Audition season is a lot. It comes on the heels of Nutcracker season, which is intense and incredibly busy. Then, many dancers are caught up in a whirlwind of trying to get pictures, videos, travel plans, and pointe shoes ready for high stakes situations. All of that leaves little time to buck up your mindset, build body confidence, and plan strategically.

That’s why I’d encourage you to start now. I know you’re busy, but you have to ask yourself what your top priority is right now. Are you in a company where you’re likely to land a job? Or are you in a situation where you need to keep your options opened?

If you need options, you need to prioritize auditions and allow Nutcracker to just be fun, carefree, and low-stress. If you need help with that, let me know. 

Be strategic in your approach to auditions.

Each year, I work with dancers going into auditions. It’s essential that you identify your non-negotiables. You might prefer to stay in the eastern half of the US so you’re not too far from family. Maybe you’re strictly Balanchine trained and think you’ll excel in a more Balanchine-style company. Perhaps you’ve heard of toxic environments that you’d rather avoid.

Get very clear with yourself as far as what you’re willing to compromise on and what you’re not. Then create your company audition list. This list should be long — most of my clients end up with at least 50 companies on their lists and some go close to 100. This is simply done in an effort to increase the odds that you’ll end up with at least one offer and maybe even a handful of options to choose from.

Most audition situations these days have a first step of emailing materials. That takes some time but not much. You should take advantage of the ease with which you can get in touch with companies and increase your odds by sending your stuff out to a lot of prospects.

Accept that rejection is part of the process.

In all likelihood, you will get a lot more nos than yeses. You have to go into audition season ready to accept that fact. The key uplifting thing to remember is that you only need ONE offer. Again, by sending your stuff to a variety of different companies, there’s a much better chance you’ll get a job.

I’ve been coaching dancers through auditions in some capacity since The Whole Dancer was started in 2015, and each and every year, those dancers have gotten offers — many have gotten multiple offers.

Create a meal plan that supports high energy in auditions.

The holiday performance season is a great opportunity to start identifying easy, convenient ways to achieve optimal energy. Start to pay attention and strategize now so by the time auditions roll around and you’re dealing with travel or airport food, you’re ready to adapt.

Some things to keep in mind:

1. Fruits, vegetables, and plant foods provide high nutrient-dense fuel that can help to naturally increase energy.
2. Hydration is key!
3. Carbs and sugars are essential for energy. 
4. Find satiety with fats and protein.
5. Don’t cut any macros or food groups.
6. Audition season is not a time to be restrictive. (There’s never a time for this but especially when you’re asking your body to perform at its peak.)
7. Convenience food like bars and packaged snacks can find a place in your plan and in fact will make planning for this time that much easier.

Prioritize building body confidence and supporting a helpful mindset.

Start wearing your audition get-up now. Yes…now. Get very clear on which leotards and tights you feel best in on a more consistent basis. If you’ll be skipping the skirt in auditions (usually how it goes), then stop wearing it every day now. 

Whenever body insecurities come up, bring your focus back to gratitude. What does your body allow you to do? For more body image boosting strategies, check out this article I wrote for Pointe Magazine.

Spend more time on self-care. It’s easy to let those things go during the busyness of holidays and auditions, but that’s when it’s most needed. Take a quick bath, journal, meditate, give yourself permission to fully relax and veg on the couch.

Consider finances on this journey.

It’s time to drop the “starving artist” mentality (on so many levels). Start to explore creative work opportunities now. So often, dancers end up on their feet in customer service roles. While that’s not bad, there are other job options, and there’s some income planning I want you to consider.

1. Become a virtual assistant.
2. Reach out to dance brands (smaller companies especially) and see if they need an administrative or social media assistant.
3. Ask for pointe shoes as gifts (one less expense to stress about).
4. Work at the front desk of a yoga or pilates studio. (There are usually some awesome perks like free or discounted classes.)
5. Get in touch with any contacts, friends, or family who have an online or partly online business where you might once again serve as an administrative assistant.

You don’t have to tackle auditions alone.

You don’t have to be secretive about your audition plans. Talk to your friends about what you’re planning and what your experiences are. Supporting those around you isn’t going to extinguish your own potential for success. A more open dialogue will allow you to feel less alone, which in turn will help you to stay positive and optimistic along this journey. Then you’ll perform better.

