Health Events and Conferences

Conferences and Networking Events 

One Dance UK’s Healthier Dancer Programme (HDP) organises and promotes events highlighting key issues in health, fitness and well-being for the dance profession and providing opportunities for discussion and debate.

Healthier Dancer Programme Online

Webinar Series 1

• Session 5: Five week jump maintenance programme with Jason Boyle
  • This 5-week Jump maintenance programme focuses on maintaining strength of lower limbs through explosive plyometric jump training. These sessions can be used as a supplementary to normal dance activity, beneficial for a wide dance population at both student and professional level. Each week we will focus on strength development through practice based jumps, culminating in a physical strength achievement challenge in week-5. This strength challenge will centre around methods of positive mental imagery and auto-suggestion techniques widely used within sport.
  • To register for this 5 week workshop, click here
    • Week 1 video
    • Week 2 video
    • Week 3 video 
    • Week 4 video and slides to prepare for Week 5

• Session 6: Sleep for Performance with Steve Peck
  • Athletes know that performance is only as good as recovery. That’s the same for anyone seeking to perform to a high standard, if we sleep well, then we can perform at our best level for years to come. Within the dance industry there are particular stressors present that impact our quantity and quality of sleep. During the course of this interactive workshop delegates will explore sleep as an emotional need and as a vital resource in how we are able to get all our needs met. Using the latest scientific breakthroughs in our understanding of sleep we can identify the changes that suit us and rehearse those changes and their success.
  • Sleep for Performance
• Session 4: Mindfulness for Dancers with Dr Lucie Clements and Dr Moitree Banerjee
  • In this session we discuss what mindfulness really is and try to unfold the power of here and now. We look at how to tailor mindfulness specifically for dancers – what can we achieve through mindfulness, what are the hindrances to mindfulness. We also address how compassion towards ourselves is essential for our wellbeing.
  • To access a recording a workshop, click here
• Session 3: Maintaining wellbeing through Nurturing Motivation during CV-19 with Dr Irina Roncaglia
  • In this workshop, Dr Roncaglia will discuss:
    1. Introduction to motivation
    2. CB Model – Implications for management in the Performing Arts
    3. What drives behaviour change
    4. Self-Determination Theory (SDT)
    5. Goal Setting
  • To access a recording of this workshop, click here
  • To access selected workshop slides, click Maintaining Wellbeing CV-19 Workshop #3 Selected Slides
• Session 2: Maintaining wellbeing through the Resilience Lenses during CV-19 with Dr Irina Roncaglia
  • • In this workshop, Dr Roncaglia discusses:
      1. Wellbeing Model
      2. Positive Emotions and their Role
      3. Defining Resilience
      4. How do we develop, nurture and maintain resilience
      5. Emotional-Regulation and Reframing
    • To access a recording of the workshop, click here
    • To access selected workshop slides, click Maintaining Wellbeing CV-19 Workshop #2 Selected Slides

• Session 1: Maintaining wellness and wellbeing through self-care during CV-19
  • In this workshop, Dr Roncaglia discusses:
    1. Wellbeing & Mental Health within Dance in CV-19
    2. Stress Model – What is it and how does it manifest
    3. The Worry Cycle– What can we do to support unhealthy responses to stress
    4. Loneliness in CV-19
    5. The Role of Social Support
    6. Tips from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
  • To access a recording of the workshop, click here
  • To access selected workshop slides, click Maintaining Wellbeing CV-19 Workshop #1 Selected Slides

Recommended online CPD

• One Dance UK’s previous Healthier Dancer Conference videos and conference proceedings (see below).
• COVID19 specific online CPD
  • Safe dance practice while at home
    • IADMS and Safe in Dance International: Safe Dance Practice in Quarantine
    • IADMS Dance Conditioning during COVID-19: Strength, power, endurance, and speed
    • IADMS Exploring the Scope of Dance Education During Covid 19
  • Dancers’ Mental Health in COVID19
    • What Next? East London: How to support creatives’ mental health
    • IADMS Performing Artists’ Mental Health and COVID 19
      • Webinar 1 – How is COVID-19 affecting us
      • Webinar 2- Why Am I Feeling This Way and What Can I Do
      • Webinar 3 – Stress and Coping
      • Webinar 4 – To Sleep, Perchance to Dream during COVID19
      • Webinar 5 – Sensitive and Resilient: Two Sides of the Same Coin
      • Webinar 6 – Re-Entry: Navigating the New Normal with COVID-19
      • Webinar 7 – Psychosocial Changes: Navigating the New Normal with COVID-19
      • COMING SOON – follow updates here
        Webinar 8 – Depression: Dark Night of the Soul
        Webinar 9 – Loss and Grief
    • Minding the Gap Dancer Mental Health Town Hall
      • #1: on perfect in the time of COVID-19
      • #2: if COVID-19 means it’s over without closure 
      • #3: on food and body image during the COVID-19 crisis
• Dance Knowledge: Online, on-demand CPD courses made for dance teachers
• Youth Protection Advocates in Dance: includes training for dance teachers on topics including sexual abuse awareness, social media, media safety, artistic elements that are developmentally appropriate, body image, and bullying/conflict resolution
• Safe in Dance International: Certificates for dance students, dancers, dance teachers and leaders are devised and structured so that you can evidence your healthy dance knowledge in a variety of ways. Each one asks you to evidence your understanding of the SiDI Core Principles ©
• The Harkness Center for Dance Injuries offers both a Digital CME/CEU Certificate Course and live CEU courses as part of its Principles of Dance Medicine curricula
• NSPCC Child Protection in sport course
• Dance Knowledge: Dance Knowledge was formed to connect the dance profession with the wealth of knowledge that is now available to help dancers improve their training. Over the past decades research and academic studies in dance have been building. Dance is becoming ever competitive and the need for new approaches that expedite dance training is ever important. At Dance Knowledge we make the connection between research and practice. We translate research into easy to understand formats that can be viewed at any time and taken straight to the studio with online, on demand CPD courses made for dance teachers.
• British Association of Sport and Exercise Science (BASES) and Human Kinetics webinar series: These online webinars address a variety of topics relating to sports, fitness, nutrition, coaching, training, physical education and more. These live web-based presentations are conducted by BASES members who are leading minds in their respective areas of expertise. By watching a BASES webinar members will also attain 2 BASES credits. (you will need to sign up to Human Kinetics website, but well worth it!)
•  International Association of Dance Medicine and Science videos: Featuring full sessions from the Annual Meeting of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science (IADMS).For more information about upcoming conferences, visit: www.iadms.org
•  DanceWell Podcast: Dedicated to exploring 360-degrees of health and wellness for dancers. We believe that health and wellness isn’t just about physical well-being, but encompasses the whole self. From this belief, we bring you bi-monthly episodes in which we talk with all sorts of practitioners including: dietitians, body-workers, medical doctors, athletic trainers, physical therapists, conditioning experts, psychologists and more. We hope these conversations bring you enhanced understanding of health and wellness to support fulfilling experiences in dance!

