About Us

Dancemind is a small non-profit arts organisation

Founder & Director –

Tina Heeley (BA (Hons), PGDip, Cert)

Dancemind unites Tina’s extensive experience in arts, health, and wellbeing with a deep commitment to fostering creativity, inclusivity, and holistic healing within our communities.

Tina is an experienced dance and movement practitioner, producer, therapist and facilitator; promoting emotional, physical and mental well-being through the mediums of dance, movement & the arts.

Driven by her first-hand knowledge and passion, Tina delved into the intersection of arts and health, fostering movement exploration in a nurturing, creative, and explorative manner. Her goal was to enhance the mental health and wellbeing of individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those in care homes, community and educational settings, hospices, hospitals, and mental health charities. As she observed the profound impact of her work, she recognised the boundless and universal potential of healing through creativity and the body. Over the years, this understanding has deepened, enriching the experiences of all participants.

Simultaneously, Tina delved into the depths of her human experience, thirsting for connectedness and new learning. This quest brought her towards therapy, where Tina embarked in understanding the deeper layers of human existence and healing by training as an Integrative therapist.

More and more, she senses that each of our lives is a journey of revelation and integration of many parts of us, using the body as a central part of the creative work.

Tina feels filled with gratitude for the people she gets to work with and continues to shape the work that is delivered today.

Tina Heeley

Contributors

Meet our current contributors that support, advise and deliver the work for Dancemind. We value making our work as inclusive, accessible and valuable as possible, and we are always on the look out to work with people who can support and foster positive change within our communities through the arts.

Do get in touch if you would like to connect with us.

Lucy Knight

Lucy sits on our committee as well as being a dance artist for Dancemind. Lucy is Director of Barefooted Arts which produces and delivers a programme of work that aims to support and transform people’s health, wellbeing, and quality of life through the arts and creativity, and previously Co-Founder and Co-Director of Wriggle Dance Theatre,  who specialise in producing interactive dance performances for young children, their families and the older generations. As a dance artist Lucy teaches weekly to children and older people in education and care settings, and also co-delivers the Elders Dance Company with Tina Heeley.

Jo Dacombe

Jo Dacombe sits on our committee, and is an artist, writer and Arts and Heritage consultant. She has worked in the cultural sector for over 25 years, having worked with galleries such as Nottingham Contemporary and Attenborough Arts Centre, with cultural development agency ArtReach, with Leicestershire Museums and with the University of Leicester and of York. Her projects have won awards including from Arts & Business and a National Clore Award. Jo is based in Leicester and works nationally and occasionally internationally.

Dr Melinda Spencer

Dr Melinda Spencer supports Dancemind in researching and evaluating our project work, most recently the Elders Dance Company (see blog), and is Senior Lecturer and Programme Lead for Joint Honours Health Studies at the University of Northampton. Since 2013, Melinda has taught on psychology undergraduate modules and presently leads and teaches on several undergraduate and postgraduate modules in Health Studies, Health Sciences, Sport and Psychology. Melinda has keen interest in ballet and contemporary dance, and was a member of the Northants Youth Contemporary Dance Group performing in various venues across the country.