PhD student, Emma Morgan, shares plans to present her latest research findings. On 13th October 2026, I will be travelling to Prague to present our latest research at the Compassion, Acceptance and Mindfulness in Dance and Performing Arts Conference. Our presentation, “How Self-Compassionate are UK Undergraduate Dance Students? A Latent Profile Analysis” (Emma Morgan, Dr Mary Quinton, Prof Sanna Nordin-Bates, and Prof Jennifer Cumming), will explore patterns of self-compassio

When does dance stop being good for us? What elite dance teaches us about health-promoting environments. Dance is widely recognised as a powerful contributor to health and wellbeing. Yet the picture becomes more complicated when we turn our attention to pre-professional and professional dancers. This post explores five ways high-performance environments can undermine health and outlines the SHAPE framework for creating mentally healthier dance cultures.

Safeguarding in dance stills fail as policies aren’t implemented efficiently. This blog discusses the systemic gaps that keep dancers unprotected.

Learn about our mental skills training day at the Dance Science Symposium

Introduction Dance research has traditionally emphasized physical technique, but the mental side of performance is just as critical. Confidence, focus, resilience, and emotional regulation can make the difference between a flawless performance and one overshadowed by anxiety. Our systematic review, which has just been published in BMJ Open ( https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/11/e104552 ) , synthesizes the available evidence on Mental Skills Training (MST) in dance, using t

‘I didn’t really have a teenage life. I never went to bars. I never had anything like that. It was always dance.’ - Shirley Ballas on ‘We need to talk’ podcast The life of a dancer can be very demanding, balancing training, rehearsals and performances with a ‘normal’ everyday life. High dedication to their craft can sometimes blur the boundaries between personal identity and the demands of the dance world. This often results in struggles with identity, both within and outs

Dance and sport are contexts where individuals and groups perform, often to a high standard and under both internal and external...