PREVIOUS EVENTS since 1990…

Session lead by Dr Benjamin Rosenblatt at HDP Strength and Conditioning Conference, 2015. Photo by Erin Brown-John.

Previous Healthier Dancer Programme conferences:

One Dance UK

• 23 and 24 November 2018 – One Dance UK’s annual conference season ‘Leading the way – a stronger future for dance’ hosted in Leeds, including Northern Ballet and Yorkshire Dance, and at Leeds Beckett University featuring sessions on Leading the Way in Dance Healthcare Management – the Science Behind the Arts, Addressing Barriers to Mental Health in Training and Performance, and The Art of Scheduling in Dance Training and Performance.
• 11 March 2018 – Preparing to Fly: a day on safe practice for aerial artists presented by One Dance UK and All or Nothing Aerial Dance Theatre and Hosted by Dance Base, Edinburgh
• 13 and 14 January 2018 – Dissecting Aerial a 2-Day Healthier Aerial/Dance Symposium presented by Gravity and Levity in partnership with One Dance UK and The Point Eastleigh
• 26 November 2017 – Healthier Dancer Programme Conference as part of One Dance UK’s Conference Season, Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance, London
• 26 May 2017 – A Healthier Dancer Day on The Adolescent Dancer, IADMS Regional Meeting, DanceEast, Ipswich
• 11 May 2017 – Mind the Gap: Train Smart, Improve Performance Stratford Circus Arts Centre, London
• 25 November 2016 – Collaborative Forum Stratford Circus Arts Centre, London

Dance UK (became One Dance UK in April 2016)

• October 2015 – Strength and Conditioning in Dance: Power, Performance, and Rehabilitation, Elmhurst Ballet School, Birmingham
• April 2015 – Dance UK’s Industry Wide Conference: The Future: New Ideas, New Inspirations
• April 2014 – Aesthetic Athletes and Dancers: Training and Optimising Performance, Royal Society of Medicine, London
• November 2013 – Beyond the Body: Dance UK Psychology Conference, Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham
• April 2012 – Nutrition and Disordered Eating in Dance: Artistry, athleticism and the role of the multidisciplinary support team, Royal Society of Medicine, London
• April 2011 – From Injury to Performance: Lessons to Share in Dance and Sports, Royal Society of Medicine, London
• April 2009 – Dance Medicine: The Female Athlete Triad and Hypermobility, Royal Society of Medicine, London
• October 2000 – Moving Matters (The second Healthier Dancer Conference) Royal Opera House, London
• September 1993 – Training Tomorrow’s Professional Dancers, Arts Educational Schools, London
• September 1990 – The Healthier Dancer (The first Healthier Dancer Conference) Royal Opera House, London

Videos, programmes, reports, and abstracts from many of these conferences are available via the links above or on our resources pages.

Also available in ‘resources’ are informative reports of other dance medicine and science conferences that have taken place around the world over the years.

Previous Healthier Dancer Programme networking events:

• 3 March 2019 – Dancers’ Health Networking Event: Our bi-annual networking event held CloudM, CitizenM Tower of London Hotel and including key discussions and opportunities to be a part of strategic planning for the future of dancers’ health – working together to reach shared goals.
• 23 September 2018 – Dancers’ Health Networking Event: Our bi-annual networking event held at the Hospital Club featuring speakers Dr Jessica Eccles: Hypermobility and the brain: Implications for practice, and Dr Nicky Keay: RED-S and dancers.
• 27 May 2018 – Dancers’ Health Networking Event: Our bi-annual networking event at CloudM, CitizenM Tower of London Hotel featuring Dr Siobhan Mitchell: Maturity timing in dance and Gary Carter: What is fascia and what is its importance when treating dancers?
• 7 September 2017 – Dancers’ Health Networking Event: Our bi-annual networking event held at The Royal Opera House, London and featuring presentations from Greg Retter, Clinical Director, The Royal Ballet and Helen Laws, Head of the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science (NIDMS)
• 19 February 2017 – First annual Dancers’ Health Networking Event with One Dance UK and National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science (NIDMS) held at The Hospital Club, Covent Garden.