It’s also important to consider support from someone who has been there. I’ve auditioned countless times for freelance gigs, full-time company positions, and more. The experiences I’ve had personally and the scenarios I’ve supported clients through have allowed me to stay in touch with the current job landscape in the dance world.

To get started with some free audition support, join me for a free, virtual Audition Success Workshop. At the workshop I’ll go more in-depth on all the topics discussed in this post. Click here for all the details and to save your spot!!

During this free workshop, you’ll learn how to:

• Create a meal plan that supports high energy in auditions.
• Plan for audition season early so you’re excited, not stressed.
• Be more strategic in your approach to auditions so you can better cope with rejection.
• Maintain body confidence and an uplifting mindset.
• Creatively finance your summer intensive and dance goals.

The post Finding Success in Dance Company Auditions appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

When you rewrite your body story and work to believe the new story you’ve created, you’ll feel empowered. You’ll start to see that even if someone else has a preference that your body doesn’t happen to fit into, it’s OK. You can find a place that celebrates and supports your unique shape, movement quality, and love for dance–come on, that’s what it should be about!! Those are the dancers who shine.

More often than not, I take my dancer clients through the process of rewriting their body stories. The power in reframing the context of your experience is immeasurable. 

Kathryn Morgan’s recent share about her experience with body shame and criticism while dancing at Miami City Ballet, highlights the importance of taking back the power. You get to write your body story, no one else.

Where our “stories” come from…

Your body story started forming when you were quite young. For some, it begins as young as five or six years old as you notice the world around you. People say things, perceptions form. It might be hard to remember a body memory from that young of an age, in which case, your earliest memory is a good place to start.

I’ve often shared where my body image issues began (for full details on that, read more here). I was thirteen and had just returned from my first Summer Intensive away. My main teacher at my home studio tapped me on the thigh before class and declared, “that wasn’t there before.” From that moment on, I was pretty obsessed with diets and always thought I should be smaller. I thought losing weight was imperative to becoming the best dancer I could be.

So think back…what’s the earliest memory you can remember that started to shape your perception of yourself or what a body in dance should be? Write it down. From there, think about all the comments you heard over the years. Write down all the comments you remember whether they were directed towards you or a group.

It can be painful to recount all the experiences you’ve had that made you feel badly about your body, but facing them is going to help you move on and rewrite your story.

Gathering evidence to back them up.

From those first body feedback experiences, you start to gather evidence to back up that negative perception you’ve created. So when you don’t do well in an audition you’ll revert to the thought, “it’s because of my thighs, just like Nadia said.” 

You start to use each bad audition or casting experience as evidence that your body is not good, too big, or just not right for dance. When you stay in that mindset, you won’t be able to support yourself with positivity, optimism, and possibility.

What’s worse: when you get positive feedback you’ll find a way to discount it. 

Research shows that we have a built in “negativity bias.” It’s much easier to focus on and remember negative experiences than positive ones. This is why rewriting your story to focus on all the good is essential. Even more important: you need to give yourself reminders throughout the day that there’s lots of good potential and positive things to focus on.

Rewrite your story.

Think about all the positive feedback you’ve received over the years. Just like you did with the negative, try to remember your earliest memories. Were you good at staying in line as one of those party kids in the Nutcracker? Did a teacher compliment you on your tendus when you were 8?

In addition to the actual positive comments, write down memories of teachers who were particularly encouraging, positive, and supportive. Who saw your potential and made you feel like you could succeed and achieve your dance goals? Go into as much detail around these memories as you can.

Once you’ve compiled all your positive memories, bring in some imagination and creativity. Go back to your experiences as a young dancer and rewrite them in your memory with only the good. Erase the negative experiences from the paper and your memory. What would it have looked like if you only had positive, supportive experiences? How would you feel? Would your approach to auditions, company class, and casting be different?

Keep coming back to your new body story.

Since we’re hardwired for negativity, you’ll have to come back to your new, positive body story each and every day. Maybe you read it every morning or take it with you in a journal when you go to auditions. 

Confirm for yourself–the positive is your truth. You get to choose what you believe. Believe the good, and trust the people who encouraged you along the way. The naysayers are usually projecting their own pain and negativity onto you anyway. Forgive them and let them go–their pain is not your responsibility.

