors, being now open and palpable, will not endanger us."

"Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction. To be sure, the books of the future would be just as good a corrective as the books of the past, but unfortunately we cannot get at them."

Take, for instance, the evolution of jazz dance — saga more dramatic than a reality TV show about rival dance crews. These days, you’ll see competition "jazz dance" routines set to Whitney Houston's "I'm Your Baby Tonight" where dancers hit 200-degree leg tilts so sharp they could slice through the existential dread of a Monday morning, all while glittering in bedazzled bra tops and briefs over bare legs that sparkle brighter than the questionable life choices made backstage during Nutcracker season.

Compare that to the early ‘90s, when New Jack Swing ruled the scene with moves so smooth they made Vanilla Ice’s hairline look intentional, and Kid ‘N’ Play’s high-top fades seemed like the pinnacle of human achievement. Oh, and they are much closer to the trunk of the jazz dance tree than the rather hackneyed sequence containing umpteen grandes pirouettes a la secondes en relevés.

A historical costume for a routine set to "I'm Your Baby Tonight" in 1991 consisted of modest skirted biketards stretched over tan tights — garments so sturdy they could’ve doubled as armor in a medieval battle. Now? Bare legs and excessive rhinestones on a "bikini" reign supreme, which is great until you realize how many sequins end up embedded in your couch like tiny, judgmental reminders of your costume budget.

But here’s the kicker (and not the kind you do in a series of Apple Jacks): studying old jazz forms isn’t just nostalgia for those of us who remember dial-up internet and the tragic fashion of mesh shirts.

When Lindsay Guarino and Wendy Oliver were piecing together Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches in late 2013, they uncovered chronological blind spots so glaring they could’ve been spotted from the cheap seats at a Broadway theater.

Guarino and Oliver admitted in the preface of Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century, "We first found ourselves entrenched in conversations about racism and ownership while collaborating on (the first book). These conversations were frequent among the authors of the book and gained momentum in the years that followed."

"While some people believed that jazz cannot be considered jazz unless it reflects and embodies its West African roots and the African American experience, others felt that jazz is fluidly evolving and can exist free of limitations. Tangential perspectives weighed the use of jazz music, the presence of ballet versus vernacular movement vocabulary, and whether or not social and improvisational aspects are central to its form."

It turns out, the history of jazz dance — like the plot of most dance movies — is messier and more fascinating than we thought. Write to your elected officials — yes, the ones who still think arts funding means “buying glitter for kindergarteners” — and remind them that, as poor culturally misunderstood Chalamet once poetically mused, Earth without art is just a sad, beige rock.

We have to convince him that ballet isn’t dead. That rooted jazz dance isn’t dead. They’re just napping under layers of misinformation and questionable costume choices. Social media doesn't have to be a digital colosseum where dance routines battle for likes like gladiators fighting for their lives, except with fewer lions and more TikTok transitions. But what if we, the enlightened scroll-scrollers of the internet, could wield our thumbs for something nobler than just double-tapping another over-choreographed high school dance squad performance?

Imagine, if you will, a world where every time someone posts the latest viral routine — including the winning D1 jazz routines one would see at the Universal Dance Association College Dance Team Nationals at Walt Disney World — a dance teacher who knows her jazz dance history casually drop a link in the comments to a grainy black-and-white clip of Al Minns, Leon James, and Frankie Manning tearing up the floor with the Tranky Doo like it’s 1943 and the rent is due.

This isn’t just about nostalgia, mind you. It’s about what Lewis called letting “the clean sea breeze of the centuries blow through our minds.” Granted, Lewis was talking about books, but the principle holds: sometimes the past has moves so slick they make the present look like it’s dancing in molasses.

Take January 2024, for instance, when Minnesota’s own Governor Tim Walz and the members of Aerosmith (yes, Steven Tyler’s crew) collectively lost their minds over the University of Minnesota Dance Team's D1A routine set to “Dream On,” declaring it “badass” and urging them to “dance on.” A fine sentiment!

But what if, in the middle of that digital applause, someone had slipped in a video of the Savoy Ballroom legends doing the Lindy Hop like their shoes were on fire? Would the world have imploded? Probably not. But it might’ve given a few people pause before they crowned the next “revolutionary” routine.

Now, before you accuse me of suggesting we chain Chalamet to a chair and force him to watch The Spirit Moves on loop until he can Lindy Hop in his sleep (though… tempting), let me clarify. This isn’t about coercion—it’s about context.

