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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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Give Me A Break


Jenny Stahl senior editor for Pointe and new contributing writer for My Body My Image talks about women’s All or Nothing Superwoman complex- and how having compassion for self can make a HUGE difference.

A little love goes a long way—especially when it comes to loving yourself. No, I’m not a hippy. New research proves it’s true! Scientists have found that having self-compassion helps you not only live a happier life, but also a healthier one, too.
American culture often tells us that to succeed, we just need to work harder, be better, keep ourselves from falling prey to temptation. This seems especially true for women. All too often, we get caught up in a competitive cycle of proving to ourselves and everyone around us that we have the willpower it takes to accomplish everything we want. Anything she can do, with enough determination, I can do better. If I just perform 500 crunches a day for the next year, I’ll have her abs. As long as I never touch fried food, I can stay under 130 pounds.

Many of us are afraid that if we don’t keep up the self-criticism, we’ll let ourselves go and become overly indulgent. In fact, as Theresa noted on My Body My Image last month, a Glamour poll recently found that 97 percent of women have an “I hate my body” moment at least once a day, with the average being 13 negative body image thoughts per day! That’s a hell of a lot of negativity, and if you were doing it to anyone but yourself, you’d probably be strapped with a restraining order for emotional abuse.

When we give ourselves no wiggle room, no compassion for our human tendencies, we end up feeling guilty over any minor offense, which only leads to a downward spiral of even more destructive behaviors. Because we tend to think of ourselves in all or nothing terms: saint or sinner, virgin or slut, fat or thin. It’s hard to find a middle ground, to accept the shades of grey between the black and white of what we define as “good” or “bad” behaviors. Once we slip up, we irrationally put ourselves in the “bad” category, so we figure we might as well keep going because we don’t deserve any better anyway.

For example, I know that when I tell myself there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a couple scoops of ice cream once in awhile, I’m able to keep it at that: a couple scoops. But whenever I try to enforce an all-out ban on sweets, I’ll eventually get an uncontrollable craving for Ben & Jerry’s, buy a pint, feel guilty about it, and then somehow the entire thing will disappear in less than an hour. Healthy diet: Fail.
Researchers hypothesize that when we disapprove of our own actions, we set ourselves up for behaviors like emotional eating. But when we acknowledge that nobody is perfect and give ourselves permission to accept our flaws, it’s easier to do things in moderation. We’re able to keep from freaking out and acting like a crazy person.
Accept your failure to be perfect. Because expecting anything else is simply unrealistic.
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T’ruth be told you can be a Super Woman or even a Wonder Woman and not have to be perfect all the time. Just remember you are a Woman which make you human. And just a side bar how FIERCE is Linda CARTER??? And you know I had to find a Brown Superwoman- had to See myself to Be Myself!!!lol

Dance Studio

Elizabeth Roxas Part 4

Hear Liz talk about getting back into shape for Judith Jamison’s honoring at New York City Center in Jan. 2. It is a surprising and sometimes a cautionary tale!!

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Addicted To Food? 5 Tips To Control Your Cravings

Where was this when I was on a 2 week snacking binge? I know that when I sit down to write, the most exercise I get is going back and forth to the snack shelf–and YES I have a snack Shelf!!! Maybe these tips can help me!

I’ve had a few recent run-ins with dark-chocolate M&Ms. Here’s what happens: I’ll grab a few of the candies then sit down at my computer to meet a writing deadline. Type a few words, then walk back the cabinet for more M&Ms. Two sentences. Three M&Ms. The more difficult the subject matter, the less I’m able to focus on writing and the more overwhelming is the pull of the M&Ms.

In the March/April issue of EatingWell, science writer Rachael Moeller Gorman tackles the topic of food addiction — the idea that food can overtake the same brain circuits involved in drug and alcohol addictions. Could I be addicted to chocolate? I could be: people who chronically crave food aren’t so different from people who suffer drug or alcohol addiction, say some experts, including Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

But I’m not addicted to chocolate. For me, overeating M&Ms is situational—the latest manifestation of a chronic procrastination problem that gets worse when I’m under the gun and low on sleep. And, in fact, dealing with issues like stress and too little sleep can help “cure” food cravings, Volkow told Gorman recently. Try these tips to help you stave off overeating*:
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Seduce Me: Female Bodies in Black Swan

By Tiffany Tsai
Freelance writer in Los Angeles

Excerpt:
Although I was initially thrilled by the reception and attention Black Swan received, I was shocked to discover what these reactions consisted of. Women — young and old–aspired to look like Portman’s character; they wanted to attain the ballerina body, don the “prima ballerina couture.” Critics and viewers alike focused almost exclusively on the artist’s impossible quest for perfection. A few mentioned a woman’s inability to attain perfection — instead of the artist — but most glossed over the reasons behind this. New York Times reviewer Manohla Dargis even wrote, “The screenplay, by Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz and John McLaughlin, invites pop-psychological interpretations about women who self-mutilate while striving for their perfect selves…But such a reading only flattens a film.” Dargis’s desire to distance herself from pop-psychology is understandable; to simplify the film to the female perfectionist is doing the film a disservice. However, neglecting the significance of the female body in the film ignores the film’s essence.

