I’m keeping this Monday Inspiration video short and sweet… In honor of Women’s History Month, this March, I encourage you to share more #BlackGirlMagic with your kids/students by watching the video below!

This Local Dance Group will Make You Redefine Women’s Dance

I was so inspired to learn about a local dance group named Mix’d Ingrdnts (pronounced “Mixed Ingredients”); an all women, multi-genre, multi-ethnic dance group out of Oakland, CA. I love the way they are redefining “women’s dance” as energetic, creative, and ecclectic. What makes this group’s dance style (philosophy?) even more powerful is the idea that women’s dance can be feminine without being overtly sexualized or objectifying.

Here’s what Mix’d Ingrdnts has to say about their purpose:

Mix’d Ingrdnts is a multi-ethnic and diverse collective of female artists who work together as an all styles dance company, with the intent of cultivating a stronger community of artists of all ages through urban performance, dance education and connection.

In Contrast…

Watching Mix’d Ingrdnts dance, makes me realize just how ubiquitous the Beyonce-style of dance has become in modern media today. Why does every dance I see on YouTube involve some manner of jiggling ones booty? And why is everyone dressed in a designer bikini with sequins?

Now that I sound like an old person (which I guess I am)… I want to inform you, I’ve got nothing against Bey’s beautiful, powerful and decidedly sex-postive style. I LOVED her two Superbowl performances–especially her recent ‘Ode to Black Power and would be shaking it like the rest of her crew if I had the ability or the booty to shake. (See below.)

Nonetheless, after seeing Mix’d Ingrdnts, I realize that so much of the women’s dance we see on TV and online is structured around a very narrow concept of womanhood–that is it… has to be “pretty” or “sexy” or both.

It’s time to flip the script! Check out Mix’d Ingrdnts in this video below. Or, better yet, check them out in person. Perusing their website, it appears they do performances and youth workshops. Why not book them to come to your school?

Women Dancers Redefine Oakland’s Street Dancing Scene | KQED Arts

Warning: Watching Mix’d Ingrdnts may ruin you for other dancers. When you watch other women’s dance groups, you may be left wondering, is that all there is?

Does any of this resonate with you? What other women are redefining women in the arts?

Related reads:

• The Conversation We Need to Have with Our Kids… (About Sexual Objectification)
• Celebrate Women’s History Month with Great Diverse Youth Lit!
• Feminism NOT!: If This is the “New Feminism” Count Me Out!
• We need more GIRL action heroes!
• Girls Count! Tackling Underrepresentation of Girls in the Media