Sia responds on Twitter to article questioning the ethics of putting child dancer in the limelight
The singer Sia is now known for her iconic face-covering wig to evade the trappings of fame. So if she is so adverse to the limelight, should she expose a child to it?
Today Sia addressed an article by Guardian columnist Bonnie Malkin, in which she discussed the ethics of Sia’s collaboration with child dancer Maddie Ziegler.
In the article Malkin argues that although Sia deliberately eschews fame because she views it as damaging, she puts a minor in the spotlight in her place.
“The grown-up who has seen what fame can do and fears it has, perhaps unwittingly, handed it over to the child instead,” writes Malkin.
Today Sia responded to the article with a series of tweets.
This article poses a question I have asked myself often. I do check in with Maddie weekly about whether she wants this, and assure her if she ever wants it to stop it stops. It’s a conversation we should all be having. Not just myself but all directors, stage parents and agents.
— sia (@Sia) December 6, 2017
With their children, clients, charges. Maddie was already famous when I discovered her, but I have certainly expanded her exposure and feel responsible for that. I feel very protective of her and my goal is to empower her in whatever choices she makes. Some would argue a teenager
— sia (@Sia) December 6, 2017
Can’t or shouldn’t be charged with making sound choices for themselves and so I do try to choose the best for her always. But I think this is an important conversation http://bit.ly/2BJuGwE
— sia (@Sia) December 6, 2017
What I learned from Maddie is that fame affects her differently than how it affected me. I can only trust that she is telling me the truth. If that changes, we stop.
— sia (@Sia) December 6, 2017
Another Guardian journalist was pleased to have seen such a measured exchange of opinions.
The exchange is indeed respectful, but Sia doesn’t fully explain what she means, for example when she says “fame affected her differently than how it affected me” she doesn’t elaborate how the experience has been different for Ziegler. Moreover it’s good that she “feels very protective” of the dancer, but she doesn’t explain how that protectiveness takes form other than checking in with Ziegler. Then again it is Twitter, so given the format it’s about as fulsome as you could expect.
from Mashable! http://on.mash.to/2AYT3d3
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