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'My daughter's dance school is insisting on a trip to the beauty salon.'

 

“My daughter is unique, energetic and perfect in my eyes. Her ability to dance is not impacted by her hair, skin or physical beauty.”

Kids’ concerts are fun. They require music and a bunch of small people clumsily dancing around a stage, usually out of time and with inexplicable facial expressions.

Apparently now they also require spray tans.

But one Adelaide mum is railing against a dance school edict that all girls have a spray tan for an upcoming acrobatic dance competition.

She says her 11-year-old “doesn’t need a spray tan – they’re not on Dancing With the Stars.

“My daughter is unique, energetic and perfect in my eyes. Her ability to dance is not impacted by her hair, skin or physical beauty,” she told Mamamia.

Is this an episode of Dance Moms or a local kids’ dance concert?

“What message would I be sending to my 11 year old if I took her to a beauty salon for a spray tan?  ‘You, the you I adore and think is more perfect than a rainbow, are not good enough in your own skin’.  I am pretty sure that would undo the years of body-loving goodness I have been showering down on her.”

Related: WATCH: The girl who makes sitting through a dance recital worthwhile.

The mother, who did not want to be named to protect her daughter’s privacy, says the dance school’s culture effectively body-shames young girls by forcing them to alter their appearance.

Make up, fake nails, spray tans?

“What if she had a scar or birthmark? Would she need to cover that up? What if she had skin darker than a spray tan?”

“She is a healthy, happy, vibrant little girl and the concept of taking her in and getting somebody to do a spray tan on her just makes me… I just can’t get my head around it. Do I put her in her underwear and let somebody spray tan her? It’s just, ewww.”

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This was the request that got sent home. When the girl questioned it, she was told that everyone must have a spray tan.

She says she doesn’t agree with the spray tan requirement on so many levels, especially because it makes the focus more on the girls’ appearance, rather than the dancing.

“I know they’ve always asked for make-up and to have their hair the same way, and I can see some of that is about uniformity and the visual spectacular on stage – and I get that – but it’s like I’ve gotten to a point where, the lipstick I can handle, but spray tan? We’ve got to draw a line somewhere and I just think that spray tan is it,” she says.

“It just seems so unnecessary for two-and-a-half minutes of dancing.”

The concert sounds more like a beauty pageant.

While most of the other mums have no problem with the requirement, this mother says she is considering having her daughter show up without a tan. Or maybe not…

Related: 4 year-old has better dance moves than you ever will.

“I’ve kind of got to a point where I just need to figure out if I’m being ridiculous… am I being a bit precious?”

“Maybe I just get her a spray tan and be done with it? Or do I make her be the odd one out, I find that really hard. I don’t want her to be the one that stands out like a light bulb because everyone else has their orange spray tans on. But I look at her and she just turned 11 in March, she shouldn’t be at the spray tan stage yet.”

According to US show Dance Moms, these outfits are normal for junior dancers:

Do you think young girl dancers should have spray tans?