Breathe Dance was born from a desire to create welcoming spaces where people feel free to move, express themselves, and connect with their creativity, their bodies, their communities, and something beyond.

Katy has loved moving to music since she was a young child. Enjoying nothing more than rolling around her living room floor to her Madonna records. However once she left the safety of that space and entered more formal dance environments, she often walked away feeling like she “should be better” or “wasn’t good enough.”

Her love of moving and drive to create more inclusive enjoyable and expressive dance spaces led her to study dance at university. There, she rediscovered her confidence and love for contemporary dance, contact improvisation, choreography, African dance and community dance. In 2003, she began working as a dance artist with Norfolk Dance, bringing the joy of movement to a wide range of communities. She saw first-hand how dance helped people express themselves, bring joy and connect communities.

In 2015 alongside community dance work she began working for Norwich Mind as part of the Norfolk & Suffolk Wellbeing Foundation Trust, running mental health courses and social events for young people. During this time, Katy gained valuable insight into traditional treatment approaches. She often felt that many modalities focused primarily on managing symptoms, rather than supporting people to reconnect with their creative, embodied selves. In response to what she was noticing, she launched her first dance-for-wellbeing group in 2017 . The creation of this group led Katy to work in spaces that required greater understanding and depth which lead her to study for an MA in Dance Movement Psychotherapy.

Since qualifying, Katy has developed her dance-for-wellbeing work into Breathe Dance — a unique hybrid of community dance and Dance Movement Psychotherapy principles. Katy runs Breathe Dance groups, workshops and professional training, alongside her private practice in Dance Movement Psychotherapy (established in 2023).

The Heart of Breathe Dance

Breathe Dance groups and workshops offer a space where:

• The joy and feeling of movement come before technique or aesthetics

• Dance is accessible and belongs to everybody

• Connection, community and belonging are gently nurtured

• Movement is therapeutic and healing — without being psychotherapy

• People can reconnect with their creativity, curiosity and vitality

As well as regular groups, Katy also offers workshops and professional training under the Breathe Dance model, supporting others to lead creative and therapeutic movement spaces with confidence and care.

Qualifications & Professional Membership

• MA in Dance Movement Psychotherapy (2020) from university of Derby

• BA in Dance with drama (2002) from university of Winchester

• Registered Member of Association of Dance and Movement Psychotherapy

• Member of People Dancing

• Enhanced DBS

• Fully insured practitioner

• Further training includes, Mindfulness SandStory, Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment , Integrative attachment family therapy, Authentic Movement and The Body Mind Approach.