DA:NCE (sexualization of children in dance)

We are continuing to film our new resource. In June we interviewed many national experts about hypersexualization in children’s dance. Let me name just a few: Dr. John Foubert, Dr. Donna Hughes, Dr. Walter DeKeseredy, Dr. Sandra Morgan, Dr. Celina Pina Shemo, Dr. Laura Clark, Dr. Don Hilton, Dr. Brook Parker-Bello, and many more. Now we plan to include the most important person in our new DA:NCE resource: the child who deserves our support, our love and our protection. In the film we are producing, one child will serve as the symbol for innocence: a child who needs to be protected from adult costumes, choreography and music. She is a little girl who loves to dance. She’s real. What a [...]

I’ve had a wonderful summer that has raced by. In June, I flew to Washington DC to attend the National NCOSE (National Center on Sexual Exploitation) Conference and got a great response from leaders to film their observations about hypersexualization in children’s dance. In July, I taped 10 radio spots for national release through Westar Media, wrote an article about hypersexualized dance in our local paper and completed the necessary resources for the fall DA:NCE Newsletter.  When the newsletter comes out in September 2019, expect some wonderful articles from dance educators (Dr. Judith Hanna and Dance Professor Lisa Long of Cal State Fullerton), as well as another recommendation for a healthy dance studio that allows children to develop with age-appropriate [...]

  The 5th annual End Exploitation Global Summit was held in Washington DC from June 12-15, 2019. The gathering attracted over 625 experts from all over the world to speak on the issue of sexual exploitation and its inter-relationship to sex trafficking, pornography, prostitution, child sexual abuse, violence against women, sexual assault & violence, sexualization of children, sexual addiction & compulsivity, violence against women, child pornography, and male and female objectification. Although I spoke briefly at the conference, I flew there with film-maker Neal Thibedeau with a clear focus: to film remarks about healthy versus harmful dance from experts in the field. While there, we captured comments from expert leaders and researchers about their observations and personal experiences articulating the [...]

Listen to Mary’s interview on The Eric Metaxas Show at the NRB Conference. The topic was on the hypersexualization of children in dance with adult costumes, choreography, and music.   Your browser does not support the audio element. * Trouble loading the audio? Click Here to download .MP3 Eric Metaxas is the author of the New York Times #1 Bestseller, Bonhoeffer:  Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.  Named  “Book of the Year” by the ECPA, Bonhoefferalso won the 2011 John C. Pollock Award for Biography awarded by Beeson Divinity School and a 2011 Christopher Award in the Non-fiction category.  Called a “biography of uncommon power,” Bonhoeffer appeared on numerous 2010 “Best of the Year” lists and was featured in the Wall Street Journal,Publishers Weekly, The New Republic, Harper’s, Kirkus (starred [...]

Can I encourage you to join the conversation about DA:NCE? We continue to work hard to educate the public about the damaging effects of hypersexualized children’s dance. I am so appreciative of your support of our work and the energy you bring to this important issue. I wanted to let you know we recently released a new video called ‘Coffee and Conversation’ that you may find motivating to share. It is a short and sweet 45-second teaser inviting adults to join the conversation around the hypersexualization of children in dance. We need to get this message in front of as many people as possible in order to educate and raise awareness around this issue. Can you help us share it? [...]

Gobble, gobble, gobble!  Ps 118:1  "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love endures forever." I can’t believe that November is already here. It’s turkey time and I’m getting ready to host my extended family at the annual Thanksgiving feast in 2018. Through the years, I’ve enjoyed a lot of memories around this holiday. Here's a gobble, gobble idea: I make homemade gingerbread turkey cookies and have different icing colors available for each person to decorate  their individual table place card. After dinner, everyone eats their place card. At the gathering, my husband and I also oversee a gobbling contest that ends as everyone shares their personal expression of thanks for the year. This year I give [...]