What if you don’t rewrite your story and take the negative feedback as fact?

This is when people quit, burn out, or lose their passion for dance. It’s why my career ended in my late 20’s instead of continuing until I was truly ready to say goodbye to ballet. 

The body negativity will tear you down if you let it—it might take months or years, depending on the situation.

Rewrite your story so you can see all the good you have to offer as a dancer, an artist, a human.

Interested in working with me to reach your body goals, find unshakeable body confidence, and rewrite your body story for good? Apply for Elite Best Body Coaching.

The post Rewrite Your Body Story appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

Stop Dieting. Do this instead.

One of the challenges you might face is the desire to reach a body goal by a deadline. Sometimes there’s an impending audition or performance that you’d like to be thinner (or more toned, or “have longer lines”) for. So you try a diet – maybe you calorie count or count macros, or try WW, Atkins, Whole30, Cabbage soup, the list honestly goes on and on and on and on.

You’ll possibly see a change if you stick to one of these plans for a couple weeks or a month. And that progress can be a great motivator, but what comes next? Usually, there’s some sort of backslide. This can come in the form of a single binge or weeks of eating off the handle. Even if you don’t go to an opposite extreme, if the “diet” you were following was somewhat restrictive, when you start eating normally again, you’ll likely regain the weight you lost (or more).

This is the whole idea of “yo-yo” dieting which sounds a lot cuter than it actually is. It’s not healthy for your weight to be constantly fluctuating up and down. It’s not great for you physically, and possibly even more importantly, it’s not great for you emotionally. Dealing with those body changes and inconsistencies is exhausting – trust me, I was stuck in the “yo-yo” (definitely not cute) for over a decade.

So instead of dieting, what’s the solution?

First, look at where you are as a dancer. Are you bringing your best energy and attitude to class? Do you show up ready to perform and receive notes and feedback openly at rehearsals? What’s your level of happiness, satisfaction, and fulfillment in dance AND life?

If any of those things are out of whack – that’s your starting point. If you don’t address those things and instead put the focus on your body, food, and weight, you’re ignoring the areas that really need attention.

Food is a great distraction and so are diets. They’re something for us to sink our emotions into so that we don’t have to face what we’re actually feeling. Maybe your passion for dance has been waning, or you’re not feeling supported in your current dance environment. What can you do to address those things now?

Prioritize your happiness.

It needs to be the #1 focus. How’s your level of happiness? Think about how you feel in your day-to-day life. Are you enjoying your dancing? School? Meals? Time with friends?

If you’re feeling genuinely happy, and you’re approaching dance, life, and your body with a positive mindset, then yes, it might be an ok time to start working on some food shifts. If the life basics and level of happiness are lacking – start there. Trying to make body progress or achieve body goals becomes 1000x more challenging if you’re not attacking those things from a positive place.

Cultivate confidence in your body now.

The body you’re in might actually be your best body. Sometimes when I start working with a dancer, it becomes quite clear that the body they’re in is actually a wonderful vehicle for a dance career. Nothing needs to change physically. They’ve just convinced themselves for years that losing weight was the answer.

Maybe they’ve gotten those messages from teachers or artistic staff. It’s also possible they came to those conclusions based on what they observed in dance. However they arrived at that end, the mental piece is what needs support.

It takes some mental retraining to accept your body exactly where it is. Dance teaches you to see what’s wrong, what needs to change, or improve. Whenever the negative body thoughts come up, I want you to switch them to positives. In addition to that, each morning write down 3 things you’re grateful for, specifically concerning your body.

But still – no diets. Seriously, it’s time to stop dieting.

Here’s a better approach: work one-on-one with someone or go through a program that will guide you in figuring out the food that really works for your body. You’ll focus on adding more food that supports your dancing and finding balance with indulgences.

As boring as it sounds, making incremental changes to deeply ingrained habits is going to have a lot more benefit for the long term than anything else. It’s tough to tell yourself, “I’ve got to take this slow” when you look in the mirror and aren’t thrilled with what you see. Still, do your best to take it slow. Dieting is exhausting, draining, and dangerous. Stop dieting.

If you’re dancing professionally, and your job is being threatened because of where you are physically, I’d urge you to ask yourself how you feel about your body before jumping to extremes. If you feel good, maybe the answer is looking for other jobs. Easy solution? No. Healthy solution? Yes.

