Helene Su - Somatic dance and leadership coach
- Isobel Arden
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
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Meet Helene Su.
Somatic Dance Leadership Mentor | Guiding Heart-Centred Leaders to Feel Fully Alive, Express Their Truth & Lead with Creative Power | Founder, Niio Dance
In this interview, Mark invited Helene to create her own fantasy cultural year from the answers to some easy questions where there are no wrong answers. Enjoy her journey below.
Helene Su is not your average dance coach. A British-born Chinese trailblazer, Helene grew up straddling two cultures and feeling rather at home in neither—which she now describes as “the best kind of discomfort”. That sense of being “in-between” became the launchpad for a career built on transformation, authenticity and the power of movement.
Over the last 20+ years, Helene has crafted a unique path: founding Niio Dance, a visionary somatic-dance and embodied self-leadership practice designed for heart-centred creatives, leaders and those who know they’d rather move than sit still and analyse.
Her approach blends ancient Eastern wisdom (yes, that heritage she once felt “in between” carries pills of gold), somatic science, and good-old creative play.
The goal? To help people drop the performance mindset, stop worrying about “getting it right”, and instead step into the full, messy, radiant expressiveness of who they are.
When she isn’t facilitating a workshop or retreat across the UK or Europe, Helene is likely exploring what’s next: perhaps dancing barefoot in nature, reading Taoist philosophy, or designing the next 90-day programme for her clients. Her philosophy: joy, curiosity and authenticity matter just as much as technique. (Yes, she has the credentials — MA in Dance & Somatic Well-Being, Yoga Teacher, Reiki Master, somatic training — but she’d rather your body feel free than your CV look long.)
Helene Su is someone who has turned cultural awkwardness into creative superpower, who uses her body as a map and her dance as a declaration of freedom. If you’ve ever felt like you don’t quite fit the mould — she’s precisely the guide who says: “That’s your medicine.”
Helene's Fantasy Cultural Year ... with a magic wand and time machine.
Sacred Places & Favourite Buildings
When asked about meaningful architecture, Helene goes big: Pyramids, Indian temples, Japanese shrines, and the Golden Temple in Amritsar. They linger on the Golden Temple, imagining her at a café nearby, reading Rumi and sipping something soulful.
A Global Creativity Project (Yes, With TV Cameras and a Book Deal)
Mark floats a fantasy project: a year-long global study on how movement shapes creativity and leadership—fully funded, filmed, and followed by a book, TED Talk, and global lecture tour. Helene loves the idea. They choose Tokyo as her first stop.
Music, Dance, Food, and… Sport
They play with more “what-if” scenarios:
Music for a year: Psychedelic ambient.
Dance performance: A fusion of Isadora Duncan’s free-flowing movement and Akram Khan’s style.
Cuisine: Asian fusion wins dinner.
Sport: Something movement-based—body acrobatics and capoeira, rather than traditional sports.
VR Art & Cultural London
They explore London’s new VR art experiences and settle on viewing Alex Grey’s visionary, psychedelic work. Then they build a cultural week in London:
Tuesday: A historic music performance
Wednesday: A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe
Thursday: Swan Lake at the Royal Opera House
Friday: A film still to be decided. Plus one musical—Helene’s childhood favourite: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Looking Ahead: Movement as Leadership
They finish by imagining Helene’s future: travelling the world researching movement and creativity, writing her book, giving her TED Talk, and becoming a recognised voice in creative leadership. There's even a whimsical fantasy lunch with Michelle Yeoh at a 3-star Asian Fusion restaurant—because why not?
Explore more about Helene below:
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Mark Walmsley FRSA FCIM AGSM
Chief Culture Vulture
Arts & Culture Network
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