AND THEN…. A Personal Invitation for ‘She Loves to Move’
It’s time to restore the wonder of childhood dance! “DA:NCE Awareness invites everyone – from choreographers and dance studios to individuals, families and groups of any size – to choreograph the song ‘She Loves to Move’. Help us celebrate healthy, age-appropriate children’s dance all around the world! It’s easy: 1. Download the song ‘She Loves […]
A Personal Story of Hypersexualized Dance and Self-Objectification by Jaime Logan
This article is dedicated to the girls who haven’t had a chance to know better. “My job required one thing of me, to be an object for arousal and consumption. I started dancing my heart out in the studio, but I ended up coddling the fancies of a stranger bent on using me as an […]
Dance and the Child International Conference(daCi) 2022
I consistently say that the solution to harmful dance is healthy dance. Today is special because I get to back up that claim and introduce you to a wonderful dance organization: daCi(dance for the child international)! The 2022 daCi conference, organized by Norma Sue Fisher-Stitt of York University Canada and Nancy Francis of Brock University […]
‘Share Your DA:NCE Story’ Interviews Begin
Several weeks ago an article came out on several news outlets about current abuse in children’s dance. I’d advise you to get some tissues out while you take a few minutes to read it. It’s awful. This was my response to the article on social media: “Break The Floor Productions, a Los Angeles dance industry […]
Introducing ‘She Loves to Move’ an Original Song for DA:NCE by Steve Siler
One of my favorite pictures of my daughter was taken at a dance studio when she was four years old. She is wearing a black leotard with a short green ballet skirt. Her little arms are reaching as high as they can go. Someone has told her to smile and she is doing her best […]
A History of DA:NCE: healthy, educational children’s dance to harmful, hypersexualized children’s dance
“There has been a cultural shift from healthy, educational children’s dance to harmful, hypersexualized children’s dance at younger and younger ages. The art of children’s dance has been high-jacked.” Mary Bawden was a little girl who wanted to dance. I dreamed about it. All the time. I begged my mother for lessons. All the time. […]
A Short Story for DA:NCE
It’s January 2022: a New Year with renewed memories. During the holidays, my heart remembered a short story that was made into a movie I loved as a child. Written by Charles Dickens in 1843, A Christmas Carol recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who was visited by the ghost of his […]
Make a Difference: Donate to DA:NCE
“If dance wants to be shown (and to earn) equal respect, status, focus and funding with all of the other arts, we should take a look at how far off the track we are.”(source) Kristin Kusanovich, Senior Lecturer, Santa Clara University, Artistic Director, k2dance, San Jose, Past President CDEA, California Dance Education Association November 2021. […]
DA:NCE with Youth Protection Advocates in Dance(YPAD)
If you love dance and children, you need to know about this organization. “YPAD courses are the foremost, research based, educational courses for dance professionals and the dance industry as a whole. The intention of Youth Protection Advocates in Dance® is to provide dance professionals with the skills and resources to protect and develop healthy, […]
CESE Summit: Healthy or Harmful: National Experts Talk About Children’s Dance
It happened slowly so I didn’t know it happened. I was 7 years old and everything was a blur. I thought that it was normal until the eye doctor tested my eyes and told my parents that I was almost legally blind. Perspective is everything. If you had asked me, I would have told you […]