The post Stop Dieting. Do this instead. appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

Break up with those dieting and weight loss resolutions. Just say g’bye. More than 95% of the time they lead to feelings of disappointment and failure.

A few months into a new year and you’re suddenly left feeling like you have no self control, you can’t commit, and the fresh start you were so excited for is ruined. Another year of failure.

Rather than go down that path again, make a new deal with yourself. New year, new deal. Let’s make 2020 the year that you support your body and your dancing with healthy choices.

If you started making resolutions around your body or appearance years ago, ask yourself now, “how did those resolutions go?” and “how did they make me feel?”

I’d bet that you weren’t left feeling great. Maybe you were on a brief high imagining yourself slimmer or more toned, or with Isabella Boylston’s body.

The reality is that attaining those physical outcomes alone isn’t going to make you happy. Or make you a better dancer.

To reach your best body the #1 thing that needs to shift is any negativity you have towards your body. If you’re in a place of self-hate you’ll struggle to make any positive changes.

Moving forward, here are some concrete ways you can support yourself in reaching body goals in a lasting way. Let’s move past those temporary successes.

Having been through the ups and downs of weight and body image, I know how disappointing it is. You’re consistently tearing yourself down. It’s exhausting.

For lasting body change:

MINDSET FIRST

Get on the positive self-talk train. See that person staring back at you in the mirror? You’ll be with her for the rest of your life. She deserves love. Unconditional love.

Give yourself daily reminders (actually remind yourself multiple times throughout the day) just how worthy and wonderful you are.

For 2020, pick a simple mantra that you can repeat throughout your days ie “I am worthy of love”, “I am a hard-working and dedicated dancer”, “My body is amazing”, “I am capable of achieving all my goals and dreams.”

By getting the mindset right, you’ll be able to move towards your goals with less stress.

BE A FOOD SCIENTIST

No, I don’t want you mixing weird potions, magic drinks or taking pills to reach your goals…but you have to experiment! Here are some examples:

Give up dairy for a couple weeks and take note of how you feel.

Adjust the macronutrient (carbs, protein, fat) balance of your meals for a couple weeks and take note of how you feel.

Write down your meals for a couple days then look back at what you’ve eaten. Could you use more green vegetables? What about adding more complex carbs for energy? Is your diet lacking healthy fats?

Take a step back to see what’s missing or what might be slowing your progress. Adjust as needed.

For 2020, commit to finding the way of eating that works best for your body. What foods help you to stay energetic, strong and injury free? Discover the answers and you’ll be able to adapt to the changes of life and dance while maintaining your personal best body.

IMPROVE THE RELATIONSHIPS

Your relationship with food…it seems silly but this is something we establish from a young age. Was food looked at as a treat or reward? Did you start restricting or looking at foods as “good” or “bad” from a young age? This relationship need to be unpacked to improve.

Your relationship with your body…maybe someone said something to you directly. Or, you might have gotten general advice to improve “tone” or be “smaller”. It’s even possible you’ve just been influenced by social media and other dancers. Sometimes it feels like the thinnest dancers are the most celebrated.

Whatever the influences, it’s time to adjust your thinking around your body from negative to positive. When you start to acknowledge and thank your body for all that it does (hello, dancing!) you’ll be in a place to move towards goals healthfully.

For 2020, prioritize a positive relationship with food and your body. No foods are bad and none should be completely off limits all the time. By allowing all foods, you’ll never be tempted to binge or overeat. Work on body love wherever you are on your journey.

IN CONCLUSION

Don’t let 2020 be another year of unrealistic expectations that lead to disappointment. Use it as a positive turning point. How can you support yourself? What resources can support you? A New Year can be a vehicle for positive change.

Rather than setting diet or weight loss goals that lead to disappointment, think about ways to shift your thinking towards strong, confident dancing.

If you’re ready to make an investment in yourself and reach your body goals in a positive, healthy way check out The Dancer’s Best Body Program. This program was designed to take you through the process of self discovery (food, body, mindset) that leads to lasting body change. Enrollment opens in January, click here for details and to join the waitlist.

Photo by Natasha Spencer on Unsplash

The post Never make another weight loss resolution appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

with Louisville Ballet Dancer/Yogi Leigh Anne Albrechta

Yoga is associated with flexibility much more so than strength. Therefore, it’s easy for dancers to write it off as something they could too easily master or something that might not be super beneficial to their dance goals.

