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Learn More about the Mental Health in Dance: A Virtual Summit for Dance Teachers

All Day on Saturday, August 2, 2025 ~ Early Bird Registration & Payment Deadline is June 30, 2025

Original Call for Presenters

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Moving Through Burnout

Presented by:  Molly SchenckThis session examines burnout through the autonomic nervous system (ANS) lens, exploring how dance and systems of education shapes stress responses. Participants will learn about seven bodymind states of the ANS - addressing both neurotypical and neurodivergent experiences - and three practical approaches for moving with and through these bodymind states. Additionally, this workshop covers essential relational dynamics: understanding regulation and co-regulation, relational rupture-repair cycles, and reciprocity in working relationships. By contextualizing these concepts within today's challenging sociopolitically landscape, dance educators will gain practices to navigate the trauma of burnout while nurturing wellbeing for themselves and their students. Participants will leave equipped with neuroscience and psychology-informed strategies to promote sustainability in dance education.

 

Mental Health of Black Collegiate Dancers at PWIs

Presented by:  Jasmine Powell

This dynamic panel brings together faculty, students, and alumnae to explore the complex intersection of race, mental health, and the arts in higher education. Grounded in original research, the discussion will shed light on the unique mental health challenges faced by Black students pursuing Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees at predominantly white institutions (PWIs), with a focus on dance programs.According to the American Psychological Association, mental health is defined as “a state of mind characterized by emotional well-being, good behavioral adjustment, relative freedom from anxiety and disabling symptoms, and a capacity to establish constructive relationships and cope with the ordinary demands and stresses of life.” However, for many Black students, this state is disrupted by overlapping stressors—racial trauma, systemic inequities, Eurocentric academic structures, and the rigorous traditionally of higher education-based learning. Research shows that nearly 34% of Black college students at PWIs experience mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression (Chen et al., 2019). Students in fine arts disciplines are also disproportionately affected by stress-induced mental health issues due to the unique pressures of their programs (Lee et al., 2024).Panelists will examine how these stressors manifest in the lived experiences of Black students in dance, the implications for retention and well-being, and the culturally relevant coping strategies they employ. By sharing insights from varying perspectives—student, faculty, and alumnae—the panel will offer a holistic look at the institutional and interpersonal dynamics that shape mental health outcomes. This session aims to foster dialogue, raise awareness, and inspire actionable strategies to support equity and healing within collegiate arts environments.

 

Echoes Beyond the Stage: Dismantling the Stigma

Presented by:  Dakota Kuharich Stevenson

Kuharich Stevenson will guide participants through a curriculum framework designed to reduce mental health stigma among dancers, parents, and instructors within a competition dance setting. She will explore rising mental health concerns noticed in the studio and share facilitation strategies used to reduce stress/anxiety, promote positive self-talk, build resilience, and connect families with resources. Kuharich Stevenson will also discuss how increased awareness of teen mental health inspired a collaborative composed choreographic piece exploring Suicide Awareness, performed during the 2024–2025 season. Attendees will receive mental health activity examples, composition frameworks, space for sharing best practices, and student testimonials.

 

Feeling Seen: Affect Awareness in Dance Classrooms

Presented by: Garamh Kim

What does it mean for a student to feel emotionally and physically “seen” in the dance classroom? This session introduces Affect Measure (Kim 2022), a tool designed to support awareness of emotional and embodied experience in the learning process. Grounded in ongoing doctoral research on affect theory and embodied pedagogy, the tool creates a brief yet impactful check-in moment that fosters self-awareness and mental well-being. While often completed anonymously, this personal act of reflection helps students notice their inner state, center themselves, regulate emotions, and engage more fully in class. Participants will experience the Affect Measure firsthand and explore how affect—including emotion, feeling, and the bodily capacity to act—can support dance teachers in cultivating emotionally attuned and inclusive classrooms.

 

The Soft Space: Holding Room for Dancer Wellness

Presented by:  Lakiah Wilson

What does it mean to hold “soft space” in dance? This session blends gentle, somatic-based movement with trauma-informed teaching strategies to support dancer mental wellness. Participants will explore accessible movement sequences (seated, standing, or low-impact) alongside breathwork, body scans, and reflective journaling. These tools help dancers regulate emotions, reduce stress, and reconnect with their bodies beyond performance. We’ll also unpack how language, pacing, and classroom rituals impact confidence and psychological safety. Designed for educators in all settings, this session provides real-time strategies—like class openers/closers, regulation tools, and reflection prompts—that foster connection, community care, and sustainability. No extra certifications needed—just a commitment to care.