Black Swan focuses, almost exclusively, on a female body — Nina’s body. The film documents the way Nina believes she can attain perfection and take control of her life by purging, starving, scratching, sexualizing and prostituting herself. Nina’s definition of perfection is intertwined with other characters’ opinions about female perfection. By utilizing two distinct, female personas — the black swan and the white swan, Aronofsky’s film addresses the problematic expectations and policing of gender performance in our society. As we delve further into the film, we soon see that Nina’s most significant performance in the film is not in Swan Lake, but instead, her performative role as a woman in our world.

In the film, Aronofsky appropriates two female clichés that recur in literature — that of the naïve, inexperienced, usually virginal girl and that of the experienced, sexually deviant seductress. Nina is initially presented as the virginal girl (the white swan) but is compelled by Thomas, the ballet company’s director, to take on the role of the second figure (the black swan). Although it is easy to identify Nina, before she is swallowed by her insanity, with the white swan, she is not. In fact, she is neither of these figures.

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“I have Cellulite” Says Holly Madison

Holly has a figure most women would envy. And yet, Holly isn’t afraid to admit that her small stature doesn’t exempt her from what haunts millions: cellulite. “I have cellulite – and had it even when I was at my absolute thinnest,” she tells Life & Style. “I’m never not going to have cellulite. People need to just accept that it’s there and maybe dress accordingly or use body makeup to cope with it.”

Still, when Peepshow’s choreographer and director instructed Holly to shed weight – after she’d gained 15 pounds following her move to Sin City – she was hurt, she confesses. “Once I realized that other people were noticing that I’d packed on a few, I was embarrassed to go onstage,” she reveals. Making matters worse: her Holly’s World nemesis, model Jayde Nicole. “Holly needs to lose 10 pounds of fat,” Jayde, who once cattily sent Holly a basket full of candy when she knew her co-star was dieting, recently told Life & Style.
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Celebs who were told to slim down (and most did)

That’s the part that kills me, they did it. I understand, but it still sucks that the business and the world still demands that you be some “better” which means “thinner” brighter which means “blonder” version of one’s self to be appealing.
I chose Liv Tyler as my poster girl because I loved her quote:

Liv Tyler refuses to play the weight game with Hollywood. “I’ve been told that if I lose weight I’d have more work, but I refuse to submit myself to Hollywood standards. To the rest of the world I am slim and I like the way I am,” she insisted. We do too!


Actress and singer Mandy Moore was humiliated when she was asked to lose weight for a film role. “I felt mortified. I am who I am, and if I accept it everybody else should too,” she said. “When I started out in the industry I was 14 and a beanpole, but over the last few years I’ve grown. For the most part I feel pretty OK with how I look. I know I’m different from the typical Hollywood ideal of what is beautiful. But quite frankly I don’t think that’s attainable and I’m happy to represent something different. This is just exactly who I am.” Get that? Different is awesome.


see what the others including Sophia Vegara, Christina Hendricks, and Jennifer Aniston had to say

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Lady Gaga Had an Eating Disorder?


There was a point there last year when I thought that she was looking mighty thin, but I thought it was the work and her hectic schedule but maybe there was another reason:

ABC News reports that Lady Gaga, known for her outrageous costumes, hit singles and gay advocacy, suffers from an eating disorder that will be revealed in her upcoming biography, “Poker Face: The Rise and Rise of Lady Gaga.” David, her former tour manager, claims that the singer would scarf down tons of unhealthy food and then not eat for weeks to fit into her crazy, elaborate costumes. She had lost 20lbs and was hospitalized six times. Health issues and jet lag were to blame, although dangerous dieting and drugs may be the darker culprit.

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New York Fashion Week ‘Whitest’ Since 2008, Jezebel Reports

