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Theresa Ruth Howard Dancer/Writer/Teacher Theresa Ruth Howard began her professional dance career with the Philadelphia Civic Ballet Company at the age of twelve. Later she joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem where she had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Africa. She has worked with choreographer Donald Byrd as a soloist in his staging of New York City Opera's Carmina Burana, his critically acclaimed Harlem Nutcracker, as well as the controversial domestic violence work The Beast. She was invited to be a guest artist with Complexions: A Concept in their 10th anniversary season. In 2004 she became a founding member of Armitage Gone! Dance. As a writer Ms. Howard has contributed to Russell Simmons’ One World magazine (art), and The Source (social politics), as well as Pointe and Dance Magazine. While teaching in Italy for the International Dance Association she was asked to become a contributor for the premiere Italian dance magazine Expressions. Her engaging, no nonsense writing style caught the eye of both the readers of Dance Magazine and its Editor in Chief who not only made her a contributing editor and has collaborated with Ms. Howard in See and Say Web-reviews. Her articles about body image prompted her to develop a workshop for young adult (dancers and non-dancers) My Body My Image that addresses their perceptions both positive and negative about their bodies and endeavoring to bring them closer to a place of Acceptance and Appreciation. She recently launched a blog by the same name to reach a broader audience (mybodymyimage.com) As a teacher Ms. Howard has been an Artist in Residence at Hollins University in and New Haven University in addition to teaching at Sarah Lawrence College, Marymount, Shenandoah, and Radford Universities, and the historical American Dance Festival. As a result of her work at ADF Ms. Howard was invited to Sochi, Russia to adjudicate the arts competition Expectations of Europe and teach master classes, and in Burundi, Africa where she coached and taught the Burundi Dance Company. Currently she on faculty at The Ailey School but also extensively throughout Italy and Canada. Ms. Howard's belief in the development, and nurturing of children lead her to work with at risk youth. At the Jacob Riis Settlement House in Queensbridge New York, she founded S.I.S.T.A (Socially Intelligent Sisters Taking Action) a mentoring program for teen-age girls where she worked to empower them to become the creators of their destinies. In addition she developed a dance program, which lead to an exchange with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Through her teaching and travels Ms. Howard began to observe a universal disenchantment and disconnection in teenagers that disturbed her, thus she set out to address it. Combining her philosophies of life and teaching, with the skills she garnered through outreach programs with diverse communities, she developed the personal development workshop Principles of Engagement: Connecting Youth to the Infinite Possibilities Within which gives teens a set of workable tools to increase their levels of success at tasks, and goals not only in dance, and all aspect of their lives. Theresa Ruth Howard is certainly diverse and multifaceted as an artist, and is moved to both write and create work; however she sees every student she encounters as a work in progress, and the potential to change the world one person at a time. The only was to make this world a better place it to be better people in it!

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Andy Rooney on Women Over Forty– So True So True!

rooneyAndy Rooney says:
As I grow in age, I value women who are over forty most of all. Here are just a few reasons why: A woman over forty will never wake you in the middle of the night to ask, “What are you thinking?” She doesn’t care what you think.
If a woman over forty doesn’t want to watch the game, she doesn’t sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do. And, it’s usually something more interesting.
A woman over forty knows herself well enough to be assured in who she is, what she is, what she wants and from whom. Few women past the age of forty give a hoot what you might think about her or what she’s doing.
Women over forty are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won’t hesitate to shoot you, if they think they can get away with it.
Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it’s like to be unappreciated.
A woman over forty has the self-assurance to introduce you to her women friends. A younger woman with a man will often ignore even her best friend because she doesn’t trust the guy with other women. Women over forty couldn’t care less if you’re attracted to her friends because she knows her friends won’t betray her.
Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over forty. They always know.
A woman over forty looks good wearing bright red lipstick. This is not true of younger women. Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over forty is far sexier than her younger counterpart.
Older women are forthright and honest. They’ll tell you right off if you are a jerk, if you are acting like one! You don’t ever have to wonder where you stand with her.
Yes, we praise women over forty for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it’s not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed hot woman of forty-plus, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some twenty-two-year-old waitress.
Ladies, I apologize.
For all those men who say, “Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free,” here’s an update for you. Now 80 percent of women are against marriage, why? Because women realize it’s not worth buying an entire pig, just to get a little sausage.

