By Katerina Breznenova (24-25)

Dance communities tend to show higher levels of perfectionism and there is an ever-present discussion about if the dance environment pushing towards beautiful movement with spotless technique shapes dancers into having perfectionists or if it attracts people who already are perfectionist – or a combination of both. This study combines perfectionism with its ‘younger sibling’, a fairly recent concept called excellencism, with creativity and self-compassion with the aim to explore connections that have not been investigated yet.

Why dancers and dance teachers? 

I have been a dancer for 20 years and teacher for 2 years, leading me to many observations on these and similar topics. Being part of the industry allowed me to connect this with real data and reach out to many fellow dancers and teachers, gathering data within the population.

This study brings a novel distinction of dancers into several categories: hobby (for fun, little to no ambitions), ambitious (has goals but is not professional), part-time teachers (who teach alongside having another job to be able to support themselves) and full-time teachers (who rely solely on dancing for a living). The distinction arises from my informal observations alongside the lack of prior research on this.

Most studies only look at dance students or professional performers, but this one also focuses on teachers as a separate group. Teaching dance involves maintaining own dance skills, managing classes, choreographing, and often handling business and marketing tasks, all amid financial and job insecurity. In this sample, nearly all teachers relied on additional employment, reflecting the instable nature of the profession. 

Perfectionism vs. excellencism

Perfectionism includes striving for flawlessness and setting unrealistically high standards, often causing frustration and overly critical self-evaluations when not met. Over the last 30 years, lots of research has been done to understand this tendency and create frameworks to characterise it, with the baseline being set by Frost et al. in 1990 and Hewitt and Flett in 1991. Since then, there has been major development in our understanding of perfectionism, and newer frameworks emerged, such as the Big Three Perfectionism by Smith et al. in 2016 which is used in this study. 

The Big Three Perfectionism framework divides perfectionism into 3 types: rigid, self-critical and narcissistic. Rigid perfectionism describes the rigid insistence that we must be flawless, perfect and make no mistakes, which then impacts our sense of self-worth. Self-critical perfectionism combines concern over mistakes, doubts about actions, harsh self-criticism and the tendency to perceive others as demanding perfection from us. And finally, narcissistic perfectionism captures the tendency to hold unrealistic expectations of others, being hypercritical of others, belief of entitlement to special treatment and belief of superiority.

Excellencism is a newer concept introduced by Gaudreau in 2019, describing individuals who still strive for excellent performance and set high goals, these goals are reachable and allow satisfaction once reached, unlike perfectionistic goals which are usually beyond reachability. Previous research reports excellencism as the more advantageous approach compared to perfectionism, and this has been tested in academic setting, sports, work setting and other areas, leading to experiencing more enjoyment, less stress and workaholism, and having more growth experiences. This study finds similar results in dancers, supporting the idea that excellencism is more useful than perfectionism.

Creativity as a dancer’s tool

Creativity is a highly desirable skill for dancers, allowing them to explore movement, build new connections and create original choreographies. For teachers, creativity extends beyond movement to lesson planning, creating exercises for students and self-promotion marketing to get more work. In this study, creativity was measured through creative self-efficacy and creative personal identity. Interestingly, teachers reported greater creativity than non-teachers, which may stem from both the demands of professional teaching and the heightened awareness of creativity’s role in sustaining a career.

Previous research reports that some kinds of perfectionism may enhance creativity by pushing oneself to do better but others can hinder it. This study tested if excellencism has any advantage for creativity over perfectionism, and it does! The results suggest that dancers who pursue excellencism see themselves as more creative than those who pursue perfectionism, aligning with research on non-dance samples. In practice, this is something that could be encouraged in dance students, to set high but realistic goals and potentially limit the frustration that comes when the learning process is not as fast or seamless as initially (unrealistically) expected. 

