All Articles by truth

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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Your Best & Worst Stories About Developing Boobs

I found this topic on Jezabel.com and I thought that it was terrific!! here is the link

It’s so funny that once you get your boobs and you are out of that awkward stage of adolescence you totally forget about how traumatic it was. I can remember that it was summer time my left breast started to bud, I was about 12 and I was still in those flimsy white undershirts with the white bow at the center. When that hard knot developed seriously thought I was going to die. It was tender and sore and back in the day there was all this talk that if you got hit hard in the breast it could cause cancer so I just knew my days were numbered. Since I was still in these little girl undershirts it was hard to hide so at play, all the boys would point and remark and all the girls would silently feel my pain as they laughed with them in hopes of diverting attention from their own personal developments be they breasts or armpit hair. Some had already developed and others were so chunky that they had had baby fat breast since they could walk.

I have 5 older sisters so I when they saw my little left bud they all had to put in their 2 cents and took bets on how soon I would be getting my period. Great! Just want I wanted to talk about at the dinner table! Since I had only one lump getting that all-important “training” bra was sort of pointless. And while we are on the subject just what is the bra training? It’s not like your breast really do anything. Anyway. I made it through the summer, and finally the right breast started to bud, and then both, all to abruptly stopped, I still look like am in puberty since I am struggling to be an A cup. Well that’s my story what’s yours?

Breast Friends

Dodai Stewart — Your Best & Worst Stories About Developing BoobsOh, puberty! The agony and the ecstasy! After we shared our alternately hilarious and harrowing tales about blossoming and growing breast buds, you chimed in. Even the commenters who said they “had no memories” of getting boobs managed to reveal intense emotions about their breasts, proving what a complicated, sensitive subject the mammary glands can be. Though many, many people shared their personal stories, there were some that stood out. These are the best.

First up, there were those of you who, like some of us, thought that breast buds were a disease or medical issue.

speedingbullet can blame her mom:

My mother — I absolutely swear this is true — didn’t know what my breast buds were, and took me to see the pediatrician. AWKWARD.

So can GrievousBodilyMarm:

My left one came through first, when I was eleven, and rather than reassure me, my mother panicked that I was getting breast cancer. Next door lived four boys I used to play on the street with. Their mother was a doctor so my own mother dragged me over there to be examined. The boys were kicked outside, sniggering, while I cried throughout my “examination”. Needless to say, my mother looked extremely sheepish as we left, and the boys taunted me about my “girl problems” for a good year after that.
here is the link“>read more

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I’ve Just Turned 55… And I Couldn’t Feel More Beautiful

I love this. I have to say that the older I get the more confident and self assured I feel. Sure I don’t look the way I did when I was 20, personally in ways I think I look better. I know myself better now, I can stop trying to be something that I am not, or can never be and have learned to accept and appreciate what I am and what I do have. There are blessings in youth and there are blessings in maturity, a wise woman (or man) would do good to take full advantage of both and not covet one or the other!

Julia Moulden:
Author, speaker and columnist

Today I turned 55. How do I feel about being five years into my fifties? I love it. I’m at the top of my game professionally (with a million things on my to-do list), and I think I’ve never looked better.

And I mean that bit about loving how I look. Sure, I’ve stood in front of the mirror and played “face lift” (the grown-up version of “doctor”), pulling up the corners of my eyes. But I’m beginning to realize that a new kind of beauty emerges at this age. Not the obvious stuff of youth, but something that’s hard won — the result of life lived and a body cared for.

This is why I was delighted to receive a copy of “I Feel Great About My Hands: And Other Unexpected Joys of Aging.” It’s a warm, wise, witty response to Nora Ephron’s “I Feel Bad About My Neck.” Shari Graydon set out to challenge the widespread notion that women over 50 should all be mourning the changes that come with age and invited women across Canada to provide alternative perspectives.

Comedian Mary Walsh weighed in:

After a certain age, it’s impossible to find anything to wear. If you’re over a size two — well, over a size ten, really, but still mercifully under a size triple-X — they don’t make anything to fit you, and it’s getting worse. Yesterday, because I’m blind as a bat in a felt hood because of my encroaching maturity, I ended up in the dressing room of a shop with a size-double-zero dress. Double zero! Where did that come from? Size zip. Size nada. Nothing. But now, not even nothing is good enough. We have to shrink ourselves down apparently to size double-nothings.

