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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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Kelly Clarkson: Weight Loss For the Love of A Man

Kelly Clarkson Weight Loss

I would love to say that it had something to do with my work, but it doesn’t, I have a boyfriend, and if I’m being completely honest, no one likes to be not toned when you are dating someone.”

Kelly Clarkson

Ok ok I get it you meet someone, you start to date, you want to feel flirty, and sexy and alluring so you might start to do the things that maybe you should have been doing all along, like maybe eating better, or working out. SO I can’t be mad but…

What I find interesting that she didn’t feel the need to lose weight for the industry in order to fit into their cookie cutter mold which I applauded her for. She has an authentic talent, a big voice that doesn’t really require auto tune, or the bells and whistles of push up bras and dancing in panties, front lace wigs and flailing back up dancers as camouflage. She is the type of performer who can just stand and belt out a song and move you to tears. I think that she gets that so she was like “accept me as  I am”  she got that she, as she was, was enough and she stayed chunky. It was a win for all the talented women who don’t look like “real women”.

So now to hear that she got a boyfriend and then decided lose weight makes me go hummm.  I hope that it was not because she felt inadequate or did it because she is afraid that she will loss him, I mean the reality is he started dating her when she was fuller so he must have liked it. On the other hand maybe it was the boost of endorphins made her want to be better, that I get.  Either way I think she looks great and if she is healthier for it, all the better.

 

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Will The Summer Olympics Bring a New Standard of Body Image? (fingers crossed!)

Dara Torres ( US swimmer)

The thing I love about the Olympics especially the Summer Olympics it the fact that every 4 years the athletic body is thoroughly celebrated. From the sinewy ripped bodies of the track and field runners and jumpers, the long lean divers and swimmers, to the short compact gymnasts every athletic body type is on display in its full glory not just of form but in action. When you watch the Olympics there is an incredible and undeniable appreciation not only of what the body looks like, but also what it can achieve and endure. This is especially true for the female form. Societally there has been this battle of aesthetics when it come to the female body from the extreme polarities of size 00 model types to the zaftig curvy Sofia Vergara and Jennifer Lopez types. The middle tends to be a grey wasteland where the idea of “average” is seldom acknowledged or addressed, and the athletic body is heralded only in context.

 

Where the 90’s was the era of the Gym body, tight butts and hard abs as a result of hours on the treadmill, spin class or kick boxing. I remember the times when women wanted to be tight, no giggle no wiggle. They wanted to look like they worked out. Times have changed, as has the ideal female body type, now Modern day woman who seeks to be physically fit walks a precarious line of being firm yet curvy in all the right places. She wants to look like she’s “in shape” but not like she works too hard for it. Enter the Yoga Body: long, lean, pliant but toned, firm but not bulky, and mainly non-threatening. The only tell tale signs that you “do” something are evidenced by a wicked set of guns (a result of endless downward facing dogs) and the ubiquitous yoga mat under the arm or slung over the back.

Allyson Felix Track and Field, love it!

What excites me about the summer Olympic is that the world will be enthralled with all of these muscular, powerful, skilled bodies. Too often the female body is sexual objectified, reduced to something to satisfy the male gaze and fulfill its desires, and where these athletic beauties will also be sexualized in articles, with photo spreads where they are barely clothed exposing there sculpted bodies, no amount of styling will be able to conceal that these women are strong and confident and self possessed (not to mention they could probably kick your ass!) People are already talking about swimmer Dara Torres’ abs. She is a feat of nature; at 45 she is a mother and five Olympic games competitor (1984, 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2008) and has the sickest body I have ever seen!!!  The other thing that I love is that although these Olympians are ripped, they all have different body types, and proportions they are tall, short, thick, lanky, long legged, with short torsos, long torsos, wide hips, boyish builds, but they are all so incredibly beautiful, goddesses each and every one.

 

So this summer all the women with big muscular thighs and calves (holla) ripped abs, strong backs, whether genetically endowed or earned through working out will be praised and celebrated. Get ready to be compared to Allyson Felix, Lolo Jones or even Ms. Torres when you are walking down the street. You can feel empowered by the fact that you have a Gold Medal body and that is just and fabulous as JLo Booty. Let the Games begin!

 

Elisa Di Francisca
Elisa Di Francisca – Italy – Fencing

Allyson Felix
Allyson Felix – USA – Track and Field

Lolo Jones
Lolo Jones- USA – Track and Field

Natalie Coughlin
Natalie Coughlin – USA – Swimming

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Would you Rather: Be Really Attractive when you are Young (and age badly) or Get Better With Age?