 

Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn in the Dance Class

Presented by: Fen Kennedy

Trauma in the dance classroom, and how to create spaces that offer those experiencing trauma a place they can safely be, are frustratingly stereotyped and misunderstood. Many dance teachers believe that various forms of somatic engagement can alleviate the symptoms of trauma, and while this is true at a general level, ill-informed attempts to put this into practice can result in styles of teaching that are unethical, intrusive, and that risk doing more harm to traumatized students. In this presentation, I look at four major trauma-response patterns: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn, discussing how they actively manifest in classroom settings, and the ways they actually show up in the day-to-day experience of dance educators. Drawing on what Shui-Yin Sharon Yam calles “deliberative empathy,” I propose various teaching strategies, values, and policies, that educators can use effectively to help traumatized students exist more securely and engage more productively in learning spaces.

 

Strategies for stress management and emotional regulation

Presented by: Chelsea Pierotti

Dancers are artistic athletes, so we must train like athletes, but also be able to express our emotions on stage. Learning to handle our own emotions is the first step to genuine emotional connection. This session will focus on an understanding of our emotions followed by coping in two scenarios: backstage, when we need a quick regulation strategy to be our best on stage, and long term coping, when you need to recover and take care of yourself to protect your passion for dance.

 

Dance and Mental Health: A Journey to Healing

Presented by: Francine Ott

As artists, but particularly as dancers, we use our bodies to speak. Our bodies powerfully carry our history, telling a story each day. Dance and Dance education, is not only our profession, but it has also been a therapeutic outlet for many of us. Though dance can be a release, and a therapeutic outlet, sometimes we still go home wrestling with stress, pain, life issues, emotions, trauma and a cycle of toxic habits that we have yet to work through. Many of us often go about our day, sometimes dismissing what we are sensing and feeling holistically but particularly within our bodies, and, ironically, this often happens with dancers and educators in particular, when we are most often in tune with everyone and everything else around us. Through guided meditation, improvisation, and some choreographic movement, we will create an authentic environment, allowing us to connect deeper with our bodies through being present, breathing, moving, dancing, or stillness. In this virtual space, my hope is that we will move beyond the busyness of sometimes doing, and shift into a place of being.

 

The Unspoken Labor of Distinctive Dance Pedagogies

Presented by:  Laurie M Taylor

Designed for dance educators, this session creates space to explore the psychological and emotional labor that dance educators (especially those from BIPOC, female, marginalized or underfunded contexts) undergo to assert or protect their personal identity and artistic voice. Guided by the concept of “daba,” the Liberian Bassa word meaning “to kindle,” we will speak about the often unspoken realities of burnout, self-censorship, identity tension, and boundary-setting, particularly in the academic dance setting. This guided discussion will explore these challenges via micro-journaling, role-play as well as solution-mining, as participants reflect on the internal labor of staying true to their creative identity in less innovative/resistant environments.

 

Knowing when and how to refer dancers for help

Presented by:  Ashley Thorndike

Tailored for dance teachers, this workshop addresses how to approach mental health in the dance studio taking into account neurodiversity, oppression, and embodied traumas. Dance teachers are often the “go to” adults when students are in crisis or are the first to notice when a student is struggling. This session aims to empower teachers with insights, strategies, and resources to effectively support the mental well-being of dancers while maintaining an appropriate scope of practice. Particular attention is given to destigmatizing and defining anxiety, mood, and eating disorders. Participants will gain valuable tools to create a nurturing but demanding space where dancers can thrive artistically and emotionally. Teachers will develop an understanding of how mental wellness can be nourished as well as signs and symptoms of mental distress and when and how to refer to a mental health professional.

 

The function and dysfunction of perfectionism

Presented by:  Donna Scro Samori

This workshop will explore the function and dysfunction of perfectionism and people pleasing among dancers. I have recently written an article on the mental health challenges of the performing artist and I will use this article to as a basis of my workshop. I will present the nature of perfectionism and people pleasing, and we will engage in a discussion about the function and dysfunction of these tendencies. We will explore our own relationship to these tendencies and ways that we may be perpetuating or breaking an unhealthy cycle. We will examine why these tendencies are prevalent in the dance world, why at times they are necessary, and how they can become a problem for the dancer. I will offer takeaways for the participants in how they can manage both their own perfectionism and people pleasing tendencies as well as their students.
The session will give educators through each step of the process in relation lesson planning for children with disabilities as well with this program. This is a licensed program.

 

SEL Benefits of Dance Education: A Case Study

Presented by:  Maria Morgan

Social-Emotional Learning Benefits of Dance Education: A Case StudyDance education is a powerful tool for more than technical training—it is a pathway to emotional growth, mental wellness, and authentic self-expression. This session explores how integrating Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) into structured dance instruction can support students' mental health and overall well-being. Grounded in both research and real-world practice, the presentation centers on a four years-long case study involving high school students at an urban magnet school. Through journaling, improvisation, collaborative choreography, and reflective dialogue, the program demonstrated how dance can build emotional resilience, empathy, confidence, and classroom cohesion.
 
 Participants will walk away with practical, SEL-aligned strategies they can apply immediately in studios and schools—transforming dance spaces into emotionally responsive, empowering environments. Ideal for educators, teaching artists, and administrators, this session offers an inspiring and actionable look at the intersection of dance, SEL, and student wellness.

