Show up with Confidence + Get Noticed

When you head off to intensive, whether it’s your first or your fifth, it’s a valuable time to make contacts for your future career aspirations. If you’re headed to intensive with the goal of a traineeship or spot in the year round program the stakes are even higher.

To ensure that you make a positive impression you’ve got to go in prepared from day 1. This means being both physically and mentally prepared.

Physical Preparation

Your cross training and technical training plan need to be set up to get you ready for the intensity of intensive. Even if you’re not injured, you might seek out a physical therapist for some support in training your weaknesses. If you’re prone to ankle sprains for example, a physical therapist can provide a plan to strengthen your ankles to avoid injury.

Compare the number of hours of dance you’ll face at intensive to your current regimen. Find ways to build up towards the number of hours at intensive. Rather than trying to match it now, just look into adding 30 minutes to an hour each day until you’re closer to the summer intensive schedule.

This physical preparation can go a long way and will support you more than going from 0 to 60 in a short period of time.

Mental Preparation

Knowing you’re prepared physically can support your mental state and confidence. Being assured in what you can do in the studio is going to allow you to dance more freely.

To further support your mentality for intensive, give yourself some positive mantras to repeat both before and during class. Stress your abilities, talents and capabilities.

“What you envision in your mind, how you see yourself, and how you envision the world around you is of great importance because those things become your focus.” Ed Mylett

If you find yourself judging the other dancer’s in your class, it likely means you’re judging yourself quite harshly as well. Start to think of positive attributes for your peers. What are they doing well? Start to see the positives in those around you and it will be easier to see the positive in yourself.

Dress for Success

Only bring leotards with you this summer that make you feel amazing and beautiful. Silly as it sounds what you wear can have a big impact on how you show up! If you have to bring some that you don’t love, at least save the best tights and leotard for placement class.

You want to look at placement class as another audition (with less pressure). Don’t forget – you already got in so the stakes are not that high but it’s important to go all out for your placement class.

However, if placement class doesn’t go as well as you’d hoped all is not lost. If you end up in a lower level than you think you belong, look at it as an opportunity to work your hardest and really stand out. It might give you the chance to really shine and possibly get a soloist role in the end of summer performance. Or, maybe you’ll be moved up in levels later – both are possible.

Make Connections

Dancer’s aren’t typically trained to network but it can be as valuable in dance as it is in business. Do your best to help teacher’s remember your name – volunteer to demonstrate a combination, be will to answer questions, be willing to go first.

Whichever teacher you feel most comfortable with, look for ways to engage them in conversation around your development and potential. Maybe ask a specific question about a combination or variation after class. Of course, only do this if the teacher has time and isn’t running off to teach another class.

If you’re hoping to stay year round or get a trainee spot, try to schedule a conversation with one of the people who makes that decision. You might keep this til the end of the 1st or 2nd week, not the end, that way if you need to step things up you’ll have time.

Express your great interest in staying for the year. Ask how they feel you’ve been doing so far and finally inquire as to what they see as your areas for growth. A mature conversation like this is not always easy but it’s important to practice using your voice! It will serve you in your professional career and beyond.

Be Present in Every Class 

Summer intensives can feel long. You might be there for 6 weeks and that’s a long, intense time to stay fully present. Do your best to stay energetic and engaged in each and every class you take – even the “fun” classes like hip-hop and modern.

You never know who might be paying attention to your work ethic and energy even in your non-ballet classes.

In your ballet classes, take each and every correction as though it’s your own. If a teacher is having one dancer try a new approach to something, you should be actively trying that new approach as well.

And don’t forget – don’t mark arms!! Ever!

Looking for more ways to prep for intensive? Grab your FREE summer intensive diary or sign up for the FREE online summer intensive success workshop!

The post Summer Intensive Prep Part II : Getting Noticed appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

One of my favorite things to do at The Whole Dancer is host a fun giveaway where you have the chance to win beautiful, inspiring, health promoting prizes. This year we’ve got our biggest giveaway yet + a holiday gift guide. Whether shopping for yourself of someone else, check out these gift ideas to mix it up.

Songbird Dancewear : Started by Hope Hagen during her time at Butler University, this company is really taking off as Hope creates unique designs with lovely fabrics.

One follower of The Whole Dancer will win a leotard of her choice from Songbird Dancewear!

Here’s a photo of Hope in one of her own designs. Photo by Brittany Gleason.

SimpleSense Now : This company was started by Health Coach Deanna Rae. Her aspiration is to provide the food industry with better quality snacks & desserts made with organic, real, and nourishing ingredients.

These snacks provide perfect on the go fuel for dancers. Stash a tube of “bites” in your dance bag and you’ll be powered through rehearsals or class.

One follower of The Whole Dancer will receive a case of raw bites and a chocolate chaga cake from SimpleSense Now.