Think of it like Historically-Informed Performance (HIP) for dance. You know, those musicians (GINORMOUS shoutout to Les Talens Lyriques for clapping back at Chalamet) who dust off 300-year-old treatises to play Handel's Messiah like it’s 1742 and the harpsichord tuner is running late? Yeah, them. They’ve got the right idea.

And dance educators could stand to take a page— or, more accurately, a frame — from their playbook. Why not pair that flashy new competition routine with a clip of Laura Glaess breaking down classic jazz steps, or Ksenia Parkhatskaya from Secrets of Solo showing how the old-school cats did it with twice the style and half the pyrotechnics?

Lewis, ever the sage, once quipped, “It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones."

Apply that ratio to dance, and suddenly the algorithm starts looking a lot more interesting. For every three videos of university dance teams vying for UDA Nationals glory or the latest videos from littlelovelydancers, CarmoDance, or KidDancersonYT, throw in a video Lindy Hop performance — something with sweat, soul, and maybe a stray fedora flying mid-air. (See resources below.)

That leads us to talk about mentoring young dancers — not just correcting their pirouettes or teaching them how to count music. No, the real work is helping them see beyond the rhinestone-studded dystopia of youth dance competitions, where the choreography often has all the cultural depth of a grocery store muffin.

But here’s the thing — you don’t just shrug and say, “Kids these days.” You sit them down, show them clips of the Nicholas Brothers defying gravity in Stormy Weather, or Katherine Dunham turning anthropology into art, and watch their eyes widen like they’ve just discovered a secret door in their own house. Then you counter the inevitable chorus of, “But my competition solo needs more tricks!,” with the gentle reminder that artistry isn’t measured by how many grandes pirouettes a la secondes en releves you can do without passing out.

And when some judge at StarPower Nationals tells them their grounded, polyrhythmic piece “lacks energy,” you hand them a metaphorical (or literal) cup of tea and remind them that Elvis Presley’s hip swings were once considered “vulgar” too. History tends to recycle its nonsense.

Throw $20 at that indie dance collective performing in a converted laundromat. Why? Because somewhere, a choreographer is duct-taping their shoes back together while arguing with a venue owner who thinks “modern dance” means So You Think You Can Dance rejects. Your cash isn’t just funding their next piece; it’s a middle finger to the idea that art only matters if it’s algorithm-approved. Plus, imagine their faces when they realize a stranger actually paid to see their weird, wonderful vision instead of demanding another Shaping Sound knockoff.

Then there’s collaboration — the magical act of remembering that jazz dance didn’t evolve in a vacuum. Team up with musicians who still believe in live instruments, not just pre-recorded tracks that sound like a robot’s idea of “groovy.” (Wherein back in 2015 Youth Protection Association in Dance discovered that 87% of the dancers they'd surveyed watched MVs of their routine music and only 6% of them sought parental permission, this is such a good idea.)

Better yet, find a big band. Remind people that Benny Goodman hiring Teddy Wilson wasn’t just a jazz milestone — it was a middle finger to segregation wrapped in a killer clarinet solo.

And while you’re at it, partner with disabled dancers. Not as “inspiration porn,” but because excluding them from stages is as absurd as saying you can’t dance if your shoes don’t have taps. Co-host workshops with that studio across town—the one you’ve been low-key side-eyeing because their “contemporary” routine looks suspiciously like interpretive lawn mowing. Surprise! They might teach you something too, like how to actually stretch without groaning like a haunted house door.

The goal isn’t to homogenize; it’s to prove that dance thrives when it’s a conversation, not a monologue shouted over a bass drop.

Which brings us to the elephant in the room: the viralification of art. When Chalamet (bless his heart) implies that legacy arts are irrelevant, or when Villarreal dismisses traditional forms as “boring,” they’re not just wrong — they’re stuck in the same amnesiac loop that convinces people to eat Tide Pods.

But guess what? The Royal Ballet isn’t selling out theaters because of TikTok challenges. Jazz isn’t taught worldwide because some influencer did a “jazzy” routine in a crop top. These forms survive because they’re alive — pulsing with history, rebellion, and the kind of depth that doesn’t fit in a 15-second clip.

So yes, fight for the kid who thinks artistry means contorting into a human pretzel for applause. Fight for the local company performing in a parking garage. And most of all, fight the idea that dance is just content.

Because the punchline? Those “14 cents in viewership” will vanish faster than a Snapchat story.