When you look at yoga from an insider’s perspective, it’s much more about the components of control and strength to support your flexibility. As a dancer, this could be an essential support for your dancing.

I sat down with Leigh Anne Albrechta in The Whole Dancer Facebook Group to discuss the benefits of this practice for dancers. Leigh Anne dances with the Louisville Ballet and has been teaching and practicing yoga for many years. In our chat, she pinpoints the ways this form of cross – training can support you not just in flexibility but also in the building of your strength in dance. Check out our chat here:

Beyond the physical benefits, it might provide dancers with significant psychological and emotional benefits as well. My personal experience in yoga provided some of the first times I was appreciating my bodies abilities beyond how it looked. I was able to turn inward and feel my strength without worrying about creating a perfect shape. It took lots of trial and error and exploration to find classes and instructors I enjoyed but the journey was well worth it.

For many dancers, the mental calm that yoga might provide could be a missing component in not just your dancing but your life. It might allow you to relax into yourself and find greater physical awareness than you might gain from dance alone. The benefits are many.

Have you tried yoga yourself? What was your experience? Share in the comments!! I’d love to hear from you.

The post Yoga as Cross Training for Dancers appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

Because City Ballet is one of my favorite companies, I’m very aware of their company dancers and Jenelle Manzi has been on my radar for a long time. She’s absolutely lovely to watch and now I’m happy to report that she’s a beautiful soul both inside and out.

Jenelle and I sat down to chat about her food blog but we also got into her journey in dance and how injury instilled a deep interest in “functional food”.

I hope Jenelle’s story with inspire you to get more curious about how the food you put in your body is impacting your body and it’s ability to heal and thrive. Everyone has different food sensitivities but with some investigative work you can discover what works best for you.

It’s so wonderful to see a dancer who has not only found a clear path for herself but who is committed to sharing her journey and recipes in order to inspire others. With recipes like “Maca Cacao Magic Cookies” and “Maca Mucuna Energy Bites”*, Jenelle’s creations take “indulgent, functional food” to a whole nother level.

*Maca is good for energy, stamina and endurance as well as balancing hormones*

The post Jenelle Manzi on Indulgent, Functional Food 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.

Breakfast with Kirsten Kemp

Kirsten Kemp, YouTube ballerina behind Twin Talks Ballet shares a unique cold – weather breakfast. At Kirsten’s YouTube channel you’ll hear more of her thoughts on healthy eating and the importance of nutrient dense food for dancers. She also shares tricks of the trade and some intimate experiences from her dance journey. Kirsten is currently dancing with Oklahoma City Ballet as a member of their Studio Company.

Ingredients : 

1/2 cup of dry amaranth

1 cup of water

1/4 – 1/2 cup of plant based milk

1 spoonful of natural peanut butter

1 tbsp of maple syrup

cinnamon to taste

a pinch of salt

Toppings :

1 sliced banana

peanuts

Method : 

Place amaranth and water in a small pot and bring to a boil, cover, then turn down the heat to medium-low and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Take off the lid during the last few minutes if you desire a thicker consistency. Turn off the heat and stir in your desired amount of plant based milk, peanut butter, maple syrup, cinnamon, and salt. Place in a bowl, and top with a sliced banana and peanuts. Enjoy!

Amaranth is an ancient grain that is rich in minerals, fiber, and protein – great for muscle repair, reducing inflammation, digestion, and bone health.

It is often overlooked, but I have found it to be affordable and available at most grocery stores. It is possible to make porridge out of most any grain, but I love amaranth for its unique, nutty flavor and creamy texture that somehow also offers a little bit of a crunch when you bite into the tiny grains!

In my experience, it is also more filling than oats or quinoa, which is excellent for sustained energy. I usually enjoy this on a weekend and make a little extra to reheat for a weekday breakfast. If you don’t have as much of an appetite (like me on weekday mornings) try reducing the amount of amaranth to 1/4 or 1/3 cup per serving. I hope that you will enjoy this unique and delicious porridge option as much as I do!

