DancehallMag
×
News

Australian Navy Under Fire For Scantily Clad Dancehall Crew Twerking To Sean Paul, Koffee Songs

By
dancehall-dancers
Left: The 101 Doll Squadron; Right: Defence Force chief Angus Campbell

Dancehall music, and two of its superstars, have been weaved into a controversy Down Under, after the Australian Defence Force, engaged the 101 Doll Squadron, an all-female Dancehall troupe, to “wine-up and back it up”, as part of the official commissioning ceremony for the Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Supply ship in Sydney on Sunday.

Sean Paul’s Boasty collab and Koffee’s Toast are among the songs the women are raunchily gyrating to with wild abandon.  The performance has not gone down well with Australians, who argue that the attire and the twerking movements of the women were totally inappropriate for the occasion and the type of audience, which included young children, the governor-general, members of parliament and the head of the military.

Media houses across Australia have been lampooning the Navy for its decision to engage 101 Doll Squadron to do a seemingly unscreened dance routine.  The dance group describes itself on its Instagram page as a “Female Collaborating Dancehall Crew” in Sydney and “a Squadron of Dancehall women facilitating a movement to unite & collaborate unique projects inna Dancehall.”

The 101 Doll Squadron, which was founded by choreographer Maya Sheridan, has performed with Beenie Man during a past performance in Australia.  It was formed in 2010 to highlight what Sheridan describes as “the thriving Dancehall scene in Sydney and create paid work for female dancers.”

News Outlet Perth Now described the incident as “a troupe of seven scantily-clad dancers, wearing black shorts and red berets” who “stood in front of the warship and performed a routine that would have been more appropriate on TikTok”.

“They can be seen gyrating, thrusting and twerking throughout, to the song Boasty by rapper Wiley, featuring Jamaican Dancehall artist Sean Paul,” the author wrote.

“The ‘inappropriate’ routine comes amid a backdrop of criticism for the Federal Government over its treatment of women — with sexual misconduct allegations and gender discrimination claims rife within the party’s ranks,” Perth Now added.

According to The Guardian, the Navy has also been accused of trying to cover up the dance routine by cutting it from the official video of the ceremony. “The Australian Defence Force’s latest scandal involves dancers in hotpants and very unimpressed officials. How did it happen?” the newspaper wrote.

“Perhaps unsurprisingly the routine did not feature on the video released by the Navy. That clip had lots of drone shots of the ship (funded under a $90bn defence program), seamen marching in formation, and blokes in uniform talking about “diverse and professional” teams and the ship’s “legacy”. Oh, and the governor general David Hurley spoke, calling it “a cause for celebration” and “a great Navy day.”

The Guardian goes on to describe the video as showing seven dancers in booty shorts and berets just giving it their absolute all, while General Angus Campbell, the chief of the Australian Defence Force, is shown “watching on fairly expressionlessly”, along with other military members who were clutching swords and had medals pinned to their chest, soberly watching on.

On ABC’s Defence Correspondent Andrew Greene’s Twitter page, where a link and the video of the 101 Doll Squadron’s dancing was shared, Australians registered varying sentiments ranging from, disappointment, to sarcasm, amusement to cynicism.

“I get ADF recruitment ads in my feed on social media, obviously targeted to females. You are treated as a professional, respected as a valued team member etc. My. God. Why couldn’t they have highlighted military skills of a group of female staff instead? What is this – Hooters?” one woman, Annaliisa Hartfiel, said.

“How could anyone have thought this would be vaguely appropriate? The mind boggles,” Drop Bear wrote.

“What’s it saying to those women? Strip off and do a sexy dance, that’s all you’re good for??? FFS….have we learned nothing over the last few months?” Tony B declared.

The Australian has since reported that even though “images of Defence Force chief Angus Campbell watching a troupe of young women ‘twerk’ at a naval ship commissioning have shocked the nation, the ADF has said that “they were only supporting local communities, by engaging 101… Doll Squadron”, who were invited by the HMAS Supply crew and the navy to celebrate the commissioning of HMAS Supply on Saturday.

“And Defence says it was just about ensuring the ship remains connected to the community in Woolloomooloo,” the newspaper said.

“Governor-General David Hurley was also at the ceremony but Defence denies he was present for the risque dancers. The dance was performed prior to the commencement of the commissioning formalities and prior to the arrival of His Excellency the Governor-General, Chief of Navy and Commander Australian Fleet,” the newspaper quoted an ADF spokeswoman as saying.

Update:  ABC has apologized after its original social media video about the event featuring 101 Doll Squadron was edited to include cut-away shots showing the two dignitaries who had not been present during the performance.  “This was incorrect. While the Chief of Defence was present, the Governor-General and the Chief of Navy in fact arrived after the performance,” they said.