Racism and Body Image~ Can’t We All Just Get Along? Swedes revive ridicule of Black beauty Hottentot Venus

 

Now you know I have something to say about everything but this one has me stumped.
Sweden’s minister of culture, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, has been accused of racism after she become embroiled in a stunt involving a cake depicting a naked black woman. The art installation was reportedly meant to highlight the issue of female genital mutilation but attracted a furious response and accusations that the minister took part in ‘a racist spectacle’
Check it out:




Now some people have found this to be “racist”, Personally I find the video quite odd. First the idea that anyone would want to cut into a human shaped cake that looked like it was bleeding, that is screaming is already mind blowing, but the fact that they are so jovial about it, like it is an amusing sight, that is gives me pause. Something is hinky. To think that the artist The artist, Makode Aj Linde,

who created the installation for World Art Day on 15 April, (that’s him in as the cake’s head with his blackened face and head sticking up next to the cake’s stomach and arms) meant for the art installation to highlight the issue of female genital mutilation. Okay I kind of get that but… Then you are encouraging people to participate in the mutilation— okay edgy but what freaks me out is that they DID!!!

But is it RACISM that allowed them to see this merely as a stunt, and not a statement against the inhuman practice of genital mutilation on African women? My question is:

Would Ms. Adelsohn Liljeroth have so easily participated if someone had asked her to put human shaped cookie dough with the Star of David on them in an oven while a tape of wailing children was being played?

Would THAT have been amusing?

I know that Sweden has it’s racial issues, and that is being bandied about around this new development, and I know that Black folks get accused of being sensitive and paranoid, but I don’t know if I could cut into a human shaped cake, with a person screaming as I did it. I really would have found out distasteful and I would have first had to decline the invitation and then I would have asked for my coat. Sorry but I can’t picnic a at a lynching….
Here is more from the article hosted by: guardian.co.uk

Sweden’s minister of culture has been accused of racism after cutting a cake depicting a naked black woman.

Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth was taking part in an event at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the capital’s museum of modern art and home to works by Picasso and Dalí. She was invited to cut the cake, an art installation meant to highlight the issue of female genital mutilation. She began, as instructed, by taking a chunk from the cake’s “clitoris”.

The artist, Makode Aj Linde, who created the installation for World Art Day on 15 April, took part in the cake-cutting, with his blackened face and head sticking up next to the cake’s stomach and arms. The cakes “insides” were a gruesome red. A video shows him screaming loudly every time a visitor hacks off another slice of the cake.

Linde posted photos of the “genital mutilation cake” on his Facebook page. But the images provoked a furious response, with Sweden’s African-Swedish Association describing it as “a racist spectacle”. JUMP

The artist:

hummm we think she’s suspect…

uh-uh- it’s not right….images

 

 

Dancer Loses Foot in Boston Bombing- She Vows to Get Back on the Dance Floor

Adrianne Haslet-Davis plans to go from crutches to a prosthetic leg and back to the dance floor.

The horror that befell the city of Boston was horrific. The loss of life, the innumerable injuries, the terror that the city was in as law enforcement worked to identify and apprehend the culprits…this IS what terrorism is about, hurting people, and holding people mentally and emotionally in fear. However this story of a young woman who was maimed, who’s life is dance,  being able to, for lack of a better phrase- get back up on her feet and basically say that even though she has been changed, she will not change!”. Her courage, spirit, and love of life, and her resilience are what no terrorist can destroy!!!!

Meet Adrianne Haslet-Davis a new Body Hero!

hosted by cnn.com

Boston (CNN) — Five feet from where Adrianne Haslet-Davis stood with her husband, a bomb packed with nails and ball bearings was primed to go off.

The couple had joined thousands of spectators in downtown Boston April 15 to watch the city’s annual marathon when the first blast erupted nearby.

“There was this silence that came over the crowd,” she said as a plume of dust and debris enveloped Boylston Street. “And I thought, ‘Oh no, there can never just be one.'”

She was right. Moments later, a second device blew up close to her feet.

The shock wave flung the 32-year-old dance instructor into the air, along with her husband, Adam Davis. Their bodies hit the pavement together, contorted into what felt like a pretzel.

Adrianne Haslet-Davis plans to go from crutches to a prosthetic leg and back to the dance floor.

For a moment, Haslet-Davis lay motionless amid a cloud of dust and mounting panic.

“I think we’re OK,” she told Davis, recalling later: “I didn’t feel any pain and had no idea what had happened.”

But as the two tried to scramble to safety, she paused.

“I sat up and said, ‘Oh my gosh, my foot. There’s something wrong with my foot.'”

Doctors said later the blast had shredded 80% of the bone and muscle on her left foot and ankle.

But right then, she just saw blood gushing and knew she had to act.

“I just went into survival mode,” said Haslet-Davis, a dance instructor at the Arthur Murray Dance Studios in Boston. “I have to do something about this,” she thought. “I can’t lose my foot.”

