Dance Sport Trust
Our Story
How the Dance Sport Trust began.
The Dance Sport Trust did not begin as a formal project or plan.
It grew from conversations within the dance community, conversations about the pressures dancers experience, the support sometimes needed along the way, and how our industry might better care for the people within it.
Each of us arrived at this idea from a different place in our own journeys through dance and life.
What follows are the individual paths that gradually came together to form the Dance Sport Trust.
Nicole Cutler
Little did I know that three simple words would lead to a conversation, an idea, a development, and eventually the formation of the Dance Sport Trust.
In October 2025, another tragic event became public within our industry that prompted renewed discussion around mental health. During that time, Tommy Shaughnessy shared a social media post which read:
“Mental health in the dance community - should the organisations and federations address the issue more openly?”
I left a public comment beneath it.
“One word. Yes.”
Those three words were simple. But once written, they mattered to me. I could not write them and then step away.
That comment led to a personal conversation with Tommy. It was one of several early discussions. What began as agreement gradually became exploration. If we both felt something needed addressing, then perhaps we could be part of beginning it.
The idea did not arrive fully formed. It began as a small recognition. A seed.
The question was not whether individuals within our industry care. Many do. Nor was it about presenting DanceSport as a crisis environment. Instead, it was about asking whether we had ever created an independent, sector-specific framework that focused on wellbeing across the whole ecosystem.
Wellness is broader than mental health alone. It includes physical health, the environments we train and work within, access to reliable information, informed guidance, shared experience, and research interpreted in a way that is relevant to our sector. It is about equipping people with tools before they find themselves in difficulty.
It is not only about responding at crisis point. It is about strengthening a community before that point is reached.
This is where my part began. But ideas rarely grow in isolation, and so Kate and Andrew’s stories follow.
Kate Basile
Was becoming a trustee of the Dance Sport Trust part of my life plan? Not exactly.
Do I believe in fate? Maybe.
I have been part of the Dance Sport world for as long as I can remember. I started dancing at seven years old and quickly fell in love with the industry that would shape so much of my life.
Over the years I have competed and performed internationally, and have worked in dance studios across the U.K., Australia and the United States. Today, I’m fortunate to run my own dance studio with my wonderful husband, who I met whilst performing in the world renowned stage show Burn the Floor.
Alongside my practical experience in dance, I’ve always been deeply interested in the science of performance and wellbeing. I hold degrees in Sports Science and Psychology, as well as diplomas in Performance Coaching. Understanding how people perform, grow, and cope under pressure has been a passion that runs parallel to my dance career.
Why? Because I struggled.
In the summer of 2025 I connected with Nicole, and a few months later she reached out with an initiative that truly blew me away. I remember feeling both inspired and uncertain at the same time. If I’m being honest, my first reaction was self-doubt, wondering if I was really the right person to be involved.
But that moment of doubt also made something very clear to me: I cared. I cared deeply about the people in our industry, about the pressures dancers face, and about creating a space where wellbeing is part of the conversation. That’s why I said yes.
Being part of the Dance Sport Trust means contributing to something extremely important: supporting dancers, raising awareness, and helping to build a healthier, more supportive future specifically for our Dance Sport community.
Andrew Cuerden
Life is quite magical when you step back far enough to see the patterns within it.
I have long believed that life itself is a dance with creation. We are the dance, the dancers, and the choreographers of our own lives, simultaneously following universal rhythms, patterns and programmes, and leading our own unique journeys.
The art of living is about being present and honest enough to maintain alignment, integrity, balance and harmony within this dance. And remembering that no matter what storm you may find yourself in, you remain the captain of your own ship.
Dance has been my greatest love, teacher and adversary. The medium through which I have come to know, love and express myself more deeply. For this reason, I continue to devote my life to dance and to the evolution of both self and others, whether in an artistic, therapeutic or sporting arena.
Helping people to dance and live in ways that honour both themselves and others. so that they may become people of true value, regardless of outward results or titles.
My relatively successful thirty-year career in international competitive dancing and a season of being a professional partner on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, taught me many lessons about life: mental, physical and emotional discipline; focus and resilience; verbal and non-verbal communication; self-belief; the nature of relationships; the shadow side of ego and fame; and the enduring value of authenticity and personal responsibility.
During my career I also experienced many big "T" and little "t" traumas and in 2016 I found myself chronically ill, clinically depressed and coming to the realisation that if I didn’t do something drastic, I was not going to make it. To cut a long story short, I got rid of most of my belongs, put the rest in storage and went travelling on a spiritual quest to find deeper answers.
What followed was the beginning of what has now been a ten-year journey of self-discovery and healing. Along the way I explored a wide range of therapeutic and wellbeing modalities including psychotherapy, coaching, yoga, breathwork, meditation, veganism, acupuncture, plant medicine, functional medicine and dance therapy. Each contributed, in different ways, to a deeper level of mental, emotional and physical awareness, detoxification and realignment.
In simple terms, I learned to acknowledge, understand and gradually transform and integrate my ego. That had become a heavy, armoured and critical persona, unconsciously cultivated within the culture of competitive dancing in order to survive and “win”.
This healing journey also synchronistically led me to meet my life partner Carmen, an integrative psychotherapeutic counsellor. Together we run Soulhub; a wellbeing consultancy and community devoted to bridging worlds, integrating diversity into unity, and supporting the evolution of human and planetary wellbeing
My private practice now focuses on Therapeutic Dance and Life coaching, helping people to know, love and express themselves more fully so that they may find greater harmony within the dance of life.
In recent years I have found myself grieving not only the absence of my own dancing, and aspects of the competitive dance world that I still believe are profoundly beautiful and admirable, but also the loss of dear dancing friends who felt they had no other choice but to end their lives. Their loss left me with a deep sense of sadness and helplessness, alongside a growing desire to contribute in some meaningful way, even though at the time I did not yet know what form that contribution might take.
I had seen Nicole and Kate share posts on social media that resonated deeply with me, so I reached out and spoke with Nicole. From the very beginning it was clear that we shared a strong sense of purpose in wanting to create something of genuine value to support dancers.
In many ways, it feels as though life has brought me full circle. With the benefit of my experiences and skills, I now hope to help the Dance Sport Trust by facilitating the gathering and sharing of wisdom of lived human experience, science, psychology, art and spirituality. To form an integrative hub of educational, inspirational and empowering resources that fundamentally supports the personal and collective wellbeing of the entire Ballroom and Latin dance community.