Dancing with Cancer

Exploring how dance and movement may support the Social, Thinking, Emotional and Physical experience of living with and beyond cancer.

Created by Dr Peter Lovatt (Doctor Dance) and Lindsey Lovatt.

[Peter] As someone who is now living with stage 4 cancer, and being a retired University academic who studied the Psychology of Dance, I'm fascinated by both the research and the practice of dancing with cancer.

What is Dancing with Cancer?

Dancing with Cancer is an evolving body of work that integrates:

Dance, Psychology, Occupational Therapy, Neuroscience, and Oncology-informed movement

It exists at the intersection of lived experience and scientific inquiry.

It is a framework for understanding how dance and movement may support:

Social connection

Thinking and Problem-solving

Emotional regulation

Our Physical body

Built around the STEP Framework.

Lindsey is an Occupational Therapist, whose professional training explores how meaningful activities can be used to enhance people's lives. Together, we created the STEP Framework, which forms the foundation for our applied work, where we use dance as a meaningful activity.

Cancer Changes the Body & the Mind

Cancer can alter sensation, balance, cognition, energy, mood and identity.

Medical treatments tend to address the physical disease.

Dancing with Cancer explores how movement may support physical and psychological adaptation.

It brings together:

Academic research

Careful interpretation of evidence

Structured movement practice

Lived experience

I'm fortunate to have a brilliant medical team at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH). Since my first cancer diagnosis in 2021 the team at NNUH have looked after my body beautifully. What I found really difficult was the psychological change that happened. The anxiety, the catastrophising, the change to relationships, and my ability to regulate emotion. Dancing became my go-to method to keep my head in order - it helped me to cry, it helped to clear my head of frightening thoughts, and it helped me connect with Lindsey when we didn't know what to say.

Research & Insights

Understanding the science of Dance & Cancer Psychology.

In this section you will find:

Interpretations of recent scientific studies

Critical reflections on methodology

Explorations of neuroplasticity, fatigue, cognition and balance

Conceptual models linking movement and lived experience

A couple of years ago I attended a conference on dance and cancer. One of the speakers said, rather triumphantly, that as there were about 38 published research papers on the subject we could be certain that dance would be a reliable therapeutic intervention for people with cancer. I was skeptical. I didn't believe that the evidence warranted such confidence. When you look at the published research carefully, you notice that the picture is a lot more subtle and nuanced. Yes, it is the case that some forms of dance and movement can lead to significant improvements in some of the symptoms experienced by some people with some types of cancer, but dance is not a magical silver bullet. I was inspired by this conference speaker to get to know the literature and report it in a more objective way.

The Dancing with Cancer Programme

A structured online movement journey built around four dances:

Social — The Tap & Wiggle Line Dance

Thinking — The Leo

Emotion — The (F) Cancer Haka

Physical — Ballet & Breathe

Each section integrates:

• Dance instruction

• Psychology explained clearly

• Evidence summaries

• Reflective application

Lindsey and I created the Dancing with Cancer programme to give people the opportunity to dance and engage with the psychology of cancer. We have created a programme which invites people to use the dances in different ways and encourages personal reflection.