Body image is often discussed in relation to appearance, yet it encompasses much more than how individuals look. It influences how dancers think, feel, and experience their bodies, affecting confidence, psychological wellbeing, relationships with food and exercise, engagement in training, recovery from injury, and long-term participation in dance.

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The conference will explore current research, lived experience and inspiring professional practice relating to body image across dance settings. Through keynote presentations, panel discussions and practical breakout sessions, delegates will examine the factors that shape body image in dance and consider how supportive environments can be developed within training, education and professional practice.

 

Sessions will address a range of topics including the psychology of body image, Relative Energy Deficiency in Dance (RED-D), growth and maturation, nutrition and fuelling, injury and recovery, and the role of leadership in shaping healthy dance cultures. Contributors from healthcare, education, research and the dance profession will share evidence-informed approaches and practical strategies that can be applied across a variety of dance contexts.

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The conference will also provide opportunities for networking and collaboration through interactive resource and discussion spaces. Delegates will be encouraged to share examples of good practice, engage with current research, and identify actions that can be implemented within their own organisations and communities.

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Body Perspectives builds upon the fundamental understanding that wellbeing and performance are intrinsically connected. By bringing together diverse perspectives from research, healthcare, education and lived experience, the conference aims to support informed discussion and contribute to the development of healthier body image cultures in dance by challenging unrealistic expectations and ideals, centring connection and community over comparison, and creating action to improve environments, attitudes, and support. 

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The conference is relevant to dance artists, students, teachers, studio owners, artistic directors, healthcare professionals, researchers and anyone with an interest in supporting dancer health and wellbeing.

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Our vision is to promote cultures in dance that value individuality, celebrate movement and creativity over appearance, and support healthy relationships with food and their bodies. We believe that all dancers should be able to participate, develop and thrive within environments where there are realistic and healthy expectations of dancers, bodies, and body image.

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To receive further information about the conference or to find out more about the work of the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science, please contact us.

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Conference Agenda

 

09:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Arrival and networking

 

 

10:00 AM - 10:15 AM

Welcome and Setting the Scene

Erin Sanchez, Mhairi Keil

 

 

10:15 AM - 10:45 AM

Coming Back Home: Reembodying Oneself in the Dance World

David Donnelly

A professional dancer's lived experience navigating disordered eating in vocational school and early on in his professional career. Discussing causation, the visceral and emotional experience of relative energy deficiency, and tools used to find a path toward a healthy relationship with body image and food.

 

10:45 AM - 11:30 AM

What Do We Hear: Body Image Across Dance Styles

Romy Ashmore-Hills

Hungry 2 Move is a social enterprise helping improve young people’s body image. Last year we spoke to 339 young dancers over 8 dance styles, in 18 creative workshops, exploring the relationship between dance training and body image through the eyes of young people. They shared their experiences through poetry,creative writing, collage and drawing, spanning community groups, GCSE, A-level, university, and vocational training. This session shares the key findings, including how pressure around comparison, perfectionism and appearance intensifies in more intensive training environments. Poetry and film bring dancers' own voices into the room. We also ask whose bodies are welcomed and represented in the dance studio and whose aren’t. 

 

 

11:30 AM - 12:00 PM

BREAK

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Concurrent sessions - CHOOSE TWO

Concurrent sessions will run from 12:00-12:45, and repeat from 12:55-1:40

 

12:00 PM - 01:40 PM

Session 1: The Psychology of Body Image

Hannah Stoyel, PhD, HCPC, CPsychol

Please note: this session will be an online recording accessible to all attendees following the conference. There will be no live session at the conference.

Dr Hannah Stoyel is Performance Psychologist at English National Ballet, where she is embedded within the company to support dancers' wellbeing and performance. Her work spans one-to-one support for dancers, mental health screening and onward referral pathways, and education on topics such as performance anxiety. She also works closely with ENB's physiotherapy, dietetics, and medical teams to support dancers. Hannah is an HCPC-registered Sport and Exercise Psychologist, a Chartered member of the British Psychological Society, and Founder and Director of Optimise Potential, a performance psychology consultancy. Alongside her work in dance, she supports athletes at the highest level of sport, including British Diving (with UKSI) and Aquatics GB's Artistic Swimming programmes, the professional cycling team Soudal Quick-Step & AG Insurance, and Premier League football. She holds a PhD in Clinical Sport Psychology from University College London, where her research focused on disordered eating and eating disorders in athletes, an area of particular relevance to aesthetic performers such as dancers.