Apollo Performance Wear : This company has really taken off and been much more visible in the last year. For good reason – prioritizing the health of your feet and ankles deserves attention!

“Apolla Shocks are the only footwear for dancers that provides Arch support, Ankle stability, energy Absorption (our 3 A’s) and our customizable traction.

Our targeted compression for key insertion points of the feet help to lift, support, and remove inflammation.”

One follower of The Whole Dancer will win a free pair of shocks + a mesh carry bag from Apolla Performance Wear!

Dancewear Solutions : I’ve just discovered this website and I appreciate the mix of traditional dance clothes (leotards and tights) and very reasonably priced leggings and activewear.

Pro – tip – when it comes to tights I always order 1 – 2 sizes up from what the size chart suggests. There’s nothing worse than tights that are too tight!

Click here for 20% off Holiday Gifts

Fresh : Skincare Solutions Gift Set

During Nutcracker your skin takes a beating. There’s A LOT of makeup going on and little time to allow your skin to breathe, recover and rejuvenate. This gift set will help
you moisturize and restore balance to your skin.

One follower of The Whole Dancer will receive the Fresh Skincare Solutions Gift Set.

MooreSkirts : This company hasn’t even launched yet but we’re getting a preview at The Whole Dancer!

Brooke Moore, former Principal Dancer with PA Ballet, Corps de Ballet Dancer with San Francisco Ballet and current teacher at the BalletMet Dance Academy started MooreSkirts just for fun making skirts for her friends and colleagues.

It’s taken off and will launch on Etsy in January 2018! For now, find and follow on Instagram.

One follower of The Whole Dancer will receive a skirt of their choice from MooreSkirts!

Leos by Kat : from a wonderful mother daughter team you get well made custom and pre – made leotards.

At Leos by Kat you’ll find some of the loveliest mesh details and designs available. The holiday deadline has passed but gift cards are perfect!

One follower of The Whole Dancer will win the Maren leotard in white mesh andcream/floral print (*not pictured*) in her size!

Day Designer : for the planner obsessed. I’m very
planner obsessed and this planner has been my go – to for the last 3 years.

With a page per day, full month view and a goals
section in the front the day designer mini or classic makes a great gift for any determined dancer.

One follower of The Whole Dancer will win a Day Designer mini in Rosey Posey print (*not pictured*)!

Enter to Win

The Whole Dancer Holiday Giveaway 2017

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post The Whole Dancer 2017 Holiday Gift Guide and Giveaway appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

Guest post by Tanya Trombly of Bulletproof Ballerina

As a dancer, your most important tool is your body, right? So, why is it that you tend to so easily get caught up in practices and mindsets that destroy it?

I know what you are thinking: How can you say that? I do so much every single day to make my body and my ballet better! I’m constantly trying to improve and get healthier, leaner, stronger, more fit, more flexible, gain stamina, etc.

Ironically, this is exactly what is defeating you and preventing you from getting to your next level. Allow me to explain.

There’s no question that cross-training is becoming more popular in the dance world. As someone promoting dancer-specific cross-training, you would expect me to be 100% behind this new trend.

But to be honest, instead of being excited about ushering in this new age of cross-training for dancers, I’m actually quite concerned.

With the way most dancers view cross-training, there’s a good chance they’re doing even more damage to their bodies than if they weren’t cross-training at all.

Dancers have a tendency of taking things to the extreme, thinking more is better. In terms of cross-training, the traditional bunhead mindset will have you thinking the more you punish yourself, the more work you put in, the more classes you take, surely the more you will be rewarded for your efforts with ballet success.

But, this over-achiever quality will have you tearing down and destroying your body in your very efforts to enhance it.

Instead of using cross-training to accompany your art, as a method to elevate your body to another level and ready it for more intense dancing, it becomes just another item on your agenda for the day, another task to cross off your list, and a way to make yourself feel “worthy.”

As an artist and an athlete, your cross-training has to have a purpose – to support your ballet. And, that purpose doesn’t involve squeezing in a whole litany of exercises and extra classes every single day in addition to your already physically taxing technique class and rehearsal schedule just to get your “cross-training requirements” in.

I know your mindset. I’ve been there. You start doing a series of exercises one day in an effort to get better. The next day, you have to do that same amount of exercise or else you’ll feel guilty for slacking off.

Then, a few weeks later, you notice that you’re still not “good enough,” so you add in even more reps and exercises. Before you know it, you have a list of two hours-worth of exercises that you try to squeeze in before class or at night after you are exhausted from a long day of rehearsals.

You start to despise this routine. You dread doing this routine. But, you can’t stop. You have to do it every day. If anything, you must keep adding more onto your already exhausting schedule. Otherwise, you will lose progress and never get ahead. You’ll never be good enough. Sound familiar?

