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...
by Kate | Aug 18, 2025 | Dance Journey, Dance Psychology, Dance Techniques, Mental Illness
This week on The Dance Real Podcast I had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Stephanie Potrek—a medical doctor and nutritionist who knows dance from the inside out. Her career spans medicine, sports nutrition, and global health, yet it is rooted in her own experience...
