Wow what a response to our amazing campaign!
The most wonderful part about the #Myboycandance movement is the amount of people who have taken part AND from around the world!!
It's been just brilliant to be able to sit here with my son and show him all the different dancers, discuss the different styles of dance that there are, the amazing different costumes that people are wearing and all the different ages these boys are. It's become our evening thing now, to catch up on My Boy Can work and he will like as many of the posts and photos as we can physically get through.
The impact you are having on our sons lives are huge. They are all being so celebrated for doing something they love and your sons are inspiring ours to say yes it's ok to dance and enjoy it. The enthusiasm from parents and dance schools has been overwhelming for us here at the office and is showing us that there is a huge cry out for our sons and boys in general to be more represented within the dance world.
The most wonderful part about the #Myboycandance movement is the amount of people who have taken part AND from around the world!!
Your personal stories of how your sons have had to overcome negativity and bullying in some cases to continue to do what he loves to do: have been at times difficult to read. And Yet here you are on the other side of that struggle or even amidst it still, with determination to show the world that you can do what you enjoy doing.
I had one dance teacher write to me as her male student, who seems so confident in her classes and the way he is within the dance school, ask not to be shown in the challenge, because he is infact facing negativity from people within his school. This amazed the teacher as she really didn't know this was even an issue for him. Showing her how important the message was of My Boy Can.
For me personally, it has opened my eyes to the scale of the stigma as a global issue. I was hoping to inspire our local dance boys to help me to raise awareness and challenge our community to change the language towards our boys here in my local community. And here I am writing to people from Washington DC, Australia, Florida, New Zealand, Sweden, Scotland and all over the UK to discuss the work they can do in their communities to help raise awareness and have some action against the stigma.
It is phenomenal. I am so grateful to you all for taking part in the challenge and for showing my son that he's not alone in his interests. That he's not the only boy who can.
📷:Kai aged 11 boy dancer shared by Shona Simpson to My Boy Can. Photographer: David Taylor Photography