For students and performers of all ages, body image and eating disorders can be serious issues. The dance company MusEffect confronts these topics in a new video.
In “Look At Me—Celebrating the Authentic You,” dancers (including familiar face Mollee Gray from “SYTYCD” Season 6) perform in partners behind MusEffect’s resident spoken-word poet Azure Antoinette and two other speakers presenting text by Antoinette. They talk about what our bodies are for, how they serve us and how unrealistic standards turn young people into obsessed dieters whose eyes are constantly glued to the mirror, making sure they look OK. Then, the dancers recite some powerful statistics about children and teens affected by anorexia and bulimia. “Look at me,” Antoinette says, “You are beautiful.”
You may recognize MusEffect and choreographer Jessica Starr’s work from their cyberbullying video, which went viral last fall, and also features Antoinette’s poetry. The company’s mission is to raise awareness of social issues through performance.