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For people of my generation Facebook created a freaky phenomenon. When the over 30’s started getting Facebook pages years ago a rash of high school pages and the like were launched. People started to reconnect with their past lives and with it all the embarrassing photos that we thought we were safe from, I mean who keeps the negatives right? (DAMN THOSE SCANNERS And the people who have time to use them!) All the yearbook photos, prom pictures, and pictures from dance and theater performances as well as and cutting class hang outs were out there. And there we were with our youthful selves dressed like extras in a John Hughes film, looking like Madonna the Cure, En Vogue and Cyndi Lauper.  Photos were being loaded up for everyone and anyone in your present day life to see. Where on one level it was cool to be able to revisit, even reconnect with folks that you went to school, or grew up with. Whether you were neighbors in childhood, or hangout buddies in school and then parted ways “finding” people and being found on Facebook was the miraculous happening. You didn’t actually have to go to a reunion to find out whatever happened to the chick who had the locker next to you for 4 years you could just click on her. And even better you didn’t have to loss weight or get your hair done to do it. While sitting in your PJ’s  you could revisit your youth in a safe and contained (albeit oddly public) way, in the comfort of your own home with a glass of wine. You could click through old photos and kee kee with laughter at your own “back in the day” and remark to yourself, “What were we thinking?”

Well along with bringing us our past, Facebook brought us our past’s present. All of the sudden the present day lives of the people you hadn’t seen since you turned that tassel, and left home were before you live and in color and THAT is at the root of this question. I started to noticed that in some cases life, and maybe genes had not been so kind to some of my schoolmates (I know that sounds horrible but you know that you were thinking it too!). They had…AGED… I was not looking at the youthful, collagen  (naturally) plump faces of teenagers, I was now looking at…mothers and fathers, who had spread, and balded, and wrinkled and all of the sudden started to look like their mothers and fathers did back in the day. They looked like our mothers look after years of running after us driving us hither and yon packing lunched, wiping noses and waiting up for us ’til the wee hours. Frankly some folk looked worn…It was the first time that I realized, Shit I’m…Wait for it…Middle Aged!!

I think this realization was compounded by the fact that I went to an arts high school so most of my classmates I remember as being young, fit, and vital, with indefatigable energy that was unable to be contained. We were bouncing off of walls, half dressed, legs kicking, singing in hallways and acting a fool (for art) So to see the older versions of themselves, at barbeques, settled with children on their laps,  carrying a few extra pounds from either a combination of childbirth, age and perhaps not dancing 4 hours a day left me incredulous. And then I was worried, “Do I look like that? Because I don’t feel like that…” When you start asking those questions you know that you are middle aged.

So What prompted this question:

So I was sitting having breakfast with my Joffery Jazz and Contemporary Division Dancers (the semester is over and we had one last out of tights bonding moment) and I was telling them to story and being that they range in age from 15-22 I was curious, how they would answer the question of :

“Would you Rather be really attractive when you are young (and then age “badly” OR would you rather just be average in your youth but get better with age?”

So which would YOU RATHER?

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S Moda Features Plus Sized Model Candice Huffine on Cover!

candice huffine I love this cover! It reminds me of those  juicy sexy curvy women of the ’50’s/60’s like Marilyn Monroe, or Sophia Loren delish! Apropos photographer Damon Baker’s concept was entitled “Una mujer real,” or “A Real Woman”  inspired by the 1050’s pin up girls.

If you recall Candice was one third of the full figured triad on the cover of Vogue Italia.

The Huffington Post reports:

For all the talk about including “real women” in fashion spreads, it seems like plus-size models only pop up on special occasions, like Vogue Italia‘s all-plus size issue or a controversial nude photospread juxtaposing a fat body with a skinny one.

So, after a few months of quiet on the plus-size front, S Moda has put the spotlight back on bigger models and the never-ending body conversation. Candice Huffine, famous for being one-third of Vogue Italia‘s memorable plus-size cover shoot, poses for photographer Damon Baker for a cover story entitled “Una mujer real,” or “A Real Woman.”

Her editorial, filled with Fifties-themed pinup shots, is accompanied by a surprisingly in-depth article that looks to psychology, anthropology, literature and pop culture to explain why the classic womanly shape, praised for centuries, has been replaced by a skinnier ideal.

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What’s Wrong with Looking Like You Just Had a Baby?

I know that the new hip thing is to be a MILF, both during pregnancy and immediately after. It’s like after expelling your placenta women are supposed to magically shrink back to their pre- pregnancy weight, as soon as you get your baby to latch on and breastfeed, you should feed them while walking on the treadmill.

What is so wrong with looking like you just had a baby?

There was time when the ripe and fertile corpulence of a new mother was honored, it was the one time that a woman could feel ok about carrying extra pounds, after all it was for a good cause, there was just a person residing in your body!! Shouldn’t that buy a chick a pass? Well apparently not nowadays. The popular gossip site TMZ recently made fun of actress Bryce Dallas Howard for  her post baby body. The Caption reads:

The article may say Bryce Dallas Howard on it but all I’m seeing are photos of Hugh Jass.

