Our Story
From just a single conversation...
How a conversation became Dance Sport Trust.
Dance Sport Trust did not begin as a formal project or plan.
It grew from conversations within the dance community about the pressures dancers can experience, the support sometimes needed along the way, and how our industry might better care for the people within it.
Dance Sport Trust was founded by people from within the Dance Sport community who share a commitment to dancer development, wellbeing, safeguarding awareness and long-term participation.
Each of us came to this work from a different place in our own journey through dance and life. Over time, those experiences and perspectives began to come together around a shared idea.
What follows are the individual paths that gradually led to the formation of Dance Sport Trust.
The people behind Dance Sport Trust
We include these stories and profile links so visitors can understand who is behind Dance Sport Trust, the experience each person brings, and the different paths that led us to this work.
Founding Team
Nicole Cutler
My Story
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.
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
My Story
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
My Story
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, self-worth, the nature of relationships, the shadow side of ego and fame, and the enduring value of authenticity and personal responsibility.
However, during my career, I also experienced many big "T" and little "t" traumas. In 2016 I found myself chronically ill and 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 belongings, put the rest in storage and went travelling on a spiritual quest to find deeper answers.
What followed was the start of an inner 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, nutrition, acupuncture, plant medicine, functional medicine and dance therapy. Each contributed, in different ways, to a deeper level of understanding, compassion, realignment, freedom and joy.
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 life coaching in which I use dance as one of my tools to help 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.
"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 look forward to helping the Dance Sport Trust facilitate the gathering and sharing of wisdom of lived human experience, science, psychosomatics, art, spirituality and business. 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.
Part of the Early Conversation
Tommy’s story is included as part of the early conversation from which Dance Sport Trust grew.
My Story
The death of a close colleague left me with questions that stayed with me for a long time.
Could someone have helped? Was he so private, so alone, that nothing could have changed the outcome? Was there nobody he felt he could turn to - not even within his own world of dance, a world that admired him so enormously?
On World Mental Health Day, 10th October 2025, I felt compelled to ask one simple but important question on Social media, 'As a dance community, are we doing enough to address this issue?'
The response was overwhelming. People contacted me both publicly and privately, sharing their thoughts, experiences, and support. One of those people was Nicole Cutler.
Although we had both worked in the same industry, our paths had not crossed for more than 30 years.
After several conversations, the idea was born for a public platform - a space where dancers, parents, teachers, and organisers could reach out and find simple advice and support for coping within the world of dance.
We were later joined by Kate Basile and Andrew Cuerden, whose contribution has been extraordinary.
As for me, I will be stepping back into more of an advisory role, confident that this project is in exactly the right hands - with three truly extraordinary people.
This matters deeply to me, and always will - but I know this work will continue with compassion, integrity, and strength.