How soon is too soon?

My youngest Daughter took part in a Dance competition at the weekend.  It was organised by the Red Cross, and was a very worthy day, with some excellent performances all round from the very young, up to A Level students.  The premise is simple; to perform a piece of Dance to a Red Cross related theme.  Of course there were some pretty harrowing subjects, from Child Soldiers to Sex Trafficing, all dealt with in an empathetic and subtle way.  Up to a point.  The winning entry was based on the 7/7 Bombings of 2005, in which the Red Cross played a vital role in the disaster response.  I think in all youth theatre and dance, there should not be any subject that cannot be dealt with if done so with tact, diplomacy and good taste.  I am not as you may have gathered, an outraged Daily Mail reader who looks to be offended, however, I felt deeply uncomfortable with this groups portrayal of Suicide Bombers.  Firstly, they actually wore very obvious Bomb vests.  They were apparently supposed to represent the explosion rather than the actual terrorists.  This was clearly not the case.  On top of this, there was another rather sinister issue.  The Terrorists were represented by a majority of Black and Mixed Race Children, and the Angels represented by entirely white children.  In my humble opinion, this shows a lack of sympathy and class from the teachers involved in making these decisions.  Signifiers can play a huge part in Theatre and Performance, and in this case, they need not have been so macabre and sinister.  The children dancing were excellent, and I truly wish them well with their dancing, but this performance was badly misjudged.