When comparing different types of perfectionism, narcissistic perfectionism was associated with higher creativity, self-critical perfectionism with lower creativity and rigid perfectionism showed no associations whatsoever. This is likely because self-reported creativity is enhanced in individuals having narcissistic perfectionism traits, such as feelings of superiority or entitlement. On the other hand, self-critical perfectionism is a strong contrast, bringing the inner critic, fixating on mistakes and feeling that others expect them to be perfect which they believe they are not. 

Self-compassion is a coachable skill, could it help?

Additionally, this study tested self-compassion as a potential bridge between perfectionism and creativity, expecting that it could soften the effect of perfectionism on creativity. Previous research confirmed that self-compassion is coachable, facilitates creative originality, curiosity and exploration, and softens the negative effect of perfectionism on wellbeing. While this study did not confirm a connection between self-compassion and creativity, that does not reject the proposed impact, it highlights that this relationship may be more nuanced than expected and requires more research before making any conclusions. It was however found that  all Big Three Perfectionism types are associated with lower self-compassion.

Dance commitment as a novel but key element

Commitment to dance seems to correlate with certain dimensions of perfectionism and creativity, with more committed dancers generally displaying higher excellencism. It appears that as dancers advance and establish clearer goals, striving for excellence emerges as a defining trait of ambitious dancers and teachers, suggesting that an excellencist approach may foster overall improvement more effectively than a purely perfectionist mindset.

The study originally aimed to compare part- and full-time teachers, but the small number of full-time participants limited this analysis. Instead, comparisons between teachers and non-teachers indicated that teachers generally report higher levels of excellencism, narcissistic and socially prescribed perfectionism, and creativity. Whether these traits are fostered by teaching or draw individuals into it remains unclear, highlighting the need for further research to examine these preliminary patterns. The aforementioned struggles experienced by teachers may explain the higher levels of socially prescribed perfectionism, as teachers often operate under heightened scrutiny of their skills and presence. 

In conclusion, this study highlights that striving for excellence rather than perfection can support creativity in dancers and teachers. Encouraging an excellencist mindset, alongside cultivating self-compassion, may help dancers grow and navigate the challenges of their art with greater satisfaction.

By Dolores Hill (24-25)

As rates of depression, anxiety, and burnout continue to rise in employees, organisations are keen to find ways to support their workers to thrive (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2025). One way to do this is to help employees to recover from work and in turn support their wellbeing and performance (Sonnentag et al., 2022) through effective leisure time activities (Petrou & de Vries, 2025). 

Some psychologists have focused on the need to recover from effort spent at work (Meijman & Mulder, 1998)and others have described the need to invest resources to gain more back (Hobfoll, 2018). Sonnentag and Fritz (2007) identified four key experiences for recovery: Relaxation, Control, Mastery (learning new skills and feeling competent), and Psychological Detachment (switching off from work). Newman et al. (2014) built on this and developed the DRAMMA framework which identified five wellbeing needs that leisure activities should satisfy: Detachment-Recovery, Autonomy, Mastery, Meaning, and Affiliation. The addition of Meaning and Affiliation was based on wellbeing research that emphasised how important they are for creating a deep sense of life satisfaction and optimal functioning, also known as eudaimonia (Ryff, 1989). 

Research suggests creative hobbies offer many of the essential recovery and wellbeing experiences identified by Sonnentag and Fritz (2007), and Newman et al. (2014) (Eschelman, 2014; Alameer et al., 2023). Furthermore, people who engage in creative hobbies during their leisure time not only feel better, but they also perform better at work and in their personal lives (de Bloom, 2018). Creative interventions have been found to be cost effective and are often more accessible than other recovery activities (WHO, 2019). This demonstrates that employees engaging in creative hobbies can benefit organisations as well. Despite this, creative hobbies have been somewhat overlooked in the employee recovery and wellbeing literature, and although rates of people engaging in at-home creative hobbies are rising, it appears that creative hobbies may be an underused tool for supporting employee wellbeing and recovery.