Covered in dust and blood, she crawled on her elbows, pulling herself into a nearby restaurant to wrap the wound.

“Can you help me?” she pleaded, staring up at a few people who seemed bewildered and in shock. “They just looked at me like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ and then just ran in the other direction.”

Her husband, a captain in the Air Force safely back from Afghanistan, was desperate to catch up and crawled into the restaurant after her.

READ THE REST after the JUMP

Dove’s ‘Real Beauty Sketches’ Ad Campaign~ Poignantly Revealing

dove real beauty

Dove does it again. First I would like to give kudos to the company for authentically taking this whole “Real Beauty” campaign on, and not making it a fly-by-night, gimmick to suck women in buy products. They have been so innovative and creative at not only highlighting the issues but in finding ways to empower women and build them up- most often (and in my opinion most effectively) using their own words, and stories.

This new installment is amazing…

I have to say that when I watched the video below I cried. Let me explain: a sketch artist was employed to (without seeing the subject) draw women as they described themselves. The women were also asked to look at the face of other woman and later describe that woman to the artist.

Then the two portraits (subjective/objective) were places side by side, and the women were allowed to view in black and white  the renderings of how they see themselves, and how then  rendering of how the other person saw them, and the difference was remarkable. What was so moving to me was their reaction. The astonishment, the awe, and the sadness in the women’s eyes upon seeing the two – most times drastically different pictures. With the first portrait (the one that they described themselves for) you see a recognition, you witness them seeing their issues: The fat in their face, the bad chin etc. Their vulnerability is palpable- it is as though their inner most thoughts, the things that we all work so hard to mask on a daily basis- (that we cover up with make-up, clothing, hairstyles etc.) were on display. Their inner feelings and dislikes about themselves were laid bare.  In a way standing naked with a stranger whom they had feature by feature stripped naked before… Then ironically simultaneously they were confronted with the the second portrait of a more objective version of themselves and of how drastically different it was. When they look back and forth between to two, at first they seem slightly relieved that it’s “not so bad”, however within seconds, what you see register (and this is what made me emotional) is that they realized that there is  something is wrong with this “picture” if you will- it’s like mentally they are trying to make sense of how they could be so off… and although they are pleased that they are indeed “prettier” then they feel themselves to be- they realize that there is something disturbingly sad, painful and diminishing about the feelings they hold about themselves…

Take a look…

 

Real Beauty

“All because she tried so hard to stay fit ” By Dominique Nieves

Inline image 4Dominique Nieves was a student of mine at the Ailey school in the Junior Division when she was in High School. That was many years ago, she attended Columbia University earning a BA in Dance (she did a Biomechanics based thesis in dance, and used my experience at Ailey to discuss the impact of training in both ballet and modern on the muscles and joints of the hip and knee specifically), currently she is doing a special post-bacc program. She recently sent me a poem she wrote about her body image, but I will let you hear it…In Her Words….

She wrote me :

Hi Ms. Howard!!

So I revisited your blog and I wanted to send you something to contribute. If this is something you think might be cool to add please feel free to do so. Below is a poem I wrote when I was 16 years old and a student at Ailey. I was taking a creative writing class and my teacher assigned the prompt “fit”- that’s all. I wrote the the following poem in response. I was the only one who interpreted the word with this meaning.

“Little girl cries at night with the magazine under her pillow
Wondering why she can’t look like those models, she’s weeping like the willow
Pressured from more sides than one, a building anxiety
Other girls, the boys, her ballet class, not to mention the rest of society
Eats nothing but fruit for an entire week but not one ounce is shed
Angry at the scale for those evil numbers that it said
So consumed with hunger she gets dizzy spells
And buys all the diet pills that the drug store sells
Trying a new one every week and bearing the side effects
Doing videos she found online promising abs, obliques and pecks
Burning a whole in her stomach and one in her throat
Feeling guilty after indulging in a root beer float
She just yearned to feel normal when out with her friends
Is forcing yourself to throw up normal? it all depends
Was it normal when her ballet teacher told her to lose weight?
Or when her mother tormented her for the food that she ate
Or for her own friends to joke about her big behind
Someone who understood her was too hard to find
Her size one companion gobbling French chocolate cake
While she worried about the calories in her slim fast shake
Media surrounded her with skinny bodies, everywhere she looked
The next attempt, was avoiding anything that was cooked
Her hair became dry and her fingernails brittle
Her skin grew pale, her confidence little
Lacking nourishment & her time winding down
On the outside a smile, on the inside a frown
Not long till the damage she was doing to her body would appear
But she was silenced, sending cries no one but her could hear
She was weak and she was weary but it was too late to turn back
Her body became a hollow, corpse like sack
But when she looked in the mirror she still saw a fat girl
So she ran to the bathroom and began to hurl
Her body could no longer handle the erosion
The breakdown happened as suddenly as an explosion
Cardiac arrhythmia, like a bullet to her chest, she was hit
And all because she tried so hard to stay fit”

-Dominique Danielle Nieves

Inline image 1taken at the time she wrote the poem….

