Associated Press
SAVANNAH, Ga. — The marching band launches into the Motown classic "Just My Imagination" as Beach High School’s dancers let their knee-length coats slip from their shoulders and begin to shake their hips in shorts, tights and miniskirts.
Is their act too sexy for a high-school halftime show?
Yes, say some school board members, who believe some cheerleading and dance squads are emphasizing sex appeal over school spirit.
The Chatham County school board is set to vote Wednesday on a policy banning "lewd gestures, inappropriate comments and suggestive or vulgar movements" by any student group, from glee clubs to wrestling teams.
The effort has some parents jeering.
"It’s the same as whenever Elvis Presley came out in the early days," said Yvonne Holmes, the mother of a 16-year-old cheerleader at Johnson High School. "They said he couldn’t move his hips and they could only film him from head-to-waist. It’s just a different dance they’re doing."
Around the country, youngsters have borrowed dance moves from the likes of Britney Spears and Janet Jackson, and hip-hop dance trends have moved from the inner city to suburbia.
Holmes and her daughter, Christy, said the board got involved when the father of a Johnson High cheerleader complained about some of the squad’s moves. Christy said the girls were told they would have to alter their routines — "hip movements, and that’s mostly it." She said the cheerleaders are baffled as to how they might have offended anyone.
Diane Cantor, the school board president, said the board has heard complaints for years, and the proposed policy merely sets guidelines for principals to decide what is appropriate.
Fans at Beach High’s homecoming game Oct. 16 said the girls should be left alone. In their blue-and-gold uniforms, cheerleaders augmented their heel-to-toe hopping, hand clapping and high kicking with only an occasional pelvic thrust or hip swivel.
Beach High principal Roy Davenport said he has not received any complaints this year. "It’s just young people dancing," he said. "It’s tasteful."
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