People Dancing

In the rush of everyday life, wellbeing is often the first thing we put on hold. This one-day programme, led by three incredible practitioners, offers a compassionate, body-aware journey into wellbeing, self-care and the care of others. You will be expertly guided to explore how we relate to our minds, bodies, and identities when health, injury, pain, or neurodivergence shape our experience.

Delivered by Dancers’ Career Development & One Dance UK, this event is supportive and empowering - helping you feel more balanced, resilient, and reconnected to yourself. Open to all, this is an invitation to be curious about your sensing, knowing body. The day will end with a panel discussion and the opportunity to learn more about Dancers’ Career Development, One Dance UK and the ways in which they can assist you to build a sustainable dance career.

Please note, some of the content is informed by the speakers' lived experience and will include personal accounts of coping with mental health challenges (anxiety, PTSD), autism and pain management. Workshop timing: 10.00am-5.30pm.

By attending this workshop, you will:

• Discover the hidden psychological impact of injury, long-term conditions or illness, and how it shapes recovery
• Master practical strategies that support your own wellbeing and help those around you
• Gain insight into the application of movement practices to support self-care for dancers who are neurodivergent and/or living with chronic pain
• Explore strategies for working with neurodivergent and/or injured dancers to support sensory integration and pain moderation
• Gain deeper understanding of autism, particularly sensory differences, stimming, and pain perception, in the context of dance and performance
• Emerge with a clearer sense of what Somatic Experiencing can help with.

What level of experience is this workshop aimed at?

This event is open to be people at all stages in their career, from recent graduates to established practitioners. It will be of particular interest to dancers (and those supporting dancers) who have lived experience of chronic pain, and / or diagnosed as neurodivergent.

One Day Price: £35

The reduced price for this workshop is made possible with additional financial support from Dancers’ Career Development and One Dance UK.

How to Apply

1. Click the button below, choose the Dancers' Career Development & One Dance UK workshop
2. Complete the online application form including the £35 payment
3. Our Programme Team will read your application and will be in touch with you within 7 working days to confirm your place.

> Apply here

The Psychological Impact of Injury and Illness: Supporting yourself and others

In this session, with Dr Carl Bescoby - The Injury Psychologist, we’ll explore what happens to your mind and sense of self when your body doesn’t work the way it used to. Whether it’s a sudden injury, a long-term condition, or a period of illness, these experiences can shake your confidence, make you question who you are, and change the way you relate to your body.

We’ll talk about why these feelings are normal, how they affect your identity, and how to recognise the patterns that might make you feel stuck, anxious, or disconnected from yourself. Most importantly, you’ll leave with practical ideas for supporting yourself and others in a kind, realistic way, without forcing positivity or pushing too hard.

By the end of the session, you’ll have a clearer understanding of the psychological impact of health setbacks and simple, actionable ways to rebuild trust in yourself and your body.

Image credit: Dr Carl Bescoby, The Injury Psychologist.

The Body Speaks (through the lens of Somatic Experiencing)

Mark Kelly is an experienced trauma therapist and former ballet dancer with 20+ years’ experience.

In this session, we will explore Somatic Experiencing, in an experiential and playful way. We will discover how the body can move towards health and resilience, through cultivating attention to the body and sensations.

Mark will discuss Somatic Experiencing principles and guide you through some simple somatic practices. There will be time for questions and sharing throughout, as Mark creates a space for shared wisdom.

Image credit: Mark Kelly.

Moving Better: Managing chronic pain and autistic sensory regulation through movement

This session, with Victoria Gray, will give insight into the experience of being autistic, and living with chronic pain, as a dancer.

This session takes an autoethnographic, creative and practice-led approach. In addition to drawing on current research in the fields of somatics and neurodiversity, it will share first-person experiences of being an autistic dancer living with pain, as well as visual examples of Victoria’s performance practice: in particular her solo works ‘Ballast’ (2016) and ‘Welter’ (2022).

Through this embodied approach, Victoria hopes to flesh out the ways in which theories of pain, pain management, somatics, autism and neurodivergence have been applied physically over two decades of her movement practice and daily life.

Attendees will leave with a more nuanced understanding of the differences in pain perception and management for autistic dancers, as well as the importance of sensory integration for this population. Victoria will share practical strategies and simple interventions that dancers, choreographers, teachers, as well as professionals working therapeutically with dancers, can add to their toolkit.

Image credit: Victoria Gray.

Further information

• www.thedcd.org.uk
• www.onedanceuk.org

Return to People Dancing's Summer Programme main page and to book other workshops