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East Coast West Coast Body Wars!

Ok so while we on the East Coast are somewhere between a North Face bubble jacket, trench coat, and leather jacket, the West coast has shed their light winter fare and have already headed for the beach. Not only do we East coasters have to contend with our uncooperative weather patterns (though trying not to be bitter (cold) about it) we are also inundated via Internet blog sites with West coasters tanned and toned bodies hitting the surf. I don’t know about you but when it’s 45 degrees and I am trying to decide which coat will be light enough for the day but provide enough insulation for the cooler evenings, I don’t want to have to contemplate with the fact that (even though our beach weather is months away) I am not in “Bikini Shape” It’s just too much pressure.

There was a time when the coasts where completely oblivious to what the other was doing or wearing. It was all quite Little House on the Prairie; we would hear tales of sunshine and bliss, but would have to await news in a letter that arrived at the general store from someone out west who would tell us how people there going to the beach in the middle of April. Now with the Internet and Social Networking sites, we have streaming feed of fashions actions and happenings from around the world at a click, and that includes how great and in shape all the West coast celebrities are months before we know we have to put down the bagel and get ready for the great shedding of the clothes.

I was lying in bed the other day and absentmindedly (as dancers are wont to do) threw my leg up in the air. I was feeling quite good as I gazed fondly at the pointed foot and well formed calf muscle (never my “problem areas) however as my eyes traveled down past the knee I was stricken with horror as my thigh looked like one of those sides of lamb they shave to make Greek Gyro sandwiches. Clearly my calf looked good because all the winter weight had been propagated by gravity southwards towards my hip. I pinched at poked at this foreign mass and thought to myself “Oh this is not good”

I knew I had to do something (like stop hoovering everything that came into my path into my mouth like an anteater) but there was something in my that said, “Hey you’ve got a couple of months before the big reveal” As I made my way to the living room I grabbed a snack off of that Snack Shelf and went to the computer. That’s where the East Coast West Body Wars are played out. I was immediately confronted with the likes of Courtney Cox’s bikini body, Halle Berry’s Bikini Body, and Maggie Gyllenhaall’s. Ugh. It was enough to ruin a good snack! I immediately felt behind (pun intended) in the game, but why?

Technically I *do have at least 3 months to pull it together before putting on shorts, baring a midriff or a bathing suit, and that is on the time line for *my coastline, however with the world shrinking to the size of a hand held device it gets harder and harder to not pay attention to that is happening on the other side of the country or the world. Now this is both a positive and a negative. We now receive critical news at the time that it happens, we can stay on top of what is happening in Japan, Haiti and Libya as it happens, which as citizens of the world it is are responsibility to do, or we could be up to the minute on the fact that Victoria Beckham is 12 months pregnant and looks like she ate a piece of bread drank some water and bloated a little bit…

Ok I’m going to Bikram!

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Size Matters: But You Have Such a Pretty Face

I found this interesting argument on BitchMagazine.com. sparked by comments blogger Tasha Fierce made about Grey’s Anatomy star Sara Ramirez when she called her fat. Here is her quote:
While there are endless examples of fat female characters portrayed in an unappealing light on television, fewer and farther between are positive portrayals of female fatness. When you come across one, even if it’s on an otherwise dull show, it’s refreshing to see. I’d like to take in a few of those breaths of fresh air here, for your reading pleasure.


Grey’s Anatomy: Dr. Callie Torres (see above picture)
Played deftly by Sara Ramirez, Callie is a strong, complicated, nuanced and gorgeous woman of color who happens to be fat—a characteristic that doesn’t hamper her ability to get it on with some of the hottest people on the show, from Dr. Mark “McSteamy” Sloan to her current love interest, an attractive, thin blonde woman by the name of Arizona. This relatively recent development in Callie’s love life earned her the adoration of legions of queer women (myself included). Her character proves that fat female sexuality can be portrayed in a tasteful, positive light without the partner of the fat woman being positioned as a “chubby chaser” or in some other way a fat fetishist.
read the complete post here

This pissed some reader off and sparked and interesting argument and observation about how we categorize people as “fat”.
Here is what it it sparked in response:
Size Matters: But You Have Such a Pretty Face
Social Commentary post by Tasha Fierce, Submitted by Tasha Fierce on August 9, 2010 – 10:52am

As there seems to be a basic lack of understanding of fat acceptance among many readers here, I think it’s appropriate to take some time out and illustrate some of what I consider the main lessons taught by the fat positivity and fat acceptance movements. I recognize that Bitch does not regularly deal with issues of size and fatness, so we’ll just discuss some key points and then we can go back to talking about fat in pop culture.

