Why safeguarding in dance still fails: A Systems Perspective

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

Why safeguarding in dance matters

Dance offers significant benefits for the physical and social wellbeing of people; many dancers have reported negative emotional and physical experiences in dance. Numerous allegations of emotional, sexual and physical abuse in dance has been reported leading to a chronic impact on the mental health for many dancer’s (Dwarika et al., 2025).

Safeguarding and abuse prevention is therefore a fundamental aspect needed to ensure the safety of dancers.

However, there are issues within the implementation of safeguarding policies and procedures.

Systemic barriers to safeguarding and abuse prevention in dance

There are many barriers as to why safeguarding is not sufficient in dealing with the harm and neglect of dancers.

1. Fragmented governance

As there is not one organisation with full regulatory power or oversight in the Dance sector it can lead to the practices and policies in place to not be fully enforced/inconsistently applied.

Scarcity of regulatory bodies overseeing dance may exacerbate abuse practices in dance. (Dwarika et al., 2025).

2. Unclear accountability

Due to the lack of regulatory oversight, responsibilities for safeguarding and abuse prevention in Dance are not clearly defined, leading to the poor enforcement and implementation of safeguarding practices in Dance (Dwarika et al.,2025).

Teaching certification in Dance organisations are largely unregulated, jeopardising safe practices in Dance but also challenges successfully enforcing safeguarding practices (Dwarika et al., 2025; Cumming et al., 2024).

3.      Fear of speaking up

Unequal power dynamics with significant power imbalances in teacher-student relationships where dancers are silenced and taught to be obedient (Cumming et al., 2024).

These environments normalise and permit inappropriate sexual and exploitative relationships. Dancers may stop themselves from speaking out about experiences of maltreatment due to the fear of negative repercussions (Dwarika et al., 2025).

4. Policy practice gap

Although most organisations had safeguarding policies in place the actual implementation was both inconsistent and weak, especially in the monitoring, evaluating and learning of safeguarding in dance (Cumming, 2025).

Dance organisational leaders reported that safeguarding policies and procedures were ‘not well understood or prioritised’ and has a ‘lack of funding and resources. They also reported that the safeguarding policies are ‘not always effective’ (Cumming et al., 2024, October).

Recommendations for strengthening safeguarding policies and procedures in dance

To advance in safer dance, we need multi-level collaboration from individual dancers to government bodies, regulatory reform by establishing regulatory bodies and giving them adequate training as well as providing dance-specific guidance and resources (Cumming, 2025).

Based on the research so far, 5 national policy actions for improving safeguarding and abuse prevention in UK dance have been made.

Read our policy brief: Making UK Dance Safer: Evidence-Based Policy Recommendations for Improving Safeguarding and Abuse Prevention

Call for a System Level Change

To establish a safer environment for dance, changes need to be made across the entire dance system, addressing the dangers of the dance cultural norms, establishing regulatory bodies and working with the government to produce role and responsibilities for safeguarding and relevant necessary training to be done across all organisational leaders, including teachers and choreographers.

Conclusion

Although safeguarding policies and procedures exist in the dance sector, the implementation is often inconsistent or ineffective in its use, a substantial issue being the lack of regulatory power or oversight leading to unclear accountability producing a gap between policy and practice. There needs to be change within the dance system, breaking barriers in harmful dance cultural norms and a multi-level collaboration between the individual and wider organisations.

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Written and infographics by Hazera Begum

References

Dwarika, M. S., Jordan-Dewhurst, T., Tidmarsh, G., Kolitsida, M., Sanchez, E., Quinton, M. L., & Cumming, J. (2026). Risk and protective factors for safeguarding and abuse prevention in dance: a scoping review. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2025.2611828

Cumming, J., Nordin-Bates, S. M., Johnson, C., Sanchez, E. N., & Karageanes, S. J. (2024). High time to enhance dancer welfare: a call to action to improve safeguarding and abuse prevention in dance. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 10(2), e001811. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2023-001811

Cumming, J., & Quinton, M. L. (2026). Making UK dance safer: Evidence-based policy recommendations for improving safeguarding and abuse prevention [Policy Brief]. University of Birmingham. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.32726907

Cumming, J., Tidmarsh, G., Bird, G., Kolitsida, M., & Sanchez, E. N. (2024, October). Safeguarding and abuse prevention in UK dance organisations. Paper to be presented at International Association for Dance Medicine and Science 34th Annual Conference, Rimini, Italy. https://web.cvent.com/event/13abfa81-56e2-4d69-9d49-d20a5bd9e4d0/summary