OK! now this is really not news, if you are a woman of color then you are, and have been acutely aware that your image is not represente­d, let alone thought of in the fashion industry whether on the runways or in editorial, commercial­, or print. The fashion world is one that is segregated­, if there weren’t “black” fashion magazines like Essence, we would almost never see models of color, let alone of various shades and sizes. But I love this piece because it just presents the facts. As a woman of color if you talk about these sorts of subjects you are paranoid, or angry, basically dismissed, people want to point out the one or two exceptions and try to make it a rule, or present it as balance. That just isn’t the case and the numbers don’t lie. Now the why of it is the REAL story and possible the scandal. I see the absence of color akin to the absence of body weight in fashion, it is the process whereby the definition (through absence) is created. There is no rationale for this gross under-representation of “real” women, the sort one sees every day in the shops and in one’s work place. For the fashion industry it is simply as if they don’t exist – or, if they do, they are all secreted away somewhere they can’t be seen. Are they hiding? Staying indoors all day watching daytime TV? No – they are part of the fabric of society and life and for this reason they should not be dismissed from the pages of the magazines we all read. If it is not represente­d it is “not” it is erasure in a sense. Women with curves and women of color are not seen, they do not rank or fit the working definition and perimeters of beauty. And you wonder why women have complexes and are screwed up? Where is My Body where is My Image?
Excerpt-
We can report that the just ended New York fashion week featured the least racially diverse cast of models since 2008. New York fashion week featured 137 designer runway shows and presentations, and 5,269 different fall outfits were presented to the world’s retailers and press. Of those 5,269 looks, 4,468 — an overwhelming 84.8% — were modeled by white women. 801 of those looks were given to models who aren’t white. Black models were used 384 times. Asian models were used 323 times. Non-white Latina models were used 79 times. Models of other races only made it onto the runways of New York City — one of the most racially diverse places on this planet — 15 times.

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Be a Superwoman eat SUPER FOODS!

I just found out that I am almost a complete superwoman, well when it comes to food!! Check it out

5 Super Foods For Women

You love to eat, but you also love to feel great. You can do both if you choose foods that make you smarter, leaner, stronger — and then use them in tasty new ways.

We’ve made that easy to do with Health’s top 10 superfoods for women. They were selected by our panel of experts for their mega benefits — from bone building and energy boosting to fat busting and disease fighting.

What’s even more delicious: When you mix and match these America’s Healthiest choices, you get super combos with even more power — a breakfast that’s good for your heart, a dinner that fights cancer, a sweet treat that helps keep your tummy calm and mind sharp. Plus, we’ve rounded up 15 delicious, benefit-packed runners-up, too. So read on (and start eating) for a super you.
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Best and Worst Dressed– who asked you anyway?


Let me tell you I, like many watched the Oscars last night, in fact I even watched the E’s Red Carpet Countdown. Yes I endured Giuliana Rancic’s ridiculous comments about everyone’s body and Kelly Osborne saying how “Beauuuutiful” everyone is. I put up with such vapidity so that I could get a look at what the women of the evening were wearing. It’s all about the fashion. Where I love to see what the actresses are wearing I hate to listen to the insipid talk about it, which always begins with “So, who are you wearing?” I deplore how in one moment interviewers are face to face with the actress saying how phenomenal they look then in a recap they dog them out.

Personally nowadays I think everyone at these shows looks good, well put together and well frankly predictably the same. That’s because a decade or more ago when Joan Rivers was first unleashed on the Red Carpet she talked about people so badly that for fear of being called out many went and hired stylist. Yes it is my belief that Joan Rivers is responsible for creating the ubiquity of the personal stylists. Before said time stars simply dressed themselves, they wore what they liked, what made them feel good. Sure some like Cher were the muses for designers (Halston) but for good or for bad most just dressed themselves. The thing is, back then watching was interesting because you were seeing them- the way they wanted to present themselves, not them being presentable or being a the concept of what someone else thinks they should look like.

Sure they made blunders, and some created their own style a la Diane Keaton but most just looked like themselves and that’s what we tuned in for, them not safe cookie cutter cutouts. I miss the hot messes, I miss Sissy Spacek and her country Sunday dresses. I might be the only person who thought that Bjork’s Swan dress was fabulous, and I love Helena Bonham Carter and her Victorian style, crazy hair and her dark circular glasses, and Johnny Depp and his need a shower, rocker style. I love that Kate Blanchett chooses edgy couture designers, and that Julianne Moore loves Lanvin and neither lady is safe and they always stand out from the sea of safe silhouettes in the “on trend” color palette.

What really makes my teeth itch is the Best and Worst Dressed commentary or shows like the Fashion Police on E. And here’s why, it’s because all these people [stars] took the time to find these dresses got their hair and make-up done and left their homes or hotels feeling beautiful and great about themselves. And then a group of people sit around like they are in high school and judge them, sometimes ripping them to shreds. It’s just not cool. I know that this a part of the marketing machine, but it is just so unfair,unnecessary and who knighted them “fashion experts” and more importantly “Who the hell asked you anyway?”

I get it I get it I’m not trying to be a kurmudgeon but I think it’s just glorified, high tech mean girl action. I love Joan River’s I actually worked with her years ago but I think that her comments at times go to far and cross the line, and get personal sometimes. Yes I know she is a comedian but there is a line. I say let these talented men and women have their night, let them be the Kings and Queens of the Ball why do we have to be the clock striking 12?