If the purpose of cross-training is indeed to make dancers more equipped and resilient in their art, why does it seem like the opposite results are trending? As cross-training is becoming more popular in the dance world, we are seeing more injuries and at younger ages.

It’s astonishing how many dancers are requiring surgery and major layoff periods when their bodies are in what should be their heyday. These injuries are not only detrimental to our precious bodies, but also devastating to our careers.

We only get a small window of opportunity to do our craft. With such short careers as it is, any time wasted on the sidelines where you can’t practice your art is gut wrenching. You can’t get that time back.

Yes, the dance world is constantly elevating and requiring more physicality from its dancers, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of its dancers. Something is wrong. And, I don’t think it’s because we can’t handle the new demands of our art, but because we are not training properly.

If we keep going overboard with our training, doing too much and burning out our bodies, injuries are bound to happen.

Exercise is a stressor. That’s what most people don’t realize. By its nature, exercise creates micro-damage to your body. This is an essential part of the super compensation process.

The rest and recovery period after an intense exercise bout is also an essential part of the process, but this is often neglected. If you don’t respect this concept and never give your body a chance to recover and actually reap the benefits from the work you are doing, you are going to end up just wearing your body down.

Instead of making it stronger and more resilient with cross-training, you will actually endanger your body by putting it in a perpetually weakened state, making it more vulnerable to injuries when you try to meet the heightened demands of this new generation of artistry and choreography.

Not convinced yet? Here’s something else to think about. Despite how invincible you might feel when you are younger, your body will automatically start to deteriorate at a certain age and after a certain amount of mileage.

If you think of your body as a sports car, you only get so much mileage out of it before it starts to break down, parts need to be replaced, and problems arise. If you run the car into the ground by putting tons of miles and unnecessary stress on it, it’s going to break down faster.

Instead of purring like a kitten and gracefully cruising when you rev the engine, it’s going to putter and awkwardly chug along. Likewise, if you are spinning your wheels every day doing these exercises you feel obligated to do because of your over-achiever mindset, you are just churning through your energy stores and wearing down your joints prematurely.

Not only are you not giving yourself the recovery time to heal your body, but these types of exercises are usually not intense enough to give you the muscular benefit you are looking for in the first place.

Instead of elevating your dance technique, you end up just burning through your allotted mileage that much quicker. Guess what that means? Shortened careers. Your longevity in your dance career is going to depend on how well you take care of your body.

Not only does this excessive cross-training lead to physical burnout but to mental burnout as well. By the time most dancers are in their late 20’s, they are already so sick of constantly pushing themselves with their obligatory exercises and physical commitments.

It’s exhausting to have this one-track mind, forcing yourself to wake up and put your body through the wringer every single day. Eventually the will power required to sustain this time-consuming effort will wear out.

The physical pain and mental turmoil just won’t be worth it, and you’ll end up quitting dance out of bitter resentment. Your love of the art will be dulled by putting yourself through this painful, exhausting process day after day – a process impossible to maintain forever.

It seems that every year the next generation of dancers coming into the professional field have more and more talent and physicality, elevating the art form.

The current level requires more from our bodies, and will continue to as the art advances. Unfortunately, that higher physicality comes with a price as more of us become injured as we attempt to keep up with the physical demands and compete with the rising talent. I don’t know that we should be okay with that sacrifice.

I’m here to change that. I want you to train in a way that gets you ready for the current demands of the dance world. We shouldn’t have to sacrifice our bodies and our health in order to do our art.

We need to start training differently…to accompany this different level of dance. We need to make our bodies more invincible in order to handle the demands of this advanced version of ballet.

I believe this can totally be achieved through cross-training…but, not cross-training in the traditional bunhead notion. Cross-training in the Bad Girl Ballerina realm…now, that’s a different story.

If you want longevity in your dance career, you have to learn how to respect your body and do the minimum that will elevate it without wearing it out unnecessarily.

photos of Tanya by Estilo Antunes (top) and Rachel Neville (bottom)

Guest post by Tanya Trombly

The post A common cross – training mistake dancers should avoid at all costs. appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

Suzy Halstead

Find Suzy on Instagram suzyhalstead

I’m 25, living in London after finishing 10 months in Stockholm, Sweden with Phantom of the Opera. I loved being out there, and previously I was on the World Tour of the show, but after 4 cities and 2 languages, I really want to try something else. The ultimate goal would be going back to a ballet company and learning lots of different rep. I really miss that.

Being an Ambassador for the Whole Dancer is such a privilege. I reached out to Jess when I really didn’t know what else to do. It honestly was hard at first. I thought if I was speaking to someone about diet I was admitting some sort of defeat.

But The Dancer’s Best Body Program has been the most informative, useful course and with Jess being available any time has just been so amazing. I feel I have support 24/7, Jess answers everything, and I feel I can quite honestly talk to her about anything.

