Ask any woman and she can probably “tell you what I want, what I really, really want,” and for most — even in 2016— the answer is equality.
Twenty years after its release, the Spice Girls debut track Wannabe has been remade to promote gender equality, with help from artists around the world – including one from the Edmonton area.
“It’s extremely important to me that all girls can get the same educational rights as men because it’s so important for us,” Sherwood Park dancer Taylor Hatala said. “When we get that education that we need, we can achieve anything we absolutely want to.”
READ MORE: Justin Bieber shares stage with young Sherwood Park dancers
Like the Spice Girls’ 1996 hit, the new video promotes girl power by highlighting a series of U.N. goals for women and girls: equal pay for equal work, an end to forced child marriage and violence against women, and quality education for all girls.
The video is called “#WhatIReallyReallyWant” and is part of the Global Goals’ campaign by the United Nations Development Programme. It encourages people to share what they want for girls and women via photos on the Internet.
The video features dancers and actresses from Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, South Africa, the United States and Canada, including 13-year-old Hatala and her sidekick, American performer Larsen Thompson.
The messages will be passed along to world leaders during the U.N. Sustainable Development Summit in September. The video will also be shown in movie theatres around the world.
“I am absolutely thrilled,” Hatala told Global News from Los Angeles, where she is filming a video and teaching in a dance convention. “Not only did the video turn out amazing but the message it really puts across means a lot to me, especially as a little girl in the dance industry, or in the industry at all.”
While Hatala wasn’t even alive when the Spice Girls’ hit was released, she’s still a huge fan of their music – and message.
“They’re kind of like old school, but it helps being in the dance industry because you listen to old school music all the time,” the teen said with a smile. “My mom was also a really, really big fan so she introduced me to them and I just fell in love… It was super cool to be a part of this remake.”
The video is backed by Project Everyone, an organization which uses multimedia to promote the Global Goals initiative.
With files from The Associated Press and Emily Mertz, Global News
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