Dr. Jennifer Bolt started dancing at a very young age, in an environment where autocratic teaching methods were the norm. Dancers were to be seen and not heard. This resulted in debilitating perfectionism and other unhealthy thinking. One day while attending a high-performance dance camp she stumbled across a group of skiers and saw first-hand what coaching for well-being, and a positive learning experience could look like. This set her on a quest to find a better way to train and create an optimal learning environment for dancers and other athletes.

Dr. Bolt joins SeeWhatSheCanDo Conversations to share the teaching framework and holistic strategies she designed based on her doctoral research to support dancers through life’s most challenging transitions. Dr. Bolt explains how airplanes hitting the World Trade Centre during 9/11 had a big impact on the mental health of her first-year ballet students and illuminated why managing transitions and uncontrollable circumstances is critical for overall health and learning. She shares the practical things we can do today to help us all embrace our new realities and get through the ever-changing transitions caused by COVID-19 and life in general.

Dr. Bolt explains her approach to supporting the whole student through the pandemic while teaching at York University, Toronto. She talks about applying her PRIMEDTM for Life framework and the amazing student success, resilience, and growth she has seen throughout this crisis. Dr. Bolt opens up about her life theme song and what she does to fill her own cup and re-center.