Introduction

I’m delighted to speak with professional ballet dancer and choreographer, Kit Holder in this episode. Kit is first soloist at the Birmingham Royal Ballet where he has danced for 20 years. He trained at The Royal Ballet School in London and is currently studying psychology.

We speak about the psychology of ballet and its parallels with sport, specifically, skill acquisition; attentional cues, lost move syndrome; flow; the importance of having multiple identities; pre-performance routines; and the need for sport psychology in the demanding discipline of ballet.