DA:NCE Newsletter – October 2024

The Healthy DA:NCE Directory gets the Spotlight

Do you know a dance studio or dance organization that is steadfast in their commitment to use age-appropriate choreography, costumes and music in children’s dance classes? If yes, learn all about the first of its kind, FREE, national database we’ve created and then nominate that organization to be featured. We are hopeful that this will become not only a wonderful resource for concerned parents and adults, but also a place to celebrate all of the dance studios and organizations dedicated to protecting children in dance.

The DA:NCE Coalition goes live.

Join it. Help us to prevent harmful dance exposure for children. Membership is free. And you can engage with us as little or as much as you like.  As Coalition members, you will play a vital role in helping us accomplish our mission by offering advice and recommendations for current and potential DA:NCE initiatives and programs, and by helping us connect with and inform people of our work.

Dance Coalition Open Houses

Curious about our Dance Coalition and what it means to be a part of it? Join us for a virtual open house to learn more about Coalition membership and how you can contribute to the DA:NCE mission! Open Houses will last around 30 minutes. There are 3 opportunities to attend:

Dance Deserves Better
Guest Article: Chasta Hamilton 
Founder of Stage Door Dance Productions and Girls Geared for Greatness

Last September, I hosted a mini conference surrounding the conversation point, “Are Dance Competitions Disrupting the Power and Progress of Dance Education?”  Based on my research, the answer is unequivocally yes.

You see, in 2020, I wrote an infamous book called Trash the Trophies, which challenged the viewpoint that dance education had to normalize to dangerous and toxic trends set forth by the commercialized, regulation lacking, and highly capitalistic competitive dance industry.

Music, lights, action: The child dancer from India and the unethical expectations of its media
Guest Article: Dr. Arshiya Sethi
Fulbright Fellow and Founder of Kri Foundation

India is a land of dancing- at festivals, festivities and social events. For most young Indians, the initial settings for learning informally, are family settings, especially weddings. The family, a gaggle of aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, nieces, nephews, especially grandfathers and grandmothers, as preservers of culture, encourage the younger generation profusely. 

Graceful Balance
Guest Article:  Denise Hazlett of Rescuing Hope

Dance has long been a physical, mental and spiritual means for children to develop a healthy lifestyle through performing arts. However, we have seen a steady increase in the hypersexualization of children’s dance performances. Choices for music, choreography and instruction typically advance with the skill set of the dancers. 

Healthy Dance Studio

One of the goals of the DA:NCE is to highlight organizations we feel embody healthy dance. DA:NCE would like to present Suzanne’s School of Dance from College Station, Texas as our Healthy Dance Studio.

BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine Article mentioning DA:NCE
Countries all around the world are concerned about keeping children safe in dance. DA:NCE is thankful to be recognized in this article: 

Keep Safe In Dance Video
We all need to come together to stop the abuse in the dance industry. ‘We’re all in this together’ A film by Jackie Scott, founder of Keep Kids Safe In Dance that explores the issues we currently face in the dance training industry in the hope of raising awareness.

In August of 2024, Hulu productions released a new TV show patterned after an earlier rendition of ‘Dance Moms’ with Abby Lee Miller. Many elements of the current show are concerning with one particular aspect that caused Mary Bawden to release a national statement:

DA:NCE Statement Dance Moms: A New Era by Mary Bawden, Founder

Why do we continue to knowingly hurt children when they dance and when throngs of children watch that process?

DANCE Moms: A New Era begins a new rendition of Dance Moms without Abby Lee Miller. Miss Glo takes over the series as the teacher. Of all the choreography choices for children to dance to, why do we see an 11 year old girl dancing to the death of JonBenét Ramsey, a child that was murdered by strangulation? This child dancer was asked, with her mother, to research the story before being put into the choreography. No level of this dance was age-appropriate: not the ugliness of the event, the child who danced it, or the many children exposed to it. Sadly, Hulu productions along with all the adults around this program allowed the project to move forward.

What happened to protecting a child’s innocence?

We need adults to unite around the well-being of children. Please join the newly-formed DA:NCE Coalition so we can use your voice to transform the culture.

Salome’s Dance: A Biblical Examination of the Dangers of Hypersexualized Dancing
Guest Article: Kelly Leary of Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking

For centuries people have been exploited in various ways. Sadly, this includes the hypersexualization of children in dance. What does this mean? This occurs when children are either coerced or encouraged to wear non-age-appropriate costumes, including revealing or sexualized outfits. Another aspect is when the child is made to dance to songs with sexualized lyrics or perform inappropriate moves, including mimicking sex acts.

One of the most popular platforms for dance in this social media age is TikTok, where people try dance challenge trends, post their practice or performance videos, and talk about life in the dance world. Though dance is by no means the only topic of TikTok videos, it is a strong base of the app’s popularity, drawing many teen dancers to it. TikTok amplifies many perspectives and experiences of all kinds of things, including dance, so while it can be a place to find fun, healthy dance videos, many videos display hypersexualized dancing or age-inappropriate music or outfits. 

DA:NCE Happenings

1. September 28-October 1 National Dance Educators Association Conference in Bellevue, Washington
2. October 17-20, 2024 IADMS (International Association for Dance and Medical Science) Conference in Rimini, Italy.
3. November 9 Dance 4 Life Florida Suicide Awareness Gala in Gainesville, Florida
4. January 23-25 California Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance Conference in Pasadena, California
5. February 24-26 National Religious Broadcasters Conference in Grapevine, Texas
6. March 1-3 California Dance Educators Association Conference in Long Beach, California
7. April 1-4 Society of Healthy and Physical Educators in Baltimore, Maryland

Want to schedule a Zoom with Mary? Use this link:
https://cal.com/marybawden