In today's episode, Courtney and Sarah spoke with Jackson Jirard about his extensive research in psychology and dance and what a social-emotional revolution in the ballet industry looks like from his perspective. Jackson is a Bostonian artist and educator. He received his BA in Psychology from Stanford University, his M.Ed. in Human Development & Psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and has been researching power, responsibility, and emotional well-being in ballet companies for many years. He’s danced professionally with Ballet Austin in Texas, Sacramento Ballet in California, and Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre. More recently, he’s choreographed for a musical and major motion picture (New Repertory Theatre's "Oliver" and Columbia Pictures' "Little Women" respectively), performed in an opera, and even a tap-jazz-ballet. Having grown up in Massachusetts, Jackson continues to excitedly re-familiarize himself with the New England scene as the newly appointed Associate Director of Rehearsal for Life's Urban Improv. You can find his article, "Why every ballet company needs a counselor" here: Please remember that no one on the show today is a mental health professional, and anything you hear us say are things from our lives and should not be considered medical advice. If you are in crisis, please call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to reach a 24-hour crisis center, text MHA to 741741, call 911, or go to the nearest emergency room. To find a local MHA affiliate who can provide services, check out https://www.mhanational.org/ Theme music is, "A Journey" by Kevin Hartnell It has been edited and reproduced under the Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). Follow us on Instagram! Dance; Better Podcast @dancebetterpodcast Courtney @courtulrich Sarah @techballet Send in your questions or episode suggestions to [email protected] If you relate and found this episode helpful, please click follow/subscribe and leave us a review. (We might even read it on the next episode!) This helps to make our show more searchable, and will make it more accessible to more people...plus, we’d love to hear from you!