-1in the creative writing classroom- I was asked to do a little diddy for them at the end of the semester

Inline image 3

Some Pics From Sofia Bulgaria!! (pre Intensive Tour of the City)

That's our stop (no idea what it says lol)
That’s our stop (no idea what it says lol)
An original bath house (that is now closed but they might turn it into a museum
An original bath house (that is now closed but they might turn it into a museum
Presented by the Dance Iliev Foundation----the reason...
Presented by the Dance Iliev Foundation—-the reason…

SAMSUNG

The Art Museum
The Art Museum
They started to build the subway and this is what they found!! FYI IT took then 20 years to build their subway-NYCMTA where is that 2nd ave line!?
They started to build the subway and this is what they found!! FYI IT took then 20 years to build their subway-NYCMTA where is that 2nd ave line!?
Brand new!! just opened.
Brand new!! just opened.

SAMSUNG

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Rakia Marcati!!! it is the Grappa of Bulgaria (yummmm) *note made from the Muscato grape
Rakia Marcati!!! it is the Grappa of Bulgaria (yummmm) *note made from the Muscato grape

T’ruth in Sofia Bulgaria, Dance IT Intensive!

I am so excited to be here in Sofia Bulgaria for the Dance It week long dance intensive. I was invited by Iliev Dance foundation founder and director Petur Iliev to teach Ballet and Choreograph a work on the participants. I hope to bring you news of what is going on here and share what I learn about the country, and culture both in dance and beauty. It should be interesting!!!

 

 

 

 

On our first afternoon some volunteers (Stveti, Mariela and Peter ~AKA Harry Potter) gave us a walking tour of the city and we came upon the public springs where people bring bottles to fill. (can you image that in the States FREE Water???) here Mariela explains its benefits:

 

Think the Body Image Issue is just Hype- Check the Stats from Miss Representation

Hosted By:By Miss Representation in partnership with SPARK, LoveSocial.org, and I Am That Girl. Sent to us by SPARK because we’ve got insider knowledge and much love.
Remember what happens to 3 out of 4 girls when they look through a fashion magazine? The problem is much bigger than that.
If you think this is unacceptable, get the word out and share it. Then, take action with Miss Representation, SPARK Summit, LoveSocial, and I Am That Girl: Challenge the media to #KeepItReal.

Finally a Mannequin that might just look like you

 

Now I wrote a whole piece entitled Hunched and Hungry is that Hot? about the disturbingly thin and ill postured mannequin’s in Bloomingdale’s! Well now you might be able to go into a store and see the clothes on a mannequin that has a similar shape as yours…ok, you would have to be shopping in SWEDEN, but at least it COULD happen SOMEWHERE!  The Swedish department store Åhléns is featuring a mannequin that is based on a model between sizes 12 and 16 (according to Good’s Yasha Wallin, the average woman is a size 14).

 

I love her, she is sexy, with curves in all the right places, and that is both a size and shape that I have seen walking down the street, in fact every 3rd girl looks like Gilda (that’s what I named her). And apparently people on the internet feel the same way, a Facebook picture of the mannequin went viral, quickly racking up 130,000 likes. Go Gilda Go Gilda GO GO!

I don’t know if that is Gilda’s sister Hilda, but the mannequin behind her has some meat on her as well but she has a different shape, or is that a real person????

doesn’t Gilda remind you of our first Body Hero Fluvia Lacerda?

fluvia-lacerda

 

Oh OSCAR!!!!

Before I get in to the whole fashion body image side of this event, let me just say that this was the first Oscars that I have actually watched. Most of the time I check in here or there, but there is a rabid online culture (I’m not a tweeter but a facebooker it’s a bit more contained) that makes it interesting (also that 160 characters is difficult, like writing a haiku- to limiting) But I did watch, mainly because there were so many people that I liked, and movies that I actually saw– and there are the people and movies that irritate me so… here is my breakdown:

As I watched the red carpet arrivals the first thing I though was that these women have not eaten in a MONTH (or so). Everyone was so thin, like thinner then the usual thin. In the dance world we say Snatched, but these ladies were SUCKED! IT was kind of scary because you know that the “worked” to be that thin- meaning by any means necessary (not eating/ or not eating certain things or portions to working out to whatever…) some I think – like the nominees have probably dropped some pounds just form the hectic schedule of the award season, but it was startling…

