Nutcracker, the ballet that brings joy to thousands each holiday season and every other emotion to dancers. Whether you do 45 shows of Nutcracker or two shows, November and December can be stressful months filled with holiday themed performances. It’s easy to get sick of performing or rehearsing Waltz of the Flowers for the 50th time. Here are some tips for fighting Nutcracker burnout.

1. Get Enough Sleep

No matter what your performance or rehearsal schedule, it’s always important to get enough sleep. Sleep allows your muscles to repair, your short-term memory get stored in your long-term memory, and revive your energy levels.

The rate of possible injury goes down when an athlete gets more sleep. Ideally, dancers should be getting around 8-9 hours of sleep each night.  

2. Listen to Other Music

The first thing that always burns me out during Nutcracker is the music. I get very sick of hearing the same score over and over again. It doesn’t help that you hear Nutcracker music on tv, the radio, the mall, literally everywhere from early November through Christmas.

Tune it out as much as possible and listen to other music; it could be your favorite holiday music, hard rock, a different ballet, soundtracks, whatever makes you happy.

3. Pack Healthy Snacks and Meals

You need food to fuel yourself in order to get through shows and rehearsals. Give yourself lots of meal and snack options because you never know what you day will entail. When you go to eat lunch or your snack and you didn’t love what you packed it’s the absolute worst.

You either begrudgingly eat what you packed, or go out in search of something else, which might not be possible depending on your schedule. Pack fruit for a natural sugar based energy, carbohydrates for sustained energy, nuts for protein and healthy fat, and veggies for vital vitamins and minerals.  

4. Do a Holiday Activity

Nutcracker is not the only way to get into the holiday spirit. Choose a nice, relaxing activity that you can do on your day off.

Watch a movie, go shopping, take a walking or driving tour of your town to see all of the holiday decorations, make cookies or healthy snacks with friends. I would not advise ice-skating until you’re done performances, because freak accidents do happen!

5. Go Out to Eat with Friends or Family

It’s easy to get stuck in a food rut no matter what time of year. After a performance, go out to dinner with friends and/or family. It gives you an opportunity to try a new dish, and get new ideas for meals. Being social is a good way to get out of that Nutcracker bubble, especially while spending time with non-dancers.

6. Massage Your Muscles Often

Your body takes a lot of abuse during performances. Many stages are not sprung and because of adrenaline, you might not feel the effects of jumping on a hard stage until later that night or even until performances are over.

Massage your muscles with foam rollers, tennis balls, take Epsom salt baths, and if you can afford it get a professional massage. Compression socks also help alleviate tight calves and ankles.

7. Meditate or go to Yoga

Yoga and meditation are a great way to unwind both your mind and your body. In the cold months hot yoga feels especially great on sore and tight muscles. It’s also great cross training for your day off that works different muscles than the ones you use in rehearsal.

8. Find A Way to Make Each Performance Special

Nutcracker can start to lack luster when you’re doing Snow for the 20th time. Find a way to make each performance special. Give yourself something to focus on each show.

For example, focus on pointing your feet to the max one show, your energy level the next show, and your facial expression on the third show. Remember, at least one person in the audience is experiencing Nutcracker for the first time. Think of making each performance as magical as the first time you saw it.

9. Find New Inspiration

Go for a walk, read a book, watch a documentary (Wendy Whelan’s “Restless Creature” is now on Netflix), and take class from a new teacher. Do anything that will inspire and renew your creativity.

Photo by John-Morgan on Visual hunt / CC BY

Photo by gabrielsaldana on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-SA

The post 9 Tips to Avoid Nutcracker Burnout appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

Dancers certainly get pushed into the Holidays somewhat prematurely. It’s only early Fall but I’d guess you’re working on Nutcracker in some form or another.

Personally, this really helps me to get excited for the Holidays and the New Year. How about you?

Instead of putting off new goals and intentions until January, why not make October super intentional and carry that proactive momentum through January 2017 and beyond!?

