ResDance Series 10: Episode 6: A Decade of Dancing with Women Affected by Cancer with Emily Jenkins In this episode, Emily shares her experiences as a dance artist and reflects on her own artistic journey and how it has shaped the spaces she creates for others. Emily reflects on her own artistic journey and how it has shaped the spaces she creates for others. We explore the evolution of Move Dance Feel, thecommunity she founded in 2016 for women living with and beyond cancer, and what it truly means to move alongside one another through challenging and transformative moments. Our conversation places people at the center—therelationships built, the shared experiences, and the importance of reciprocity. Emily speaks about her core values of release, connection, and joy, and how these are felt in every session. While research increasingly supports dance incancer care, Emily highlights what goes beyond evidence: the joy, magic, and sense of wholeness that emerge when people dance together. She reflects on the past ten years of her work, the growth, and the deep meaning she has foundthrough the community she has nurtured, while looking ahead to what’s still to come. This episode is about dance, but more importantly, it’s about connection, support, and the transformative power of moving together. Biography Emily Jenkins is an established, international dance artist with an embedded social and wellbeing practice. She designs, implements and artistically leads life enhancing dance initiatives. Emily has worked in dance for over fifteen years, and in that time has created and delivered countless opportunities for dance engagement with both cultural and health organisations. Her practice fosters unity, and is centred around release, reciprocity and joy. In 2016 Emily founded Move Dance Feel, a company offering dance to womenliving with and beyond cancer, and works closely with cancer support services to incorporate dance into their care programmes. With a particular interest in addressing inequality through dance Emily created Women Who Dance in 2023, as a way of providing safe and creative spaces for all women. The initiative aims to reduce stress andloneliness among women, foster fear rebellion, and encourage physical and mental expansion. Since 2019 Emily has served as a committee member for the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science, and in 2020 shewas selected as Churchill Fellow. In 2021 she won a National Lottery Art, Culture and Film Award, and Positive News magazine named her as one of ‘10 ordinary people who made 2021 extraordinary’. Additionally, she received a One Dance UK Award in Health and Wellbeing in 2025. Full biography: https://www.emily-jenkins.com/biography Contact details/Social media channelsmovedancefeel@gmail.com @movedancefeel (facebook, instagram, linkedin) @emilyjanejenkins Other links of relevance https://www.emily-jenkins.com/churchillfellow https://www.emily-jenkins.com/training https://www.movedancefeel.com https://www.movedancefeel.com/theargument https://www.movedancefeel.com/anniversary Please share this episode with students, educators, practitioners, performers, and interdisciplinary researchers curious to learn more about dance research in action.
