“It changed; this is what you are wearing now” the assistant said… “It was me, by myself. I had no one to advocate for me… So, I cleaned myself up, wiped away my tears and went out and did a show” (Chand, 2021). Consent. It is a concept that has always been and continues to
Growing up, I learned to split the light and dark sides of life. My conscious self lived in the light, while my unconscious self lived in the dark. Because no one in my conscious life spoke of this darkness, I too learned to never speak of it and ultimately to forget it entirely. I was
At the Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation USA (NCOSE) 2021 Conference, Mary Bawden, Founder of DA:NCE, presented a talk called ‘Healthy or Harmful Dance: What Do the Experts Say About Hypersexualization?’ At the 2022 Conference, Mary Bawden spoke on a panel about ‘Wholesome to Hypersexualized: What Happened to Children’s Dance’. Our friends at NCOSE generously
I started dancing at the age of four in the 1970s and I have been a dance educator since 1991. Becoming a parent of young dancers in the early 2000s allowed me to revisit the dance studio environment with new insight and inspired me to conduct research on contemporary trends in dance training for children
Guest Bloger: Heather Harrington “I would have put myself in a better position if I had just worn red lipstick,” explains Kayleen Babel (2021) who gives advice for trying out for college dance teams on her YouTube channel. She later explains that make-up and hair are part of your appearance score, and that you should
My first in-depth experience with the internet began at 13 years old. For years I would watch my friends play online games and I was annoyed with my parents for not allowing it until I was mature enough. But finally, they said yes to a free game online and sat me down to lay some
As a producer for the Miss Ohio Outstanding Teen Program and judge for other child pageants and dance contests, I have seen how "harmful dance" hypersexualizes and exploits children by wearing adult costumes, choreography, and music. I have also noticed how these imposed dance methods have affected young people later in life. Once a child
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
From my earliest memories, dance has been a source of great joy and delight for me. My parents enjoyed ballroom dancing and so they were happy to encourage my interest. I began to dance at about 5 years of age and continued taking ballet, jazz and tap classes through college. Besides being enjoyable, dance became
Training dancers is a responsibility and a privilege. Our industry is an unregulated one at the moment, but that doesn’t mean we have to be uneducated. Dance is magical and as teachers we are entrusted with the huge responsibility to nurture and train a wide range of vulnerable children. Just because we don’t physically harm
