Experts Talk Mental Health: Four Therapists Sound Off

When Dance Magazine surveyed our readers last summer, 81 percent said the field wasn’t doing enough to support mental health. We sat down with four mental health professionals, each with more than a decade of experience working with dancers, to find out their thoughts on how mental health is being addressed in the dance community […]

What to Do If You Think a Fellow Dancer Is Having a Mental Health Crisis

When it comes to mental health, dancers are the ones on the frontlines trying to support each other. Many find themselves routinely confronted with concerns for their friends. Maybe it’s the dancer down the barre who you know is cutting, or the partner who only speaks about himself with disparagement and disgust. According to Dr. […]

How Can We Chip Away at the Shame Surrounding Mental Illness?

As a dancer going through a mental health challenge, loneliness can feel like your only companion. Pacific Northwest Ballet soloist Steven Loch has managed obsessive-compulsive disorder since middle school, and for nearly a decade felt too scared to speak up. “We feel like if we say something people will be horrified by some of the […]