 

 

12:00 PM - 01:40 PM

Session 2: Understanding REDs in dancers: Why it matters, and what we can do

Karen Sheriff

Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) is a syndrome of impaired physiological and psychological functioning caused by exposure to problematic low energy availability. Dancers may be particularly vulnerable due to the physical demands of training combined with aesthetic expectations, body image pressures and wider cultural factors within dance. This session will introduce REDs in the context of dance: what it is, why it matters, and how it can affect both dancer health and performance. We will explore key risk factors and signs, while considering how traditional ideals around the dancer body and expectations within dance environments may contribute to risk, delay recognition, or make it harder for dancers to seek support. Alongside current evidence, dancer Eva Maria Sumner will share their lived experience of REDs, bringing the realities behind the research into the room. The session will consider how we can move beyond simply raising awareness towards creating environments where dancers are appropriately fuelled, supported and able to thrive, challenging the idea that compromising health is an inevitable part of pursuing excellence in dance. 

 

 

12:00 PM - 01:40 PM

Session 3: Growing Up in Dance: Considerations for body image

Dr Siobhan Mitchell

The session will examine how puberty and adolescent development intersect with the unique demands and cultures of dance settings, highlighting what current research tells us about body image, maturation, wellbeing and participation. Drawing on qualitative research with dance teachers and young dancers, alongside insights from the Growing up in Dance (GuiDANCE) project and network, the presentation will explore how maturity timing, changing bodies and dance training environments can shape young people’s experiences.

 

12:00 PM - 01:40 PM

Session 4: Body Image, Injury and the Professional Dancer

Jonny Bucke

Dancers can view pain and body dissatisfaction as normal parts of their art. This can create a risky cycle where negative body image drives overtraining, and physical injury triggers poor mental health. This session explores the complex interaction between psychological well-being and physical health in professional dance. Jonny will share research on training load & injury in dance and how body image may contribute to this. Attendees will gain an understanding of the strategies a professional ballet company uses to manage these issues, learn some practical tools to spot early warning signs of Relative Energy Deficiency in Dance and hear about lessons learnt from Jonny in this space.

 

12:00 PM - 01:40 PM

Session 5: Nourishing the Dancer: The Impact of Body Image on Food & Fuelling

Mhairi Keil

Body image plays a powerful role in shaping a dancer's relationship with food, influencing what, when, and how much they eat. A dancer's ability to apply nutrition knowledge is often influenced by the balance they feel between pursuing performance and managing the pressures associated with appearance and perceived body ideals. For some dancers, challenges around fuelling stem from uncertainty about what their body needs to support training, recovery and performance. For others, the picture is more complex. Pressures to look a certain way, comments that connect success to weight or body shape, and environments that place value on appearance all contribute to unhelpful relationships with food. The consequences can extend far beyond nutrition. Under-fuelling, low energy availability disordered eating and eating disorders can influence health, wellbeing, injury risk, recovery, performance, career longevity and quality of life. Yet these outcomes rarely arise from a single factor.

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12:00 PM - 01:40 PM

Session 6: Your Body. Your Dance. One dancer’s journey from body image culture to The Body Project: Dancers

Zoë Harwood, Dr Kerry John Rees CPsychol

What does it mean to grow up in a culture where your body is not only your instrument, but also part of the art being judged? Drawing on her experiences as a dancer, dance school principal and eating disorder coach practitioner, Zoë Harwood explores the messages about body image that can become embedded in dance culture, their impact on dancers’ relationships with their bodies, and the possibility of doing things differently. Tracing her journey from creating a body-appreciation dance school to developing The Body Project: Dancers adaptation at the University of Gloucestershire, Zoë invites us to reflect on bodily autonomy, the environments we create, and how we can help dancers feel that their bodies belong to them. Dr Kerry Rees follows on sharing more about The Body Project, why it’s needed, and it’s success to date.

 

 

01:40 PM - 02:30 PM

LUNCH

 

 

02:30 PM - 03:30 PM

Shaping Dance Culture: Perspectives from Practitioners and Leaders

This panel will bring together perspectives on body image from across the dance ecology. Panellists Sharon Watson MBE DL, Shriya Sharma, Ruth Anna Phillips, MJ McGibbon, Iain Mackay, and David Donnelly will be invited to share their experiences and views on how body image affects participation, wellbeing, performance, health and culture in dance, and what we can do to support healthier dance environments and experiences.

 

03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

Leading Change: Building Supportive Dance Environments and Healthy Dancers

After a day of research, lived experience and honest conversation, this closing session turns insight into action. It's an upbeat, practical and encouraging look at what change can look like, whatever your role, and how to start from where you have the agency, confidence and scope to make a difference. Alongside the speaker's own perspective, you'll hear from organisations already putting positive change into practice, with real examples of what's possible across the dance sector. You'll leave energised, with ideas you can take straight back to your studio, school, company or practice.

 

04:30 PM - 05:00 PM

Networking

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