I was going to have a mother daughter night on Mother’s day eve (the night when kids play tricks on…no wait, that’s a different night), but the girl was away on a choir trip. The boy – because he is the bestest kid ever – stepped up to the plate and went to a dance recital with me.
He was quite gracious about it too, and during the intermission met some kids from his school, so that was quite good.
The show itself was very interesting. The most interesting bit to me was the size of most of the people. Well, not their size but their ok-ness with it. I mean, I would fit in with the majority of the women their, and NO ONE sees me that undressed. Not even me. I rarely look in a mirror and the few times that I do it is because for some reason I’ve decided to wear make-up and want to make sure I’m putting everything in the right place. But look at myself anywhere else? No way.
But here are these women of all different shapes and sizes who are TOTALLY comfortable with their bodies. How can this be? Is it that dancing is not about how perfect you look, and that it idealizes womanhood, not magazine style woman-shape? There was one dancer whom I was certain was a friend’s dad, except I know for a fact he is in the Ukraine at the moment. And there she was, happy and dancing and proud. I was 98 percent impressed with all of them, and 2 percent freaked out by the masses of jiggling flesh.
You know what else was impressive? There was one group that had a girl (yes girl, maybe 16 years old) who was really very good. I pointed her out to my son – not that he needed me to point out the partially clad sixteen year old, it was because she was a good example of what an accomplished dancer could do (most of the women were amateurs). His response? “Yeah, she’s good but creepily anorexic. Freaks me out to look at her. The one on this end is easier to watch”.
So…he doesn’t believe that all women should be a size zero? Glory be.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Of course he doesn't. He sees you and knows you're beautiful. And that has helped him develop a healthy view of women. It was the same with our mother. She hated the way she looked. But - while it damaged my sisters and I with our body image - it made my brother realize that shape is beautiful.
Get enrolled in that class, and get feeling better about how beautiful you are. Also, looking in mirrors more frequently will help you catch those stains before you leave the house (I'm refering to your post about an incident on the elevator, of course).
I am taking the class! Today is dance day. This is my second batch of belly dancing classes. I love it!
And you're right...I'd be tidier if I actually looked at what I was wearing before I left the house.
Post a Comment