Anyone who’s caught a few episodes of 19 Kids and Counting already knows that the Duggar kids have had very different childhoods from what many of us experienced growing up. Being under the umbrella of Bill Gothard and the Institute in Basic Life Principles meant that they weren’t able to enjoy mainstream movies or music, and had to follow a restrictive dress code. Of course, dancing was totally off the table because it is considered too sinful. And now that Joy-Anna Duggar is making the choice to break another one of the rules she used to live by, fans are cheering.
Joy-Anna Duggar showed off her moves in a new video.
In the video, Joy is dancing to Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” as she changes into different outfits to show what a wide variety of clothing she has in her closet.
“One day I’m Pinterest mom, next day I’m ‘just happy I’m dressed,'” she wrote in her caption, adding, “Can you tell I didn’t dance as a kid?”
Fans are cheering her on in the comments.
In the comments, so many of Joy’s followers applauded her dancing. She might not have the same moves as a professional would, but plenty of people were proud of her for doing something that was forbidden while she was growing up.
“I’ve been following your family since before some of your siblings were even born and I gotta say … I LOVE THIS CONTENT,” one comment said. “You harmlessly dancing around, full of literal JOY singing and rocking these outfits. You seem so happy and watching this made me happy!”
Another person added: “Oh my gosh! I could cry watching how happy you are dancing! Not to mention to a great song. I’m so happy for you.”
Her critics have a lot of thoughts.
On a popular Duggar-related subreddit, Joy’s critics aren’t all that happy for her for breaking the rules and dancing — instead, some took this opportunity to point out that this is just one of the ways the Duggars are making their religious beliefs more relatable.
“It’s all part of the overall rebranding of fundamentalism into something more palatable to the general public so I’m not sure [Jim Bob Duggar] cares as much as we think,” one person wrote. “It’s all a rebranding strategy and it’s working.”
“Do they even know what real dancing is?” said another comment. “They all give the idea that their lifestyle is amazing.”
Some members of the family only started dancing very recently.
In October, Jinger and Jeremy Vuolo revealed that their brother Jason Duggar‘s 2024 wedding to Maddie Grace was the first in their family to ever have a dance floor, which led to some truly “confused” wedding guests.
“So, there were some times when the DJ would turn on a song and [the dance floor] would be full ‘cause it was, like, the ‘Cha Cha Slide’ or whatever,” Jinger said at the time. “He would turn it on ‘cause it tells you exactly what to do. So, all these people would get out there and do it, and then he’d turn on the next song and there would be no one out there ‘cause no one knows how to dance or they don’t want to get out there and be the only one.”