And maybe in the not-too-distant future, we’ll see a glimmer of hope. Picture it: youth dancers actually doing vernacular jazz steps (gasp!), clad in early 1950s blouses tucked under swing dresses and proper character shoes, grooving to Natalie Cole’s 1991 big-band cover of "Orange-Colored Sky." What a sight that would be.

Recommended YT channels:

My point of this meme I cleverly made as one who stans for jazz dance history - regarding the hilarious dearth of videos of solo Lindy jazz dance routines set to Tami Tappan Damiano's cover of the 1945 Duke Ellington and Don George song "Hit Me With a Hot Note" on YouTube, Vimeo, and other social media and video sharing platforms - is inspired by Louisianian music educator Jarrod Richey's 2023 blog post "A Swift Reply."

He wrote, "We are too easily pleased with the fast food of the music industry. We want to fill our bellies with a pounding beat and kitschy lyrics, an immediate experience for our bodily pleasure. Then we want to pretend that a constant diet of such things won’t affect us."

What my brain REALLY pictures when I'd see videos of Western dance competition "jazz"/musical theater routines (emphasis on quotes around the word "jazz") set to Damiano's cover of "Hit Me With a Hot Note" on YouTube.

"Mud pies will work just fine, thanks. We don’t understand that what we consume in our music can indeed shape us for better or worse. We are too accustomed to this dim view of the world. We have to be willing to mature our loves and our understanding all the way around."

The same can be EASILY said with jazz dance.

Several Western youth dancers, dance parents, dance teachers, and dance competition adjudicators have been (since circa 2002) too easily pleased with the fast food of the competition-industrial complex.

Fueled by the stretching forums of Dance.net, the Contortion Home Page, and then reality TV, they want to fill their bellies with two-piece costumes (often without tights underneath), excessive pop music, and tricks, an immediate experience for audiences' - and dance adjudicators' - bodily and visual pleasures. Then they want to pretend that a constant diet of such things won’t artistically and musically affect them.

Several Western youth dancers, dance parents, dance teachers, and dance competition adjudicators don’t understand that what they consume dance education-wise in their media can indeed shape then for better or worse. They have been too accustomed to this dim view of the dance world, particularly jazz dance, which stems from the West African dances and the lived experiences of generations of African Americans and their enslaved predecessors.

Several Western youth dancers, dance parents, dance teachers, and dance competition adjudicators have to be willing to mature their loves and their understanding of primitive jazz dance forms all the way around.

Other things my brain REALLY pictures when I'd see videos of Western dance competition "jazz"/musical theater routines (again, emphasis on quotes around the word "jazz") set to Damiano's cover of "Hit Me With a Hot Note" on YouTube.

Richey further wrote, "In advocating for more appreciation for the glory of a good steak, one does not have to be against eating a good burger, to extend the analogy. You could argue that the more you appreciate a good steak, the better the hamburger tastes when it’s time for one. Your senses of taste and smell have broadened, making all the nuances of flavor more alive in your mouth."

"The same can be said of higher, more complex forms of art music like that of Bach. The better you understand Bach, the more you are freed to enjoy the lesser things. You become increasingly engaged in whatever genre of music enters your ears. Your desires and loves become full-bodied instead of weak."

Similarly, I am not against dance competitions. (The only things closest to them here in the Philippines - where kahihinan, the virtue of modesty, is an unseen forcefield impeding the importation of NUVO-esque ones - are the streetdance ones.)

Regarding my take on the "Expectations vs. Reality" meme I made, I would like it if there were videos of solo Lindy versions of Damiano's cover of "Hit Me With a Hot Note" on YouTube.

Ellington and George wrote that song in 1945.

Stop and reread this.

Ellington and George wrote that "Hit Me With a Hot Note" at the tail end of WWII. They wrote it at the pinnacle of the Big Band Era. They wrote it when African American jazz culture was in full, vernacular bloom.

Therefore, I would appreciate those menu items of the "scratch-made beef kaldereta" of dancers clad in REAL 1940s clothing doing Shorty Georges, falls off the log, and shish-ka-boom-bas - just to name but three authentic steps - alongside the linedancing routines, foxtrot routines, and the "Jollibee Yumburgers" of dance competition routines on the video-sharing platform.

To the Lindy Hop community (on Tumblr AND OF COURSE elsewhere), leave a comment or reblog my post if you have already done a video of a solo Lindy dance to Damiano's cover of "Hit Me With a Hot Note" on YouTube or Vimeo! I would appreciate it LOTS!

hotnotelindy.docx (research behind the historical case for solo Lindy jazz routines to Damiano's cover of "Hit Me With a Hot Note"): https://docs.google.com/document/d/12St3cyZE_n3wtHIZmwwTqRJ2bDSMKpVEqDHCfTvpKBc/edit?usp=drivesdk

You heard me.