I hope more people see how important it is to have knowledge about all things dietary, whatever route you go down and also see that so much of it isn’t actually the food we eat. There is so much more behind living healthily.

Sophie Richardson

Find Sophie on Instagram @dancingdreams25

My name is Sophie, I’m 19 and I am super excited to be an Ambassador for The Whole Dancer! I trained full-time at Ballet West UK over the past 2 years, where I was lucky enough to tour Scotland dancing Swan Lake and The Nutcracker with Ballet West company.

I eventually realized that my passion lies more in teaching ballet, rather than wanting to dance in a company. In September, I will be moving to London to study Ballet Education at the Royal Academy of Dance, in the hope of one day being able to teach ballet abroad, or own a ballet school. My goals revolve around sharing my passion for ballet, and helping other people to achieve their potential!

I first discovered The Whole Dancer in late 2016, when I participated in The Dancer’s Best Body Program. It really helped me to gain clarity in my career plans and goals, especially during an important transition time as I began to re-evaluate my goals within the dance industry.

The Dancers’ Best Body program was amazing in teaching me the skills needed to survive a long, challenging touring schedule, whilst also helping me to appreciate what my body is capable of, rather than constantly comparing myself to other people.

The mentoring from Jess was invaluable in giving me the courage to make important decisions regarding my career. Jess also helped me to achieve my potential in class by being totally equipped with the physical and psychological tools needed to perform at my best.

To me, being a ‘Whole Dancer’ means being in a mindset which allows me to feel liberated and empowered by ballet- rather than being trapped in the perfectionistic ‘bunhead mentality’, which had previously led to me feeling isolated and defeated by ballet.

I used to define my entire identity through my successes- or failures- as a dancer, but now I realize that I can be more than simply a dancer, I can be a teacher, choreographer, poet, cat-lover, bibliophile, and adventurer.

I have definitely learned how to holistically nurture myself as a person as well as an artistic athlete, so that I am as strong as possible not only physically but also psychologically, ready to embrace new challenges both in the studio and onstage, in my mission to make ballet accessible to, and enjoyable for, everyone!

Chantelle Meyers

Find Chantelle on Instagram @chantelle.may.meyers

Hi my name is Chantelle, I’m 20 years old. At the moment I am between seasons with a French touring ballet company, so I am just taking classes with various teachers in Sydney [Australia], and travelling to Brisbane for coaching with Claudia Dean. My career goals are to solidify my technique, develop finesse and artistry, lengthen and define my muscles, and get a job in a more permanent company.

I am excited to be an ambassador because Jess has been the only health professional who has actually helped me (I have had multiple bad experiences with other sports nutritionists and doctors). I feel as if I now have the tools to become a better dancer, both mentally and physically.

Now I’m working on trying to use those “tools” everyday, so that I can really achieve my goals. Because I am so grateful for what she has done for me, I am excited to represent her brand. To me, being a Whole Dancer is someone who is in a balanced state of mind and knows (and does) what is right for their body – I.e. They know how to eat to maintain a lean, healthy, energized body, take time to de stress, self care, etc., maintain a healthy balance with their dancing, cross- training, family, social, etc., and is committed to achieving their goals.

What I love about The Whole Dancer is that all of the programs are designed specifically for dancers, which is amazing!

Jessica Cobb

Find Jessica on Instagram @jessicaleighcobb

My name is Jessica Cobb, I am 22 years old and currently dancing with Columbia Classical Ballet.  It is such an honor to be a Whole Dancer ambassador.  Being able to spread The Whole Dancers’ positive, encouraging message with people is so exciting. I love the amazingly supportive community Jess has created, and it so incredible to be a part of it.  

Finding The Whole Dancer has honestly changed my career. The knowledge and confidence that I gained in The Dancer’s Best Body Program was priceless. Any dancer looking for more information about themselves, whether it be how to fuel themselves, how to get more motivated, or how to give their body the respect it deserves, needs The Whole Dancer! I am clearly very passionate, but I think everyone that gets to work with Jess feels the exact same way.

To me being a “whole dancer” is taking care of every aspect of yourself: mind, body, and soul. We all know it’s important to stretch your feet and do your abs, but it’s also so important to take the time to experience life in other ways.  

Some things I enjoy: going out for a walk on a beautiful day, reading a good book, or binge watching my favorite Netflix show (we all do it ;)). It’s also important to cultivate other activities that you enjoy outside of dance. Some of my favorites being painting classes, bowling and taking the time to explore cool places with my fiancé in every new city that we move to.  When you are not a rounded person or a “whole dancer” you miss out on so many aspects of yourself that you could be bringing to your art.

The post Meet The Whole Dancer Ambassadors! appeared first on The Whole Dancer.