Really? Way to go. Nice one. You are so funny… NOT

The worst part is that Howard admits to struggling with not only the weight but the overwhelming newness of motherhood itself, She wrote it about the experience very candidly for GOOP:

Before Theo was born, I had been in good humor about my 80-pound weight gain, but I was now mortified by it. I felt I was failing at breast-feeding. My house was a mess. I believed I was a terrible dog owner. I was certain I was an awful actress; I dreaded a film I was scheduled to shoot only a few weeks after the birth because I could barely focus enough to read the script. And worst of all, I definitely felt I was a rotten mother—not a bad one, a rotten one. Because the truth was, every time I looked at my son, I wanted to disappear.

I suppose that with mothers (especially) celebrity mothers seemingly bouncing back so quickly after giving birth there is a new post pregnancy body standard. And where in a sense it’s kind of cool to be back in your original body so soon after having a child but here should be no judgment for those who don’t . The most important thing about pregnancy is that both mother and child come through it healthy, it’s not a competition it’s life.

check out the article about this on Jezebel

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Spring Cleaning: Eating Raw Week 4 (Video)

Well I have made it through a solid month eating raw, and I have learned a lot about the diet and myself. This a was a big week as I learned how to make some really delicious meals that whether raw or not I would choose to eat, including a veggie Collard Green Wrap, and Raw (veggie) Sushi. So I feel quite accomplished. Hear about when I tried to buy some Raw Bread!!! Note I said TRIED. I will of course be updating you all on my raw food findings and I still what to chat with my good friend Eva Mueller  about her experience with eating raw (our schedules just did not sync up during these last 2 weeks)  so here is my video update, enjoy!!!!

My Collard Green Wrap:
Shredded Beets
Almond Mayo
Corn
Yellow Squash
Sun Dried Tomatoes

The final result, I don’t think I took the time to take a better pic because I was so dang hungry lol!!

 

 

 

here is my Veggie Nori Sushi (the ingredients are different but the process is the point:
Sliced Avocado
Yellow Squash
Sprouts
Marinated Mushrooms
Tahini Sauce
Nori Seaweed Sheet
This was my second attempt!!
you see it’s can’t be but so hard, I did it!

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Spring Cleaning: Eating Raw Week 3 (VIDEO)

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Ok So Week 3 is down and I am excited to keep going. There have been some interesting developments. Now I know I promised you a cocktail every check in but I don’t have one this time, sue me! but I have some recipes that might suit your fancy. OH I “cooked” up a storm this week!

Here are what I am calling twice steamed veggies:

Thinly slice one medium sized beet and potato.
Bring your steaming water to a boil and then turn it off place steaming tray on top and cover, let it sit for about 6-10 mins. if the slices are tender (not soggy) you are good to go, if they are a little “al dente” then repeat the process. Take the tray off, bring water back to a boil, turn it of replace the tray but this time throw some spinach on top! Steam for about 6 mins, and then serve, season to taste I used some Bragg’s Liquid Aminos and pepper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my Mushroom Burger, (note, I modified a bit did not soak my almonds, just ground them up in the food processor) on a bed of steamed sweet potatoes (delish)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and again on top of a bed of spinach and sliced tomatoes.

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Beyonce is People’s Most Beautiful Woman in the World (that’s a big statement)

REALLY? The MOST Beautiful woman in the world… How can that be when THIS woman has the most perfect face?

Florence Colgate

Florence Colgate, 18, the winner of a beauty contest held by Lorraine Cosmetics, is said to have near-perfect facial proportions.
Nothing against Beyonce or the rest of the women on the People magazine’s list but it seems like instead of the most beautiful, they are presenting a list of stars with the biggest projects of  the year or strongest PR team plugging them. It’s all a bit silly really. When you ask yourself “Who are the judges, ’cause nobody asked me?” and have they seen ALL of the women on the planet to judge fairly? Why don’t they call it the Most Beautiful Women in the Industry, because that’s more accurate.
Apparently it’s been 9 years since People have thought that a Black woman was the Most Beautiful and of course you know who it was in 2003…Halle Berry ugh!—nothing against her either but come on now— it’s such a predictable type.  The “Halle Berry” beauty type is to Black people what “Blonde and Blue eyed” is to Caucasians. When there are so many types, and versions of beauty it is redundant to focus and promote only a few.
There really isn’t much else to say on this but I thought I would throw it out there. I could feel the collective eye rolls when the news broke…Like I said nothing against B but wouldn’t it have been great if they had chosen Viola Davis? Imagine THAT!
YES!


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Dove’s Ad Makeover (video)

This is exactly what we needed. Too many times we open a magazine, pass a billboard or a something pops up on our computer screen that make us feel inadequate and broken and in need of what ever it is that they are selling to make us better, complete, whole. Well Dove has figured out a way to combat that!! Check it out.

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Spring Cleaning Week 2: Eating Raw Update (Video)

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Kale Smoothie:
4 Leaves of kale (if you freeze them they are easier to blend and they are already cold)
1 cup of fresh Pineapple
1 cup of Rice Milk
Blend blend blend!
Mine was cold enough but you could but of ice or 2 in it if you desire.
This was actually sweet enough for me, but if you need to kick up the sweet factor try some Agave nectar