What happens when a life built on performance turns toward presence? We sit down with world‑ranked dancer and coach Andrew Cuerden for a candid journey from a disciplined South African childhood to London hostels, global competitions, and the bright lights of Strictly—then beyond fame to the deeper craft of connection. Andrew shares how a £500 leap of faith, a resilient family ethos, and the hungry years shaped his artistry, and why the real validation didn’t come from TV but from peers at the Royal Albert Hall.
The conversation opens up the hidden mechanics behind partner dance—alignment, balance, timing, frame—and shows how they map directly onto relationships, communication, and trust. Andrew explains why proximity on the floor can expose cracks at home, how professionals “see a body” before a romance, and the practical ways he helps couples reconnect by removing words and letting the body learn safety. We explore the honest tensions of love and work: jealousy, freedom versus connection, and the central commitment that allows both partners to stretch without breaking. His concept of metaphysical dance weaves technique with therapy, turning lead and follow into a language for everyday leadership and empathy.
Andrew’s evolution from filling space to holding it reframes mastery as presence, patience, and passion. He talks about building Soul Hub with Carmen, creating gatherings that use movement and nature to bridge difference, and resisting the comforts that can dull creativity. At the heart of it all is the dragon he continues to face—self‑worth—and the choice to break the mould, find value beyond applause, and sustain joy by reinvesting in his own practice. If you’re curious about the crossroads of artistry, purpose, and relationship, this conversation offers both story and strategy you can feel in your bones.
If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves dance or personal growth, and leave a quick review—what did you take from Andrew’s approach to connection?
Course Content
Organisation
This learning is avaibale in Onlinevents FREE Student Hub. Access Curated Content From Onlinevents ProfessionalDevelopment Library to Support Your Training & Professional Growth
Presenter
Andrew Cuerden is a skilled and intuitive dance and life coach. A wisdom weaver and natural leader, and follower, that holds space that is therapeutic & inspirational for individuals, couples or groups to safely explore and enjoy their own unique energies through langue of dance.
Weaving together the fundamental aspects of metaphysics, dance & other life sciences, Andrew helps people integrate mind, body and soul to find more balance, presence, harmony and joy.
Andrew has devoted over 37 years of his life to practicing, competing, performing, judging and coaching Ballroom and Latin American dance. His competitive and show dance career took him all over the world, achieving top 24 in the world Latin American dance rankings, as well as a Pro on ‘BBC Strictly Come Dancing” in 2005.
Since suffering from burn out, depression and a variety of chronic illnesses brought on by life traumas. Andrew found himself embarking on a deep journey of self-understanding, integration and healing in 2016. Hence now a large portion of his work is dedicated to providing safe, intuitive, compassionate and therapeutic life coaching to others, through his own relatively unique modality called – Metaphysical Dance.
Malcolm Stern has worked as a group and individual psychotherapist for more than 30 years. He was a co-founder of Alternatives at St James’s Church in London and runs groups internationally.
He is the author of Falling in Love / Staying in Love (Piatkus 2004) and Slay Your Dragons with Compassion ( Watkins 2020). He co-presented Channel 4’s relationship series, ‘Made for Each Other’ in 2003 and 2004 and sailed on the ‘Rainbow Warrior’ with Greenpeace in the 1980s. The book he is currently writing is an exploration of the shadow and its necessity in our evolutionary development.
To become equal to the dream sewn within us, our heart must break open and usually must break more than once. That’s why they say that the only heart worth having is a broken heart. For only in breaking can it open fully and reveal what is hidden within.” – Michael Meade
This is a series of podcasts based on the premise explored in Malcolm Stern’s acclaimed book of the same name, that adversity provides us with the capacity to develop previously unexplored depths and is , in effect , a crucible for self reflection and awareness. Malcolm lost his daughter Melissa to suicide in 2014. It slowly dawned on him over the following few years that he was being educated and an opportunity was being presented where new insights helped him forge a path through his grief and despair. As part of that cathartic journey, he wrote “ Slay Your Dragons with Compassion ( Watkins 2020 ) where he was able to describe some of the practices that had helped him shed light on a way through the darkness.
