Lara Spencer comments re Prince George (ballet shaming)

[Mamaderuby]

https://youtu.be/e27c3JmlbNM

 

Has anyone else seen this?  It is hard enough for ballet boys dealing with schoolyard teasing. This is prime time tv in US.

[FionaM]

Such an uneducated uncultured person.  I hope she gets sufficient backlash to lose her job.   

[Fiz]

I refused to watch it but the dancer Meaghan Grace Hingis  put it on Instagram and she’s absolutely and rightly furious about it

[Yaffa]

There are several critical comments following the video. It would be great if the presenters could be shown first-hand what a great opportunity young boys and girls are getting by learning ballet...and perhaps they could then spread the word...

Edited August 23, 2019 by Yaffa
for clarity

[Jan McNulty]

I've just watched it ... it's absolutely disgraceful reporting on so many levels.

 

I'm glad to see that most of the comments are very critical of the report.

[Rob S]

I've watched this video a number of times now and have come to the opinion that she's not having a go at George and his love of ballet or ballet but that the curriculum is hard work for a person starting school...the pointers being the title of the video, the bit about her being glad she doesn't have to do homework any more and 'between religious studies and computer studies going back to the play doh'. The issue is what she means by 'we'll see how long that (George's loving ballet) lasts, William'

Edited August 23, 2019 by Rob S

[Peanut68]

Ugh....how unintelligent on every level...

[balletbean]

Please sign and share. 

 

https://www.change.org/p/good-morning-america-good-morning-america-should-amplify-the-benefits-of-dance-for-young-men

Edited August 23, 2019 by balletbean

[Yaffa]

The presenter apologised:

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/23/entertainment/lara-spencer-prince-george-ballet-trnd/index.html

[Fiz]

Her comments were made on air. So should the apology be. 

[Jan McNulty]

I found her "apology" glib and insincere.

[Jan McNulty]

Further comments from the news thread (that topic is now locked and cross-referred here):

 

 

[Sim]

1 hour ago, Jan McNulty said:

I found her "apology" glib and insincere.

Clearly cobbled together by a staffer.  

[LinMM]

Any chance Sim that you could post the poster from about 25 mins ago from the other thread on this topic as I love that ......I think it was from to the Pointes post?? 

Personally watching this video I think she clearly sniggers and wants to get a laugh out of Prince George doing ballet ....and does!

Im not a big Royalist or anything but it's not fair to do this. 

Prince George may never see it but some of his pals at school might.

I hope the school will deal with it well. 

[Sim]

Created by ToThePointe in support of the little Prince!

[Lusodancer]

Can you imagine how many 'princesses' would be queuing up to dance pas-de-deux with a real prince!

[Ian Macmillan]

There was substantial reaction to that broadcast throughout yesterday and it appears to be continuing into today - see the substantial piece by the New York Times' chief dance critic and more at the end of today's Links.

 

 

[bridiem]

Unfortunately, the audience laughed when she first mentioned ballet too. An audience here might well do the same - who knows? You do wonder how far we have come if this is still the reaction. I notice that 'religious studies' was initially considered worthy of smirky giggles, so by the time ballet was mentioned the audience was well away. Very depressing.

[Lusodancer]

And nobody in the global outrage particularly Stateside, has made any comment how it is perfectly acceptable in the USA to arm your child with automatic weapons to shoot up their class mates, such that the grip of the NRA over politics and 'constitutional' mindset is never  effectively politically challenged , whilst mainstream media sneers at  'arming' your child with better physical, aesthetic and social qualities .  Shocking really.

[Sim]

38 minutes ago, Lusodancer said:

And nobody in the global outrage particularly Stateside, has made any comment how it is perfectly acceptable in the USA to arm your child with automatic weapons to shoot up their class mates, such that the grip of the NRA over politics and 'constitutional' mindset is never  effectively politically challenged , whilst mainstream media sneers at  'arming' your child with better physical, aesthetic and social qualities .  Shocking really.

Very good point.  

[alison]

Tony Newcombe, in the other thread, referred to Leanne Cope's Instagram post on the matter.  Could someone post a link, please?

[Yaffa]

Definitely the presenter should have known better, but who knows what script she was given, who else was behind this serious incident, who failed to prevent it from being challenged within the studio. The apology - whoever drafted it - seemed carefully crafted to reduce damage, but I guess that's hardly surprising.... What I'd really like to see, after the matter has faded from the spotlight, is for the entire production team to be exposed first-hand to what ballet and ballet training is really about, and sharing their findings in a widely broadast programme.

[Jan McNulty]

8 hours ago, alison said:

Tony Newcombe, in the other thread, referred to Leanne Cope's Instagram post on the matter.  Could someone post a link, please?

 

Leanne Cope's Instagram account is private and you have to apply to follow her.

 

Wayne Sleep was interviewed on Breakfast News this morning.

[Jan McNulty]

Brandon Lawrence made a good post with a very fabulous photograph:

 

 

[along for the ride mum]

29 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

Wayne Sleep was interviewed on Breakfast News this morning.

Indeed he was, and in a rather sloppy irony, the picture the BBC chose to use as a background for the piece was that of a girl en pointe.

(rolls eyes)

 

Edited August 25, 2019 by along for the ride mum
Capital letters

[Fiz]

I am loving how every single dancer I know or follow and every single dance teacher is absolutely livid on Prince George’s behalf. 

[LinMM]

That's a fab picture of Brandon Lawrence Janet 😍 perfectly demonstrates the degree of athleticism ballet today requires.....not that's the only thing of course! 

But we all know if Prince Georges timetable had shown he was starting to learn any of the sports like football or was doing gymnastics etc nothing would have been made of it. 

 

[Candleque]

American dancer and choreographer, Travis Wall, posted a video on Instagam that is getting a lot of shares. In his Instagram Story, he talks about dancers gathering in front of Good Morning America early Monday morning to do a live ballet class. Fantastic idea imo and should blow up the story more.

[Two Pigeons]

4 hours ago, along for the ride mum said:

Indeed he was, and in a rather sloppy irony, the picture the BBC chose to use as a background for the piece was that of a girl en pointe.

(rolls eyes)

 

 

It was all pretty sloppy in my opinion.  I suppose they chose Wayne Sleep because he seems to be available to the media at the drop of a hat and they could go on about him dacing with Diana in the 80s.

 

Personally I would have chosen dancers like Iain Mackay or Steven McRae who have stellar careers, ard still involved with ballet, married to fellow dancers and have families.  Wayne Sleep is too much like the cliche Ms Spencer was alluding to.

[LinMM]

John Clifford on Facebook has made a lovely post of him when training some boys a few years back at Vaganova Washington school with a piccie of Oscar Frame ( son of balletcoforum poster) among others. Wish I could get it here but don't know how to do links from Facebook.

[Sabine0308]

Her lame "apology" is another insult. It doesn't come from the heart. And she deleted all comments/turned the comments off. How low is that!! I agree that she should apologize on TV, just where her mocking happened! Takes courage of course.

Edited August 25, 2019 by Sabine0308

[Jan McNulty]

4 hours ago, LinMM said:

John Clifford on Facebook has made a lovely post of him when training some boys a few years back at Vaganova Washington school with a piccie of Oscar Frame ( son of balletcoforum poster) among others. Wish I could get it here but don't know how to do links from Facebook.

 

Don't know if this will work:

 

 

(The account is public)

[LinMM]

Magic Janet! Thanks so much I liked what he said