STRONG HAS ALWAYS BEEN PRETTY WITH THE TRINITY IRISH DANCERS

Elmhurst, Illinois—Recently in social media there has been a movement, inspired by photographer Kate T. Parker to showcase young girls—who are curious, silly, and adventurous by nature, as beautiful in the many aspects of their personality, not just their aesthetic values. #StrongIsTheNewPretty promotes the beauty of athleticism, leadership, independence and the many character attributes that tend to get overlooked in a society that venerates the less wholesome pursuits of fame and popularity.

When the girls at The Trinity Academy Irish Dance heard about this movement, they felt inspired to participate, as the very values that the photographer celebrates are the same that are instilled in Trinity Irish Dancers every day. Values such as: strong teams producing strong individuals, that there is beauty in dedication and hard work, seamlessly meld with Kate T. Parker’s movement.

The whole of Trinity- its Academy as well as its professional Dance Company, came together to get behind this movement because it paralleled the teachings of Trinity so thoroughly.

“Trinity has always been a place where young girls have built confidence, learned leadership, and understood the value of humility and hard work. After seeing Kate Parker’s Strong is the new Pretty campaign on Instagram, we asked our kids what they thought made them “strong.” The response has been both uplifting and overwhelming in the strength of their messages, and their enthusiasm to share their ideas. Our girls are all beautiful because they are strong.” Mark Howard, Founder and Artistic Director discussed about the movement.

So many Trinity dancers participated, that posting them all on the Trinity Irish Dancers Instagram page became overwhelming. Instead each picture and quote has been compiled into a slide show and can be found at www.trinityirishdance.com as well as linked below.

The messages were so powerful in fact, that Kate Parker herself commented on the strength of the images as well as discussed the possibility of coming to Chicago to photograph the girls.

Please take a moment to view the video below, compiled of pictures each dancer submitted along with a statement about what they believed made them “strong.”

SEE ALL OF THE TRINITY IRISH DANCER QUOTES IN THE SLIDESHOW, BELOW!