This blog post is written on behalf of the Dance Educators’ Committee:

Each year the Dance Educators’ Committee celebrates the dedicated work of dance educators across the globe with the presentation of the Dance Educator’s Award, presented to the winner at the annual conference. With a wealth of expertise in this area, the panel are overwhelmed by the number and quality of nominations each year and this year was no exception.

The Dance Educators’ Committee was pleased to announce this years’ winner: Sanna Nordin-Bates.

Sanna is associate professor at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences in Stockholm and is renowned for her extensive research and practical engagement in in dance and sport psychology. If you have read about dance psychology it is likely you have come across Sanna’s work. Since commencing work in dance and sports over 25 years ago, Sanna is now ‘passionate about the idea that promoting health and well-being is to promote performance, because only healthy dancers can perform at their peak for any length of time, and without unfortunate side effects.’

In recent years, Sanna has sought to engage in different ways of disseminating her research findings, through short blogs, podcasts and real world connections. In 2022 Sanna published “Essentials of Dance Psychology” with Human Kinetics, a textbook that explores how and why dancers behave as they do and how we can create healthy, safe dance environments for dancers to thrive in.

Through Sanna’s work over the past 25 years we have come to understand more about the nuances in dance psychology, in the studio, on the stage and in the world. As educators we know more about the environments we create and hold for dancers to learn and develop in and this can only help to create a happier, healthier future for dancers.