Before that I would like to say that it was so nice to see ABC’s Robin Roberts looked DIVINE, it was so nice to see her back on to work and looking so beautiful on the read carpet

Now Let’s take a look at some of the actresses from last night, now there were no horrific  fashion moments (unfortunately – that means that everyone was really safe). The thing that was slightly annoying and shows that this sort of tried concept of “being on trend” is making everything cookie cutter boring, was the presence of the ubiquitous side swept Veronica Lake wave! every second woman was wearing that style… that’s what you get for being on trend…. but there were some REALLY Great moments:

Jessica Chastain in Armani Privé: A+ and her body looks wonderful  and I love that her hair looks wavy but flowy

Ann(e) Hathaway in Prada: B+ (but I have to say I am not a fan of her at all) the darts made it look like her nipples were are attention, she looked painfully thin to me
Charlize Theron in Dior: PuuurFection!!! she always gets it right, she looked sucked, but the tailoring on this dress was perfect it looked like a mold on her torso! her hair looks great and her dance performance during the opening showed her ballet training and she has a beautiful port de bras, (and her feet are just sick if you have ever seen them hooks!)
Naomi Watts in Armani Privé: A- I like because it was a bit edgy she was singular and original on this night, she helped to design it. And she looks healthy.
Amanda Seyfried in Alexander McQueen:B and I will tell you why, this was made for her I like it is very understated (not the issue) the issue is that the neckline gaped a bit and it was ill fitting I think someone should have caught that… And she looks HUNGRY! she is a girl that usually carries a bit of a curve, she was very “svelte” last night… she’s eating right now!
Halle Berry in Versace: A+ she has this made for her she wanted to look like a Bond Girl (because they we honoring the franchise) and it worked it was lovely love the Art Deco design and the shoulders! She is another one that always get’s it right
Catherine Zeta-Jones in a Zuhair Murad: B+ It’s like yeeehhhh, it’s safe. Her hair is wonderful, but here is the thing. Now CZJ is a boxy girl- meaning she has a short torso and, her shoulders, waist, and hips are basically the same width. now she doesn’t look terribly thin here, (her structure belies that fact that) she has not eaten in weeks! We know this because when she performed she was SUCKED honey SUCKED!!!
LOOK! she’s saying “I’M HUNGRY!!!!!!!!”
Kerry Washington in Mui Mui: A- now I love Miz Oliva Pope but she was so thin she looked like a Bobble head! let’s get real, we just saw her on Scandal in the pool with an overhead shot and there was a bit of booty… butt [sic] not on this night. she looked great I love that dress. Not a fan of the hair but she looked great. She needs a sandwich though…
Jennifer Lawrence in Christian Dior Couture: A+ She looked wonderful I loved the way it worked her curves! (ok but that dress nearly took her out, she didn’t look like she starved herself either… but wait the after party dress was over look

jennifer lawrence oscars party vanity fair calvin kleinIt’s major! It’s Calvin Klein! I had to throw that in there.

Jennifer Hudson in Roberto Cavalli: A- I love this look, and her  body is looking great, I love that she has stabilized (not too small not to big, like Goldielocks, just right) what does not work for me is the wig… she pulled out the wrong one, some waves would have been nice. But this dress stood out because it was so unlike what the rest of the ladies wore, like Naomi.

 

Octavia Spencer in a Tadashi Shoji: A+ I loved this! He knows how to create for her, and I loved that he went away from that gathered, ruched waistline I loved the soft classic elegance…. and she is on that Stevia, she has lost 40 pounds, and she looks wonderful.
Melissa McCarthy in David Meister:C- Melissa needs to get Tadashi’s card! what is this! I don’t understand, she has a beautiful waistline, but whoever is dressing her is afraid of it or doesn’t know how to deal with it. This is just not flattering
Adele in a Jenny Packham- A – here’s the thing, people gave her grief for her Grammy dress (which I loved) but I love this too. I think she always gets it right and her make-up is always flawless!!!– She has a G.O (Grammy/Oscar) she might be playing the Award Scrabble game she needs an E and a T (an Emmy/Tony) to spell EGOT!
StacyKeibler (w/ Le Clooney) in n a Naeem Khan: A+ I LOVE THIS DRESS!!!!!! (go Brad Goreski – I know Rachel Zoe is going Ba-nan-nas) she looks great I don’t like the shape of the hair so much but the dress is OVER!
 AND the Grand Diva of the NIGHT RED CARPET MOMENT!
Madame Jane Fonda! in Versace – Gradeless! she  was flawless. At 75!! in Canary Yellow!