By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2011-05-11 15:22:27 | Word Count: 664
Today Beyonce Knowles has the video of the day on YouTube. It’s not one of those glitzy videos that we are accustomed to from her but rather a video promoting health and exercise. Mrs. Knowles has teamed up with Michelle Obama to help encourage children to be physically active. To do so, Beyonce remixed her popular track “Get Me Bodied” and has revamped the lyrics to focus more on being active through exercise and dance. The title of the new song is “Move Your Body”. The YouTube video of the day isn’t actually the music video for the song. Beyonce visited PS 161 Pedro Albizu Campo Middle School in Harlem, New York where she taught the students the dance routine for the song.
The video shows Beyonce breaking a sweat with the children. After a quick stretch, the crowd of what appears to be more than 100 girls and boys, began to perform the routine, each with their own flair. Beyonce stood at the front where she performed the routine with a seemingly light hearted and playful attitude. If anyone thought that she was a diva, there were no indications of that in the video. She appears to be having as much fun as the kids.
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Michelle Obama has been fighting to raise consciousness about childhood obesity since she became First Lady of the United States. With her “Let’s Move Campaign”, Mrs. Obama promotes a healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise. Mrs. Obama has an ongoing community garden project at the White House. Fruits and vegetables from the garden have been used at formal dinners at the White House. She uses the garden to emphasize that it can be inexpensive to grow your own produce. Many children fail to get the proper nutrition because the stores in their neighborhood don’t offer healthy foods at a reasonable price.
With so many children and teens that are classified as obese, it is commendable that Mrs. Obama has made this a large part of her platform as First Lady. Many people assumed that Michelle would be more of a politically oriented First Lady. Many thought that she would tackle a heavier subject. Well she surprised everyone when she decided to focus on the topic of heaviness in children. Having worked on the board of the largest Wal-Mart supplier, Tree-House, she knows all about the relationship between food, consumers and business. Using this background, she has joined forces with Wal-Mart to improve the selection and cost of healthy produce options.
Beyonce has had ties to the Obama administration. She did serenade Mr. and Mrs. Obama for inauguration with the classic Etta James ballad “At Last” after all. Her husband, Jay-Z, or Sean Carter, has also performed at several promotional concerts for President Obama during his campaign. The fact that this video has gone viral is great for the movement to end childhood obesity. Children around the world will be moving their bodies to this tune for a long time.