 

Cultivating Glimmers Through Dance Instruction

Presented by:  Christina Motley

This workshop will focus on sharing practical ways for instructors to support dancers in noticing their moments of glimmers within their dancing bodies, and for instructors to notice how their own awareness of this concept could positively impact instruction. The term “glimmer”, originally coined by psychotherapist Deb Dana, can be described as sparks of joy, comfort, or contentment that may not last long though have significant impacts on our overall wellness and capacity to find resilience. When considering all that dancers are called to notice throughout dance technique classes, it can often become an afterthought for the dancer as well as the instructor to invite the idea of noticing joy that is happening while moving through class. Moments that give way to joy, connection, and comfort may support dancers in finding calmness within their nervous systems which may support the dancer in accessing courage to try something new, establishing trust in relationship to the self and others, and increasing their overall sense of self-worth.

 

Associations between Hypermobility & Mental Health

Presented by:  Wendy Timmons

Objectives of the workshop for dancers and teachers: 1) Destigmatizing: Myths and facts of hypermobility, 2) Health literacy: Awareness of hypermobility. The workshop will take the form of an interactive presentation & group discussion of hypermobility concerning: 1) What does flexibility mean to you? 2) What is hypermobility? Screening: self-assessment for hypermobility, 3) The dancer’s identity: Performance and health perspectives as well as internal and external sensations: This part will explore understanding and setting of physical and emotional boundaries in the dance environment, 4)  Dysregulation and bodily trauma relating to hypermobility and the experience of fight, flight and disassociated states, and 5) Reflections and questions.

 

The Ugly behind Beauty and Body Ideals

Presented by:  Rebecca Brown

Through guided discussion and thought provoking prompts, participants will be invited to reflect on their own experiences with body image ideals and biases. Participants will also explore how these experiences have shaped their self concepts. Using their observations and provided material, participants will become familiar with the psychosocial relationship of body image, beauty ideals and the dance spaces. The more subtle ways body based prejudices can be experienced will also be addressed. Participants will be invited to explore their own held biases, and how this can impact their teaching or dance communities. This session will introduce alternative ways to consider concepts regarding bodies to build dancer resilience, and a welcoming body diverse environment. Levels of participation in the self reflective learning experience is based on the individuals’ own level of comfort.

 

Self-Compassion: Healing the Dancer's Inner Critic

Presented by:  Erica Woekel

Mirrors, aesthetics, lines, and movement, dancers are in-tune with their bodies and yet we can be our own worst critics. Learning and practicing self-compassion and self-talk strategies can help to improve one’s relationships with our mental and physical self. Through mindfulness, kindness, and connection – self-compassion goes beyond self-care and begins to reshape how we interact with and relate to ourselves. Self-compassion can be kind and motivating and yet takes considerable practice and reinforcement. It’s not easy but worth it! This session will balance the research of self-compassion on body image with functional strategies of ways to infuse mental wellbeing practices at various levels throughout a dancer’s journey.

 

Cultivating Resilience and Positive Mindset

Presented by: Kimberlee Crabtree

Cultivating resilience and a positive mindset as a person and a dancer requires an understanding of how one thinks, what they believe, and how they need to function within diverse environments. Integrating the tenants of resilience education, participants will be able to define concepts of resilience; strategies for cultivating resilience in dancers; and ways to shift a negative to a more positive mindset. Key pillars in resilience education include self-awareness, strong relationships, inner motivation, flexible thinking, future focus, energy and engagement, curiosity, and creativity. Additionally, participants will learn about the diverse forms of resilience: emotional, physical, spiritual, community, and professional. Virtual tools utilized include presentation slides, breakout discussions, polls, and Q & A.

 

Social Media Ethics for Dance Well-Being

Presented by: Tori Campbell

This session explores the ethical use of social media in dance studios to support dancers' mental health. Social platforms are vital for studio growth, but they can unintentionally reinforce toxic competition, body image issues, and exclusivity. We'll discuss strategies for ensuring dancers are featured in inclusive, respectful ways, how to avoid making dancer features on social media a "reward," and methods to monitor audiences for safety and appropriateness. The session will also cover best practices for consent and content review with families, and how to avoid harmful narratives in captions and imagery. Dance educators will leave with actionable tools to make their studio’s online presence healthier and more supportive for all dancers.

 

Neuro Paths: Mindfullness, Mark Making & Motion

Presented by: Cynthia Newland

This interactive 60-minute virtual workshop invites dance educators to explore the dynamic connection between neuroplasticity, mental health, and embodied creativity. Drawing on principles of somatic integration, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness, and expressive arts, participants will engage in a guided visual art experience (mark making) followed by a movement improvisation session based on their personal reflections. Rooted in the choreographic process of the dance work "Neuro Paths," the session demonstrates how intentional thought, movement, and creativity can create new, life-affirming neural pathways. Educators will leave with practical tools to use in their teaching settings to support emotional well-being, positive reframing, and embodied resilience for themselves and their students.

 

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