Here, the dancers are in leggings, short-sleeved tops that cover midriffs, and skirts.

To me, this is a stark contrast to the bra/crop tops and briefs/cutout leotards over bare legs that have been standard costume pieces in dance competition lyrical routines set to that cover of "Ave Maria" in the past nigh-on 25 years. With me now living in a Catholic-majority archipelago where modesty rules the roost and is the lay of the land, those costumes won't fly here.

Oh, and don't get me started on the choreography, which to my brain appears like this:

One of the BEST interpretations of "Jet Set" danced in character shoes. Way better than - in this dance history buff's eyes and brain - than most dance comp routines that appear to me like this:

YES! Finally found a jazz dance routine to "Holding Out For A Hero" by Bonnie Tyler ACTUALLY FILMED IN THE 1980s! In fact, the dancers are wonderful adults-of-all-ages of the Berkshire Keep Fit Association county display team, marvelously taped in 1987!

And the unitards and legwarmers - authentic! The choreography? Simple but SOOOOOOOOO '80S. None of that contortion and females doing grandes pirouettes a la secondes en releve!

A welcoming contrast, in my own opinion as a dance history hound, to most dance competition routines set to this song in recent years that, to my eyes and brain, look like this:

At long last - a PRO dance interpretation of "The 20th Century Fox Mambo!" In character shoes! No tricks! No bare midriffs! None of what I'd mostly see in dance comp footage:

Bob Boross, a protege of the great jazz pedagogue Matt Mattox, said in the 2019 Dance Teacher Summit, "The term 'jazz dance' is used and misused in so many areas. Dances that have little or no jazz dance qualities are routinely (and inaccurately) described as jazz dance. When a media outlet has great or highly influential visibility (such as reality TV and social media), the audience begins to believe the inaccurate description, and in the process the truth of jazz dance is ignored. What often is called jazz dance will have minimal jazz dance characteristics." I am not against tricks, BUT as long as dance studios, its dancers, and its dance judges are kept in the dark about the full education and honor towards the African-American and African roots of jazz dance, they would believe that the dance genre would be about tricks. For great effect, I used the 1995 version of this Victor/Victoria banger heard frequently at dance competitions, mostly with highly gymnastic choreography.

(Instrumental intro plays.)

Male singer: 20-plus years ago in studios worldwide, A group of teachers saw a new kind of dancin' An’ they decided to call it…

Male singer and male ensemble (exclaim): NOT JAZZ!

Male singer (sings): No good technique is what this dancin' has Before they knew it, it was trendin' ‘round the world The stage was taken by a… New kind of movement, An’ now they'd stretch it from Sofia to Baku.*

Male singer: There were those stories that segued with those dance comps - About the judges who rewarded all these tricks They fell completely in love with…

Male singer and male ensemble (exclaim): NOT JAZZ!!!

Male singer (sings): No one had scored it like these judges have They say today the kids train beyond their limits; “You’ll only place if you’d display all those movements!” That’s why they’ve seen them from Sofia to Baku - Tricks as their focus, giving artistic poo!

Female singer: Oh baby, won’t you stop this Le Jazz NOT, dance kids And don’t encourage this trend I tell ya, friend, it’s really harmful to see Oh - I can’t sit still when there’s a child bent in three -

(Short instrumental interlude plays.)

Female singer: Also, baby, Le Jazz NOT, maybe… What's breakin' young bods forever! Don’t know whether it’s dancin' or gym; Only know it’s crackin’ limbs So please refrain from doin' Le Jazz NOT, baby, ’Cause I hate your splits -

Female singer (speaks): Forced!

(Short instrumental interlude plays.)

Female singer and ensembles (sing): Before they knew it, it was trendin' ‘round the world The comps were taken by a new kind of movement!

Female singer: An’ now they stretch it from Sofia to Baku!

Female singer and ensembles: Won’t you stop with… Jazz NOT, dance kids! Please! Make! It! End! I tell ya, friend -

Ensembles: I tell ya -

Female singer: It’s really harmful to

Ensembles: It's harmful to -

Female singer and ensembles: See!

Female singer: I can’t sit still when there’s that -

Female singer and Ensembles: Child! Bent! In! Three!

(Instrumental interlude plays.)

Female singer: ’Cause I hate your splits -

Female singer (speaks): FORCED!

