She's got legs...

I took ballet, tap, and jazz lessons throughout middle and high school, and even continued dancing in college through my university's fine arts college, taking ballet and modern classes for three years. I am by no means a trained dancer, but I truly appreciate the beauty of the art form and love to bust a move whenever I can (although this doesn't usually include pirouettes and my moves are far from choreographed). 

There is recent hubbub contrasting Free People's dancer ads and those of Under Armour (see http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/trained-dancers-are-completely-appalled-ballet-ad-free-people-clothing-157682 and http://jezebel.com/leg-envy-alert-ballerina-misty-copelands-fierce-new-u-1512457209), and while I can see both sides' perspectives, I wonder what these conversations say about feminism and women's body images. 

The Free People ad shows a woman who says she has been dancing since she was three. She explains that she loves moving and dance has helped her be aware of her body. I would argue that these are both positive messages for girls and women to hear. Implicit in her message is encouragement for females to live active lives and reassurance that you should be attuned to your body. However, there has been backlash arguing that the company should have hired a professional dancer for the spot. I, personally, love that they hired an "every woman." Not every little girl will be a professional ballerina, but I hope that little girls (although not the ad's target audience) might see this ad and be inspired to express themselves through dance. 

The Under Armour ad, on the other hand, depicts a muscular Misty Copeland. I think these images could be construed as both positive and negative for women's body images. On the positive side, I think it's empowering to see a strong female body in the media. Females are far from weak, and this ad shows that we, as females, do not need someone to rescue us. On the flip side, the author of the Jezebel article posted above bemoans her own leg muscle mass stating, "I really need to do more of squats and calf exercises, guys, I'm slipping." While inspiring, these images do not make clear that Misty's career as a ballerina requires quite a bit of work on her body... not many of us can say that as we sit at our computers at work day in and day out. I would need to do leg exercises all day every day for quite a few months to get legs like Misty's. Misty Copeland, therefore, may not be the best target for me to aim for in the way of desired physique. How about some realistic bodies, Under Armour? Why should we sit here and wish we had Misty's legs? Why can we not be told that we should appreciate our bodies for all they allow us to do, instead of wishing they looked differently or were better in some unattainable way?

What I'm saying is that there has to be a happy medium and we need to watch how we talk about other women. Ladies, we are in this fight together. Instead of cutting the woman in the Free People ad down for having weak ankles and a sickled foot, let's commend her for trying and encourage her to continue on her journey to becoming better. Let's inspire future generations of young women by celebrating ALL female bodies, from the every woman to the professional ballerina.