You’ll also set yourself up for success before things really get crazy with performances, secret santa, rehearsals, gift buying, holiday parties and all of those shenanigans.
You know that January usually kicks off audition season whether you’re going for companies or summer programs so setting goals now is a great way to ensure greater success in the New Year.

Some awesome ways to make October more intentional include:

Plan your week – if you don’t have a planner you can diagram out the week each Monday. Use your creativity to make this plan visually appealing and fun to create. My planner is full of color. I like to highlight things with different colored markers. This gets me more excited to plan!

Consider your food choices. The holidays can be dangerous if you don’t think ahead when it comes to eating healthfully. Balance out indulgences with nutrient dense meals full of greens, healthy fats and proteins.

Pointe towards the future – preparing your tools (shoes, makeup, hair) will allow you to feel less stressed and more settled when performance time comes around.

Clean ahead. Take some time now to deep clean your room or apartment. Clean out your closets and make your life as tidy and orderly as possible. This is going to help things to feel less chaotic when it seems like you have no free time.

Manifest, manifest, manifest. As you make goals and positive shifts, really prioritize your belief in what is possible. Visualize making the cut in that big audition. See yourself moving to the city where you’d like to be dancing. Being clear in your mind with what you desire can actually increase the likelihood of it happening.

**check out my favorite planner**

This week I’m creating two new FREE resources. One will help you feel more balanced AND the second will help you feel less bloated. I’m glad I can cover a physical stressor and some mental stressors – this way you’ll go into the next few months with an overall greater sense of calm and support.

If you join The Whole Dancer email list you’ll be the first to gain access to these new tools!

If there’s ever anything you’d like me to cover – shoot me a line! I want to provide the tools and tips you truly need so if there’s something I haven’t touched on yet – reach out!!

ALSO, exciting news!! You can now sign up for The Whole Dancer Program whenever you’re ready! During the month of October – to celebrate this shift you can receive some BIG exclusive savings – use code: intentionaloctober.

The Whole Dancer Program was created to help dancers cultivate a balanced lifestyle and mindset. The pre – holiday season is a great time to work on that balance. Get the details here.

The post Intentional October: for balanced Holidays appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

There’s a lot of very unhealthy tactics dancers employ during Nutcracker season in an effort to show no weakness and simply push through it!

Then, there are the performers who have found a healthy and grounded routine that works for them. They have likely developed their healthy “Nutty” habits over the years and are able to breeze through the season without getting sick or injured.

Let me help you get on the fast track to cleaning up your Nutcracker Act by highlighting some of the most common tactics most of us have tried to “push through” this busy season.

Sugar = Fast Energy, right? WRONG…

“Instead of providing the body with nutrition, it creates deficiency. It enters swiftly into the bloodstream and wreaks havoc on the blood sugar level, first pushing it sky-high—causing excitability, nervous tension and hyperactivity—and then dropping it extremely low—causing fatigue, depression, weariness and exhaustion, ” says Joshua Rosenthal of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

As you can see, sugar is not only no good as a source of performance energy but it also increases the likelihood that you will get sick.

Running on Adrenaline…

If you don’t prioritize healthy sleep and relaxation habits during Nutcracker time, you’re likely putting an excessive workload on your adrenal glands which are your bodies primary shock absorbers.

This can also lead to an increase in cortisol, the stress hormone, “cortisol increases your appetite and energy level while toning down your immune systems allergic and inflammatory responses,” says Dr. Christine Northrup.

The “I can do it all” Mentality

Some things have got to give. You can’t expect to take class, go to rehearsals, cross – train, find balance, go holiday shopping, cook your meals, work an extra job, run your blog, sew your pointe shoes, get 9 – hours of sleep, go on dates, attend every holiday party, AND perform your best.

You need to plan and prioritize!

So many of you already took the time to register for the no – cost “Self – Care for Nutcracker Season” webinar, one week from today. Shelby and I are so thrilled!!

This workshop is now available as an audio training in The Whole Dancer Foundations Course!

The post Common Nutcracker traps! appeared first on The Whole Dancer.