GET UR FREAK ON

Readers in the UK may have seen this advert on telly – it is being broadcast here quite a lot during peak evening time hours. I think it’s brilliant and I love the choice of Missy Elliot’s absolute tune.

The ad is made by a campaign from government called This Girl Can which aims to encourage women in sport. Dance doesn’t feature in the ad as such, but the shots of women in Zumba class come close and the  sentiment of the text on screen – playing on the meaning of the word “hot”, and the coupling of “sweating like a pig” with “feeling like a fox” absolutely captures the feeling of powering through a gruelling allegro and giving it a bit of Fonteyn.

A word about Zumba – it’s derided a bit as being somehow uncool, but actually going to Zumba classes did teach me a lot of basic Latin steps. I did, however, want to take it further and learn more complex dance steps, which is part of the reason why I decided to give ballet a go.

I’d love to see dance being considered in the same kind of sphere as sport. I can understand why ballet wouldn’t make it into an advert like this, as it’s considered pink and girly and not in line with the advert’s punchy, fierce aesthetic. But we all know that this isn’t the case, don’t we? Plus, I’m often berated by gym-going friends for not doing “aerobic” exercise, as they see ballet class as just doing some nice stretches for a bit. I’d like to see them do an hour and a half of hard graft in the studio.

Nevertheless as dancers I think we can all celebrate getting our freak on, and encouraging girls into both dance and sport.