(Instrumental interlude plays.)

Female singer (sings): When you do this Le Jazz NOT - dance kids! You’re breakin' young bods forever!

Female singer and Ensembles: Don’t know whether it’s dancin' or gym - Only know it’s crackin' limbs!

Female singer: So please refrain from doin' Le Jazz NOT, dance kids! Let's make OLD-SCHOOL JAZZ HOT!

Female singer: Le Jazz…

Female singer: STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!

Female singer (speaks sarcastically): Le Jazz - NOT!

This video is shared via Reddit in response to a ballet teacher’s question:

Whenever | teach variations, I like to have my students watch a video of a pro dancing it first to see how it looks in the wild and be inspired before we dive in.

For Harlequinade, though, I can only find YAGP videos. While the dancers in those are of course talented, I would prefer a video of a pro ballerina if possible. I know ABT did a production in 2018 but I can't find footage of it besides promo stuff.

Anyone know where I can find a video? Or know where that variation fits in the storyline of the ballet? Thanks in advance!

A huge shoutout to Korean National Ballet prima ballerina Sim Hyunhee for filling in that gap! Wish more ADULT PRINCIPAL ballet dancers will do that (now viral) variation in the near future! (To see it in full, scroll to 24:25 in the above video.)

Oh, and here’s a tutorial on it for my ballet lambs out there:

Took me LONG ENOUGH to seek out a video on the web of a rendition of Sam Harris's cover of "Satan's Li'l Lamb" danced in CHARACTER SHOES! So many dance competition routines, to this dance history buff, remind me of this:

Shoutout to Ryan Francois for doing a vernacular jazz dance take on “This Business of Love!” I need more like this as a jazz dance history buff!

Glad to see a rendition of "Hey Pachuco" done in character shoes! Why - at the time of posting - has this video garnering south of 500 views since 2012? It really deserves more!

Oh, and some competion takes - to thei jazz dance history minded brain - look like this:

“For most young Indians, the initial settings for learning informally, are family settings, especially weddings. The family, a gaggle of aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, nieces, nephews, especially grandfathers and grandmothers, as preservers of culture, encourage the younger generation profusely. I remember being the first on the dance floor. All the songs to which we would dance, appeared to us as ‘fun songs.’”

“It was only when I became a dance scholar, and developed a critical lens, that I started being troubled by the content of the songs to which I was dancing. Of course, I was having fun and my dancing was ensuring that my 642 muscles would get fired regularly and that my confidence was soaring. Social integration was a byproduct and my ability to pick up patterns, innovate, create, improvise, were honed. These were all qualities that have been very useful in dealing with challenges of adult life.”

“My issue, as I looked critically at my own dance journey, emanated from the disturbing content of the songs, which would be depicted visually rather graphically but in a stylistic manner. It was evident, that I really didn’t figure out what I was doing as a child.”

“Further, that it was happening with the approval of the adults in the family, who were not just supportive but positively encouraging, misled me. It stopped me from even suspecting that there could be something wrong.”

To Dr. Arshiya Sethi, I’m saddened this time of year that the youths here in the Philippines as well as those who are children of OFWs are repeating the same mistakes as you did as a child.

To be honest, I lost count of how many fellow millennials and Generation Z kids here danced to songs by the OPM - Original Philippine Music - all-girl group, ominously named the SexBomb Girls, during their family Christmas parties in their youths. Yup. The group’s name is the SEXBOMB GIRLS - I kid you not.

As a budding entrepreneur (Zazzle creator and affiliate marketer via Pinterest) and investor in residual wealth like real estate, I want to invest in high quality AND age-appropriate dance education here in my current country.

Stateside (where I was born), the pop music used for jazz dance education isn’t only limited to competition/recital routines. Children are also subject to those suggestive, immoral lyrics when they do floorwork, body isolations, and across-the-floor progressions.

Plus, I want to suture the gaping maw between jazz dance and jazz music that has been widening since post-WWII. (Not to mention - sexualized movements aside - that mainstream youth jazz dance education has lost so much of its African roots anyway.)

Hence the case for live music in jazz dance classes.

Ballet schools/companies and modern dance classes in higher education institutions have PROVED that having live music hones and boosts dancers’ musicality. But having organs and “workstation” keyboards like the Genos 2 in jazz classes adds the benefits of liberating children from the messaging in the lyrics of songs they would often hear during their leaps and turns classes at many youth studios.

Am showing this video in case you want to know what a Genos 2 does.