First off, the last post I did, “Size Matters: Small Screen, Big Women” ignited an angry firestorm of folks upset because I called Grey’s Anatomy’s Sara Ramirez “fat.” These comments included statements like:

I never thought of Sara Ramirez as fat. I however do agree that she is super hot.

It is sick you are calling Sara Ramirez fat! What is going on in this world when a woman who doesnt look like she is dying of starvation is called fat! Her stomach is flat!

Sara is BEAUTIFUL. unbelievably beautiful and NOT fat. if she’s fat then most of the world is freaking obese.

I believe that questioning whether Sara Ramirez is fat is a pertinent question. […] The truth is she has a healthy way and the fact that she is a plus sized woman shows how even sizes tend to consider a healthy weight and figure as plus sized. I believe she probably considers herself as plus sized because, amidst a Hollywood where ultra thin women are the rule, a healthy and beautiful voluptuous woman is an exception when she should be the rule.
(emphasis supplied)

I’d be very insulted and hurt if someone called me fat. And as I said above, I’m 5’5 and 190 lbs, and I’m sure people think I am, but I do not consider myself to be fat in any way.

There are many different layers and flavors of fatphobia in those comments. The first comment may not have been meant to imply that fat was bad, however it does illustrate that Sara Ramirez is considered beautiful, but not fat, to that commenter. Maybe the commenter feels fat is bigger than that, but is not upset by hearing Sara Ramirez called fat. I don’t know. The point is, fat and hot are not mutually exclusive.

What is also interested is that Tasha makes a salient point when she points out that on the same show there is another (as she would say) “Fat” actress Chandra Wilson:

Now, in the post there was a bit of a trick (unintended) that ended up bringing out the true reasoning behind many of the comments defensive of Ms. Ramirez. Chandra Wilson (pictured above), another fat actress on Grey’s Anatomy, is actually much smaller in all dimensions than Sara Ramirez. Yet no one took to her defense. She basically got thrown under the proverbial fat bus. Why is that? Well, Chandra Wilson is not conventionally attractive. She is also not portrayed as a sex symbol on the show. She’s a stout black woman who I happen to think is gorgeous, but she’s not part of the sex antics on the show.

Basically what these comments are saying is “Sara Ramirez is hot, and fat people are not hot. Ergo, Sara Ramirez is not fat.” They are also, by lack of inclusion, saying “Chandra Wilson is fat, even though she’s smaller than Sara Ramirez, because she is not hot (to me).” And finally, they’re saying what every fat woman who has a conventionally attractive face hears many times over their life as a fatty: “You have such a pretty face.”
Read the complete post here

This is a very interesting topic, if you are “beautiful” or “hot” does that somehow make you exempt from the stigma that “unattractive” heavy people are subjected to? does it make the “extra” poundage, sexy instead of sloppy? We all know that beauty has it’s privileges albeit seldom do we think of those privileges extending beyond the waif-like, blond, bee stung lipped model types. This made me think about how I perceive such prejudices. It reminds me of when there are incidents of children being harmed or killed and people say “Oh it’s so sad, she was such a pretty girl” which makes me ask, “If she were ugly would it then be more understandable?” Bad things shouldn’t happen to “pretty” people. Or if you say that a woman is gay and people say “Oh but she’s so beautiful” as if her sexual orientation hinged on her attractiveness (to men). There are a number of things in our society that act as exemptions: race, wealth, lineage and “breeding” talent, fame and yes beauty. I think it’s Darwinian, natural selection however in the human race there are far more social politics then in the lower animal kingdom. The t’ruth is that there is little that we can do about it other then to be personally aware of then it creeps into our own thinking and effects our own actions and behaviors. Either way we all know the code “She got a GREAT personality” means that she’s fat and so does “But she has a pretty face” .