The post Amaranth Porridge from YouTube Dancer Kirsten Kemp appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

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To give you a brief glimpse into my performance history, after graduating high school, I started as a freshman at Juilliard. It was a very heady experience to be accepted into a world-famous BFA program and I enrolled eagerly.

Although I had been offered both corps and studio company contracts in the U.S. and Germany after winning a YAGP Finals gold medal and performing principal roles at a very high level, I turned them all down to study with the legendary teachers of Juilliard.

As it happened, I would stay there for only a short while because although I had always identified myself as a ballet dancer who could “move,” ballet was not encouraged at the same elite level and I missed it tremendously. It was the basis of my training growing up and I didn’t know going in that I might have to give it up.

When the artistic director of my home company, Rochester City Ballet, offered me the chance to dance the role of Firebird, I made the difficult but essential decision to leave Juilliard. The school was incredibly gracious and understanding of my decision and I will always cherish the friendships and community of dancers I found there.

A year later, I accepted a traineeship with the Boston Ballet season, and following that, I returned to RCB for a few years, both performing and teaching. I was then recruited to dance with The Georgia Ballet in Atlanta, GA, a fabulous opportunity in which I performed several principal roles.

Following the artistic director’s departure to teach full-time, however, I joined her in this endeavor, additionally teaching ballet at a well-known school. I wasn’t performing very much at this point except for a couple of wonderful guest performances each season. I also missed my family and friends in New York.

I had some decisions to make..should I continue to guest/freelance or take the time to complete my degree? I had lived in Atlanta for two+ years and would be leaving behind some very close connections.

I also knew that if I was going to switch paths entirely and go back to school, I should be in my hometown where the support would never be stronger and more sincere than that of my parents.

My decision to move back to Rochester was not an easy one, however, I truly thought I was done performing when I moved home this past March. It was quite a difficult fact to contemplate, all the while looking into what I might like to study in college.

In the midst of this, something happened that would alter everything. I had the chance to accompany my mom one month later on a two-day trip to NYC. On a lark, I decided to take two classes while in the city at Broadway Dance Center – one ballet and one theater. I had never taken class at BDC but immediately had a good feeling while being in their studios.

I was not in dance shape and therefore took beginner levels in both styles. Within minutes, my love of dance and technique came flooding back. Following the theater class, a beautiful dancer told me to audition for BDC’s professional semester. I didn’t know what that was. After some research, I discovered that I was eligible to apply for the semester, which included dance classes in all styles: ballet, jazz, theater, hip-hop, voice, tap, etc.

I would learn all of the tools needed to transition from a ballet career to musical theater. I would meet and work with some of the very best directors, teachers, and choreographers currently working in the industry.

I hadn’t thought about auditioning for theater during my years performing with ballet companies, despite the fact that I loved singing the Rogers & Hammerstein and Jule Styne standards from the time I was four (and still do!) Long story short, I returned to NYC two weeks later to audition for BDC’s professional semester and had the time of my life.

I found out the next day that I was accepted into the program, which would begin in August and go through mid- December. Since I still had most of the summer at home in Rochester, however, I enrolled in a college math class. I was reminded of how much I love learning and academia.

Someday I will complete of that degree, but not now. Now, I have to dance. From the first moment I arrived in NYC, I knew that I was finally “home,” and that I am in the right place. I’m currently a little over halfway through with my “pro semester” as we call it at BDC, and I would recommend it to each and every dancer pursuing a career in musical theater, commercial dance, or just wanting to learn exactly what it takes to make it in this industry.

Every one of my teachers is phenomenal with professional credits yards long. The opportunities that we have been given in this program are nothing short of extraordinary. I am living and loving my life, taking multiple classes daily and rediscovering a passion that reminds me each moment that I am a dancer through and through – it is who I am – and I have never been more grateful for this art form and the gifts I have been given than I am now.

I look forward to the rest of this program and to what will come next.

So what I’d like to leave you with is this: So much in life is about timing and taking chances, and I encourage all of you to take those chances even when you’re scared, or maybe especially when you’re scared.

BDC’s professional semester has changed my life in ways that I could not have imagined. The people I am meeting, the lessons learned, the amount of dancing I’ve done in such a short time – is all a gift that I could never have dreamt up myself.

I am now ready to jump onto that Broadway stage, the national tour, the company position where I will embrace any and all of it! Good luck to all of you, God Bless, and know that we are all in this together!

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