In this episode, we chat with dance educator, Mary Bawden founder of DA:NCE (Dance awareness : no child exploited).

Mary founded DA:NCE back in 2016, after noticing that the culture around children’s dance was moving

towards an unhealthy trend – the sexualization of children under 12 in adult costumes, choreography and music. That

focus translated into a desire to advocate for healthy, age-appropriate, educational children’s dance rather than

harmful dance.

Mary is committed to creating/providing educational materials to allow informed adults to protect children from harmful

dance outcomes. In 2020, DA:NCE released a new group of online resources for concerned adults

to share with others featuring national experts & evidence-based research on the differences between healthy and

harmful children’s dance. To access resources go to danceawareness.com.

For our Melbourne listeners looking for an age-appropriate Dance studio, check out the Little Monsters Dance Club on Facebook!