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Do thin models warp girls’ body image?

By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY


When Frederique van der Wal, a former Victoria’s Secret model, attended designers’ shows during New York’s Fashion Week this month, she was “shocked” by the waiflike models who paraded down the catwalk. They seemed even skinnier than in previous years.
“This unnatural thinness is a terrible message to send out. The people watching the fashion shows are young, impressionable women,” says van der Wal, host of Cover Shot on TLC.

Psychologists and eating-disorder experts are worried about the same thing. They say the fashion industry has gone too far in pushing a dangerously thin image that women, and even very young girls, may try to emulate.

read more here

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Victoria’s Skeletons!!

2 Comments

Is Victoria’s secret the fact that she doesn’t EAT!!!
ok I may be dating myself but I remember when the Victoria Secret models had meat on their bones and were full (model full) and sexy. Here are Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio the frighteningly thin Candice Swanepole in the center. What is sexy about that? I am sorry but she looks like someone put a pair of animal print boy shorts and a blonde wig on the model skeleton from science class. That CANNOT be healthy, can it?

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Milano’s Academy for the Arts- MUSIC ARTS SHOW- MAS

Just recently I had the pleasure of visiting Music Arts Show in Milano Italy. It is an Academy of the Arts which offers both dance and theatre arts training with classes in Ballet, Pointe, Cunningham and release techniques, hip-hop, as well as voice, drama and on camera Television training. There are two programs in the Academy one that is primarily concert dance based, and the other which is more of a musical theater, television, video commercial track. They also offer open classes making it the “Step on Broadway” or “Broadway Dance Center” of Milan.

I had the opportunity of not only teaching contemporary classes in the program but sat on the Jury of their Dance Machine competition, after which some of the students of the program performed in both hip hop and contemporary. I was highly impressed with not only their level of training bu their professionalism and stage presence. That having been said what impressed me most was the joy and love of the arts, and for learning, their openness and willingness to embrace a new style and their patience with my broken Italian was endearing. Thus I was compelled to share my experience by interviewing Antonella Bruno the Director of the Program at MAS, Music Arts Show.

Here is Part 1 of our interview. Learn some interesting facts like in Italy if you are under the age of 18 you are not allowed to work professionally. How does that effect young dancers and performers there?

Dance Studio

See & Say 6: Ratmansky, Wheeldon, Stroman @ NYCB, Part I

For a few years now Dance Magazine Editor in Chief Wendy Perron and I have had dance dates. One evening she suggested that we do a sort of video commentary on what we had seen. I came up with the name See and Say because we would “see” something and then “say” what we thought about it. It has been a while since we have done one, but here is our latest on New York City Ballet.


Check out the new See and Say with Dance Magazine Editor in Chief Wendy Perron here This is part one

Part 2 you can find here

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Khloe Kardashian In Cosmopolitan Middle East: Star Talks ‘Love Handles,’ ‘Fat Days’

If I had to choose a Kardashian, I would undoubtedly choose Khole. She is kind of no nonsense, and straight to the point. Although she seems hard you can tell she is extremely sensitive. With all of the horrible things that people say about her in relationship to her sisters I am sure that it must me hard to deal with it, and so publicly.. Hear what she has to say…

“Dealing with the Kardashian body image,” she answers when asked what is the toughest part of being a Kardashian. “Kim and Kourtney have said to me, ‘If we were put under the same negative attention that you are, we couldn’t handle it.’ If I want to wear a long flowing dress, someone will say I’m pregnant. I believe we’re not given any more than we can handle and most of the time I can handle it. But we all have fat days and if I’m having one of those days, those sorts of things make me feel down.”

That said, she isn’t ashamed of her curves.

“Girls tell me and my sisters, ‘We love your booties,’ Khloe reveals. “Just yesterday a really thin stylist said to me, ‘I wish I had your booty. I don’t have one.'”

Even her sister Kim has insecurities, Khloe adds, which surprises her. “Kim, who I think is flawless, is always complaining. She complains about cellulite and I tell her, ‘I’ll trade your cellulite for my love handles.'”

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