The last thing the children here in the Philippines - AND ALL AROUND THE WORLD - wishing to take those classes need to hear is a suggestive hit song sung by the SexBomb Girls when they’d do grandes battements or practice their surprise leaps across the floor.

Ah, the Philippines. They are known for the itik-itik, tinikling, cariñosa, pandanggo, and the Cagayan Valley's version of the jota. And the resources here to fund and establish a NUVO or 24 Seven-esque dance comp are scarce...

And for parents; dance studio owners and faculty; pastors; and EVEN child welfare agents concerned about the hypersexualization and exploitation in youth dance education, the paucity of resources needed to create such dance comps is a VERY GOOD THING!

Dance adjudicator Jamie White ranted about what she saw at a competition past. She saw a mini dancer who was clad in a bra top and booty shorts doing a knee slide that ends with her thighs open. She also saw her twerk in a front split, with her facing upstage.

Granted the high Catholic Christian populace here in the Philippines, those movements and costuming in routines that include those elements in their choreography are better suited for the shady bars lining Fields Ave. in Barangay Balibago, Angeles, Pampanga, than school auditoria (which are often outdoors).

"Filipino culture, deeply influenced by Catholic values, emphasizes modesty and appropriateness," Copilot noted, "Choreography that includes provocative movements, such as kneeling open-legged, and revealing costumes can be seen as disrespectful and inappropriate for young dancers. This can discourage organizers from hosting multigenre competitions that might feature such content."

"Parents in the Philippines may have strong objections to their children participating in routines that they perceive as overly sexualized. This concern can reduce the number of participants willing to enroll in multigenre competitions, thus limiting the demand and feasibility for such events."

The only dance comps here that might be tolerable for concerned individuals advocating age-appropriate dance are the streetdancing ones. Costumes are more modest than not. Choreography - of which the routines are often performed on concrete ANYWAY - often doesn't warrant youths to twerk, pose promiscuously, or go grind dancing on each other.

With the founding of Lindy Hop Philippines, I have been heartened since moving to the Cagayan Valley in early 2024 that there are homegrown individuals who are starting to expand the myopic scope of jazz dance from being a “sassy, promiscuous” genre to one that conveys a much wider range of characters and moods.

“By sharing the rich history of jazz dance, including its roots in African rhythms and its evolution through various cultural influences, educators can help elders understand that jazz dance is a legitimate and respected art form,” Copilot explained, “Highlighting the contributions of pioneers like Frankie Manning and Norma Miller can also emphasize the cultural significance of jazz dance.”

“Organizations can host performances that focus on the artistic and technical aspects of jazz dance, rather than sensationalized or provocative elements. By presenting jazz dance in a respectful and dignified manner, they can help dispel misconceptions about the genre.”

“Inviting elders to participate in workshops and classes can provide them with firsthand experience of jazz dance. This can help them see the discipline, skill, and creativity involved in the dance form, fostering a deeper appreciation and understanding.”

“Drawing parallels between jazz dance and traditional Filipino dances can help elders see the cultural value and continuity in jazz dance. Emphasizing shared elements, such as rhythm and community engagement, can create a sense of familiarity and acceptance.”

“Organizations can hold discussions or forums where elders can voice their concerns and have their questions answered by knowledgeable instructors and dancers. This open dialogue can help address any misconceptions and build trust. Featuring Filipino jazz dancers and instructors as role models can inspire elders and show them that jazz dance is a respectable and valuable art form within their own community.”

“Seeing local examples can help change perceptions and encourage acceptance.”

As for my stateside hypersexualization-in-dance-education-jaded mga kaibigan, DA:NCE Awareness unveiled a directory around the time Lindy Hop Philippines was established. It’s called – without a doubt – the Healthy DA:NCE Directory. In 2024, the first studios listed were located in the USA and Canada.

Hopefully more studios around the world will be annexed to the Healthy DA:NCE Directory in the next few years, especially those located in Australia. (Remember the RG Dance scandal?)

Given the high Catholic influence and marked emphasis on family values, the Philippines has a marvelous potential to harbor studios that are ripe to be included in the Healthy DA:NCE Directory. May St. Vitus pray that the government eases visa restrictions so that foreign teachers who value healthy dance education and age-appropriate dance for youth can relocate here.

May he pray that Lindy Hop Philippines – which is based in the NCR – will inspire my mga kaibigan all over the 7K-plus island archipelago to see jazz dance beyond tricks and promiscuity AND educate them fully about the genre; the iconic figures (BOTH Caucasian AND non-Caucasian); and age-appropriate styles of it.