From Being Wholesome to Hypersexualized: The Dangerous Trend in Children’s Dance

In this episode, I visit with dance educator and author Mary Bawden. She began choreographing dance within church services in 1994. In 2016, she noticed a dangerous trend in children’s dance and founded DA:NCE (Dance Awareness: No Child Exploited) in an effort to raise awareness and educate others to take action and stop the hypersexualization of children in dance choreography, costumes, and music.

Alongside dance ministry, she developed the Soul to Sole Choreography method transforming dance movement into prayer-in-motion, providing education and resources to support a Christian dance ministry.

Mary Bawden received a BA in modern dance from the University of California Riverside, a MA in worship (emphasis in dance) from Hope International University in Fullerton CA, and a California secondary teaching credential.