We recently connected with Michelle Loucadoux and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Michelle thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

During the early months of the pandemic, Kristin Deiss and I were on a park play date with our toddlers. At the time, I was the associate dean of undergraduate studies at Hussian College and she was the chair of the dance department. We were discussing how we might find dance-specific mental health resources for the struggling dance majors at the college. After a lot of research, we found…there weren’t really any.

We knew that there were so many dancers that were not only struggling with the challenges of the pandemic, but also with the stressors that come with professional and pre-professional dance. We knew that this was a problem we needed to try to help solve.

So, I quit my job a few months later and we spent the next two and a half years researching and working with mental health professionals to create the dance specific mental health education organization that is Danscend.

Michelle , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

First of all, Danscend’s mission is to bring mental wellness to the forefront of performing arts training by providing a space for education, application, and community to performers, educators, families, and professionals. Danscend’s virtual courses, workshops, and community support programs are thoroughly researched, vetted by mental health professionals and created from peer-reviewed scientific studies.

It feels so odd talking about myself. Okay, here’s the short version of my life. I’ve performed in five Broadway musicals – I played Hope Harcourt with Sutton Foster and Joel Grey in the Tony award-winning Anything Goes, I originated the Broadway cast of The Little Mermaid as Adella and eventually played the title role of Ariel, I performed the role of Babette in Beauty and the Beast, originated the Broadway cast of Mary Poppins, and sang alongside Paul McCartney in Chance and Chemistry.

Before I went to Broadway, I danced professionally for New Jersey Ballet, Greensboro Ballet, Lexington Ballet, and I studied ballet at the American Ballet Theatre School in New York. I got to perform roles from the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker to Balanchine’s Serenade. When I moved to LA, I did a good amount of TV and film – I starred in numerous films including Across the Universe and The Bounce Back, and I was on television shows including Criminal Minds, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and The View.

School-wise, I have an MBA from Western Governor’s University and a BA in English from Virginia Commonwealth University. I’m the author of the book I’m Talented…Now What (Rowman & Littlefield 2020) and I recently resigned my position as the associate dean of undergraduate studies at Hussian College to co-found Danscend.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When we started Danscend, we thought our target market would be dancers – both professional and pre-professional. As we put our resources out there, we weren’t getting a lot of traction. And we didn’t feel that we were making a big enough difference. Then, we realized that dancers weren’t the people who needed our resources the most – it was the dance TEACHERS. Dance educators have a massive influence on not just one dancer – they influence the lives of hundreds of dancers who come through their classes. They set the example, they set the tone, and they can either support or significantly hurt the mental wellness of the dancers in their care. Since then, we have pivoted to work with individual educators, small dance schools, and large dance organizations to provide resources, education, and ongoing mental health support.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

When we started Danscend, we knew we weren’t mental health professionals. We knew about the dance world, we were educators, and researchers, but we also knew enough to know we didn’t know everything. So, from the start, we collected a reputable advisory board of mental health professionals who also were all former professional dancers, to advise us on all of our materials. In most of our ongoing programs, we bring in these psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists to speak on and facilitate conversation about different mental health and wellness-related topics.

Contact Info:

• Website: danscend.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danscendofficial
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danscend/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@danscend77