by Kate | Oct 29, 2025 | Coercive culture, Cult Systems, Dance Journey, Dance Psychology, Dance Teaching, Dance Techniques, Healing
In Parts One to Three, I explored how coercive dance environments were sustained through glorification, silence, and internalised roles such as the scapegoat and golden child. Yet another layer of the system often goes unexamined: the role of the enabler. Enablers are...
by Kate | Sep 17, 2025 | Coercive culture, Cult Systems, Dance Journey, Dance Psychology, Dance Teaching, Healing, Mental Illness, Mind Power
Content note: This piece includes references to physical punishment and emotional abuse in dance training In Parts One and Two, I explored dynamics within coercive dance environments: institutions and teachers who caused harm, yet became idolised within the industry....
by Kate | Sep 7, 2025 | Dance Psychology, Dance Teaching
Content note: This piece includes references to physical punishment and emotional abuse in dance training. In my last piece, I explored the tension of revering the “greats” of dance while also naming the harm some of them caused. Not all revered teachers were abusive....
by Kate | Aug 28, 2025 | Uncategorized
Every generation of dancers remembers certain teachers as “the greats”: figures who demanded excellence, instilled discipline, and shaped careers. Many students hold these teachers in deep reverence. Yet an uncomfortable truth often remains unspoken. Some of these...
by Kate | Aug 18, 2025 | Dance Psychology, Dance Teaching, Dance Techniques, Mental Illness, Starting a Business
Teaching and mentoring in dance is about much more than passing on technical skill. It is about the presence we bring into the room, the values we model, and the environment we create. This requires an ongoing commitment to our own healing and self-awareness. The way...