I set out to address this gap by asking creative hobbyists about their experiences during their hobbies, and to share insights into the impact on their wellbeing and experiences at work. I interviewed 18 participants who had creative hobbies, asking questions about the hobby itself, their jobs, and the relationship between the two aspects of their lives. I used a Thematic Analysis to analyse their responses, which is a technique in qualitative research that involves carefully reading the transcripts, labelling quotes with different ‘codes’, and then exploring ways to group those codes together into themes that meaningfully reflect the participants’ feelings. At the end of this process, I had identified three key themes titled Recuperating, Revitalising, and Reaffirming, which each represented two experiences and two impacts of the creative hobbies.

The Recuperating experience of Mental Respite was linked to the concept of Psychological Detachment, as participants talked about switching off, relaxing, and de-stressing after work. Some of them used their hobby as a chance to Independently Process their feelings from the day and make plans for the next one. These experiences meant the participants felt Recharged and Ready for Work.

The Revitalising experiences aligned more closely with COR (Hobfoll, 2018) as even though participants had used lots of resources at work, they still dedicated more time and energy to their hobby to Learn Something New and have Fun. Learning Something New met their need for Mastery, as they described using a different part of their brain, flexed their creative muscles, and became more accepting of mistakes. This experience developed their Creative Thinking and contributed to them feeling more Confident at work. A creative hobby was sometimes a chance to have Fun with others, but for many of the participants, they had the feeling of “childlike excitement” even on their own. This experience of enjoyment can be described as hedonia, the aspect of wellbeing associated with pleasure and a good mood (Deci & Ryan, 2008). Hedonia can be short-lived, and alone it does not account for the longer-term gains in wellbeing that people need to feel a true sense of life satisfaction (Ryff, 1989). Nonetheless, hedonic wellbeing is still worth supporting, and this finding is an important one for understanding how to motivate people to take up creative hobbies.

The final theme, Reaffirming, is more related to the other aspect of wellbeing, known as eudaimonia. Ryff’s (1989) model of eudaimonic wellbeing identified six components: Autonomy, Purpose, Mastery, Self-Acceptance, Positive Relationships, and Personal Growth. Having a chance to do something ‘Just for Me’ and Reaffirm their Sense of Self clearly supported the components of Autonomy and Purpose, as well as Self-Acceptance and Personal Growth, leading to a spill over effect that contributed to improved Morale at work and better Personal and Professional Performance. The participants described a sense of holistic wellbeing and satisfaction due to engaging in their hobbies. For some, this was essential and helped them cope with the demands of work, and for others it made an already pleasant job even more enjoyable.

Based on these findings, Figure 1 illustrates a proposed framework for the experiences and impacts of creative hobbies and highlights the spill over effects from wellbeing and recovery into people’s professional and wider personal lives.

Figure 1 

A framework for the experiences and impacts of creative hobbies

More research is needed to fully understand what creative hobbies offer employees and organisations, and it will be particularly important to study different groups of individuals to uncover any relationships between personality, neurodivergence, and the uptake and impact of creative hobbies. Equally, future research should seek to understand the way job traits influence the recovery experiences employees seek out.

This study contributes to the literature demonstrating that creative hobbies can have a significant impact on employee wellbeing, recovery, and performance. Not only do they offer similar experiences to other leisure time activities, meeting the needs for recovery and wellbeing, but they may offer unique advantages such as mindful Independent Processing and the chance to have Fun.

Organisations can put these findings into action by:

• Spotlighting and celebrating creative role models in the organisation to establish a culture of creative recovery, and encourage other employees to have a go
• Sharing information about the psychological underpinning of creative hobbies and the impacts they can have on wellbeing and performance, emphasising the variety of creative activities and the different experiences they can offer
• Offering flexible working hours to support employees to take part in creative activities more easily
• Supplying vouchers for materials and resources to make creative hobbies more accessible to all
• Running creative wellbeing initiatives within the organisation to develop a collaborative culture of creativity