About Kate
Kate Histon is a professional performance and leadership facilitator, coach and consultant who supports dancers, educators, leaders, and parents in realising their full potential onstage and in life.
Having experienced the damaging effects of ten years spent in a coercive dance studio that was known as one of Australia’s most notable ballet schools; Kate’s recovery became the foundation for a career devoted to cultivating emotionally intelligent and systems thinking leadership, supporting safe environments for high performing dancers and developing mind-body performance strategies.
She brings four decades of experience in the dance industry and over two decades as a qualified dance educator and mentor, business owner, international adjudicator, creative facilitator, and host of the Dance Real Podcast. Kate holds formal qualifications in coaching and facilitation. Further detail is outlined in Methodology page. She owned and operated her own dance school for 23 years, with many of her students going on to achieve professional careers or personal success. Her firsthand understanding of the demands, pressures, and possibilities within the performing arts provides rare insight into what today’s dancers and leaders need.
Kate’s performing career include dancing as a teenager in Swan Lake as an extra with The Australian Ballet Company, a two-year contract with The World’s Biggest Disco as a jazz dancer, and appearances in various TV commercials and film projects. Her deep love of teaching led her to achieve her teaching qualification through the Royal Academy of Dance with Distinction.
Determined to understand the mind-body connection, performance psychology and the systemic patterns that shape leadership cultures, Kate immersed herself in both Eastern and Western philosophies to better support the holistic development of dancers. She became certified in a range of somatic and healing modalities as well as formal cognitive behavioural methodologies. These diverse qualifications now underpin her work with performers and leaders. Her approach integrates emotional regulation, cognitive reframing, and embodied presence into leadership, mindset, and sustainable creative excellence.
Kate has taught internationally, constructed educational programs, and facilitated leadership training for artists and creatives across Australia, New Zealand and Germany. Her work has been featured by Dance Life Australia, and her article on Communication Excellence was incorporated into the curriculum at Bristol College, Massachusetts USA. She is also an international dance adjudicator, having judged across Australia, South Africa, Europe and the UK, both as a solo judge and on panels. Through her consulting, speaking, and podcasting, Kate is committed to reshaping the culture of the dance world, one brave conversation at a time.