Wednesday, May 4, 2011

The Coverage of Michelle Obama Dancing

Michelle Obama was photographed and filmed dancing with school children yesterday as part of her "Let's Move" campaign. The rarity of seeing a First Lady dancing was too much for folks to ignore. The videos of Obama dancing have gone viral and drawn quite a bit of coverage.

[Related: Michelle Obama's and Beyonce's Dance: A Summary]

Michelle Obama Moves her Body by Cynthia Gordy, The Root

How to dance like Michelle Obama: Copy the first lady's hip-hop moves - Do the Dougie by Patrick Kingsley, The Guardian

Michelle Obama Gets Students Moving, with a little help from Beyonce (photo series) Washington Post


Moving Students, Honoring Teachers by Ashley Southall, The Caucus (The Politics and Government Blog of The Times)

Michelle Obama Does the Dougie with students as part of Let;s Move by Andrew Malcolm, LA Times

First Lady Grooves as part of 'Let's Move' Campaign (video) Washington Post

Michelle Obama Dances to Beyonce by Amie Parnes, Politico

Michelle Obama Gets Down by Natasha Lennard, Salon

Michelle Obama Does the Dougie by Joyce Jones, BET

First Lady Michelle Obama Drops by a D.C. School to watch students do a Let’s Move! Flash Workout by Jaime Mulligan, The White House blog

No wonder she's dancing: Michelle gets her groove on as the President sees a boost in the polls by John Stevens, Daily Mail

Beyonce, Michelle Obama Urge Kids to Dance by Karin Tanabe, Politico

Michelle Obama Will Teach You How to Dougie by Julianna Hing, Color Lines

Yes, Michelle Obama knows how to Dougie by Nadeska Alexis, Black Book Magazine

Remarks by the First Lady at "Let's Move! Flash Workout" event Business Video

Related:

Let's Move Version 2.0: How Beyoncé Reboot(ied) The First Lady's Childhood Obesity Campaign

Michelle Obama Shares Love of Dance on Diwali by Julianna Hing, Color Lines

Dancing Queen Michelle Rocks India

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

is anyone else annoyed by the coverage of this? It just seems to minimize real message she is trying to push. How convenient that media outlets would be fascinated by the rhythmic movements of perhaps the most visible Black woman in our country. And Black folks seem so eager to co-sign this. Why?

H. Rambsy said...

Interestingly, so much of any coverage on Michelle Obama regularly moves in directions she might not be necessarily "trying to push." I'm thinking about all the writing about her fashion *statements.* Since it's art, in a way, and up for interpretation, thoughts and commentary vary.

As far as co-signing. I'm not so sure yet. What do you think?

Anonymous said...

I just think that white America has a way of highlighting and then co-opting the aspects of black culture that they find amusing or entertaining. I think it indirectly dehumanizes and delegitimizes us with respect to media representation. The First Lady "dancing" and your example of her fashion "statements" are just a few examples of this in my opinion.

I got a link with video footage of her "dancing" from somebody and it just seems to me that some black folks are co-signing this because they are eager to see "sistergirl" Obama instead of First Lady Obama. And I guess that's understandable. I just think that in our desire to get a more dynamic view of the first family that we consume "news" that has no intention of capturing the complexity of the First Family, but rather intends to make them a commodity or form of entertainment for white people.