Dancer's psychotherapist and workshop presenter. Winner of the One Dance UK Dancers' Healthcare Practitioner Award
Gelsey Kirkland: ballet legend and author of the astoundingly honest autobiography Dancing on My Grave. "Her consuming drive for perfection started early and led to pitiful and dangerous attempts to remake herself physically. The autobiography aims to serve as an indictment of ballet training (specifically at the School of American Ballet), of the Balanchine lexicon and of the way in which dancers' drug addiction has been handled by their companies. The training issue is a difficult one. Children who want to dance must make a commitment early in their lives that many adults would not be prepared to make. For some troubled children, ballet offers reassuring discipline. For others, like Miss Kirkland, the kind of competitive vocational training offered by the School of American Ballet exacerbates emotional problems, though it is unlikely that any of Miss Kirkland's classmates stretch themselves on home-made racks as she did. Miss Kirkland offers no solutions, but it is interesting that the thought of counseling doesn't seem to have occurred even to her sensitive-sounding mother." #mentalhealth #performingarts #help4dancers #theatre #dancers #danceschool #mentalhealthawareness #performers #balletdance #contemporarydance #tapdance #latindance #ballroomdance #hiphopdance #musicaltheatre #triplethreat #auditions #casting #castingcall #openaudition #dancehealth #dancescience #healthydance #dancetips #dancetutorial #perfectionism #balanchine #terryhyde #counsellingfordancers #gelseykirkland