Going Too Far?

Imagine you're a high school student and a member of the school's dance team. You've been practicing for weeks with your team and right before the team is about to dance on the field, your coordinator makes you sit the bench.

Tough to take, right?

Now imagine the reason you're benched is because your hair isn't straight.

Yep, in St. James Parish (Vacherie, LA), D'ara Pillette was told she could not dance because her hair wasn't styled a certain way. Because of a medical condition, she wears her hair in an afro. The condition, folliculitis, causes the hair follicles to become inflamed, resulting in scalp burns and lost hair.


The school has said that their policy is based on Universal Dance Association rules, however, the UDA has said that their rules do NOT cover specific hair styles and that is up to the discretion of the team.

The school administration is allowing her to dance provided she wear her hair in a bun but that if she goes to nationals wearing an afro, she will not compete.

Is this fair?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 06, 2009 and is filed under . You can leave a response and follow any responses to this entry through the Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) .

1 comments

LisaW  

This is soooooo NOT FAIR! Shame on them! She's a cute girl just the way she is and she can dance or she wouldn't be on the team...so why should it matter? It shouldn't! Shame , Shame, Shame!!!