Self-Compassion in Dance and Performing Arts Conference:
Keynote Speakers
Sanna Nordin-Bates, PhD.
Professor, Department of Health Sciences, Section for Psychology
The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences
Dr. Nordin-Bates focuses on dance environments, autonomy, healthy motivation, and perfectionism. She has long‑standing collaborations with the Swedish Royal Ballet School, serves on the steering group for professional dancer education at Balettakademien, and is a member of the advisory board on dancer education within the Department of Education. She also teaches on perfectionism and mental training in the Master of Applied Sciences in Dance Sciences at the University of Bern.
In 2026–2027, she works with the Royal Ballet on the project Coaching Ballet Dancers for the 21st Century: Autonomy and Self-Regulation in a Changing Culture. Her research has addressed topics such as imagery as a mental and creative tool in dance, talent development and early specialization, eating‑disorder risk factors in dance, and creativity. In 2023, she published Essentials of Dance Psychology with Human Kinetics.
Amber D. Mosewich, PhD.
Associate Professor, Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation
University of Alberta, Canada
Dr. Mosewich’s research interests focus on the examination of stress, coping, emotion, and resultant cognitive and behavioural responses within the sport domain. The sport context can present many challenges, and ensuring that athletes have the skills and resources to effectively manage different issues in sport is essential to promote adaptive responses to stress and emotion and foster successful sport experiences that are also positive and healthy.
One area of particular interest for Dr. Mosewich surrounds self-compassion as a potential coping resource for athletes. The premise is that promoting self-compassionate frames of mind might promote acceptance, acknowledgement, and accurate evaluation of sport situations, and attenuate ruminative or avoidant approaches, better allowing an athlete to move forward in pursuit of their goals and highest possible level of performance.
Courtney Walton, PhD.
Senior Lecturer, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences
University of Melbourne, Australia
His research focuses on mental health in performance‑based contexts, with particular emphasis on self‑compassion and compassion‑focused approaches. He began his academic career with a PhD at the Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, examining cognitive–motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease, followed by a Master of Psychology (Sport & Exercise) at the University of Queensland, where he developed a strong research interest in self‑compassion and mental health in performance settings.
His subsequent work has explored self‑compassion, psychological safety, and mental health within elite sport and other high‑performance environments. He currently holds fellowships at the University of Melbourne, where his research extends across elite and youth sport, the performing arts, and academia, alongside teaching and practicing as a psychologist.