A major casting disappointment.

It’s quite rare to feel totally confident about your position in this industry, especially when you’re getting mixed messages.

The feedback we receive, even when it’s meant to be constructive, can leave us totally confused. 

During my senior year of college at Butler University, there was a prestigious guest choreographer staging a new ballet. Everyone wanted desperately to be cast in this ballet.

As per usual, the choreographer chose dancers after watching us try some of his movement phrases.

I was really happy with my performance and hopeful that I had gotten one of the coveted spots.

When the casting sheet went up, I had not been chosen and would instead be in a really modern piece — not my forte.

A few days later, I ran into the dance department head, and she told me, “You would have been cast in that piece, but your partner made you look bad, and that’s why you weren’t chosen.” My first thought was, why are you even telling me this? It didn’t seem constructive, and it magnified my disappointment.

I decided to just move on. I invested myself full force in the piece I was cast in: Twyla Tharp’s “Torelli” — if you know it, you know it’s intense. It ended up being one of the most transformative dance experiences of my life. It helped prepare me for future castings in movement styles that felt less natural — something you’ll face often in ballet companies today.

The original disappointment turned out to be a huge blessing and learning experience. To help you see disappointment’s as opportunity, here are some tools of transformation.

Transform your mindset around disappointment.

In the coming months, you might be returning to a more “normal” dance environment. You’ll be back in classes, auditions, rehearsals, or casting situations that may have stressed you out in the past. Here are some ways to transform your approach to feel more balanced and positive along the way. Attention to mindset is one of the key tools of transformation.

• What’s meant for you will come. In the moment, this can be hard, but work towards a place of believing that something better is coming. You’re not getting the role you want, but a different role might in fact provide greater opportunity for growth.

• Lead with gratitude. What’s going well? What privileges and experiences exist in your life that you can acknowledge regularly to feel more whole?

• Stay aware of what’s within your control. You don’t get to decide what roles you’ll dance. You do get to decide how you will show up in rehearsals and what kind of work ethic you’ll apply.

Commit to finding ways to show up and find your happiness even in more challenging dance experiences.

Cultivate unshakeable body confidence for dance.

Confidence is defined as– “a feeling of self-assurance arising from one’s appreciation of one’s own abilities or qualities.”

To translate that idea to your body, practice The Whole Dancer Body Image Booster each and every day. It’s about recommitting to gratitude for all that your body does. Include it as part of your morning routine, just like brushing your teeth.

Stay mindful of what you’re making things mean. When something disappointing happens (you don’t get the job, role, etc.), do you always make it about your body? If body confidence is an area of struggle for you, it’s very possible you blame your body when anything goes “wrong.”

You can’t blame your body when it’s what allows you to dance. Without it, you’d be missing out on dancing altogether. Unshakeable body confidence is one of the key tools of transformation.

Prioritize self-care.

If you’ve been following The Whole Dancer for a while, you might think I sound like a broken record. It’s just a very strong belief of mine (and one that’s validated over and over again by the dancers I work with) that caring for yourself promotes self-love.

Here are some easy self-care practices to include:

• Keep healthy sleep routines with morning and evening activities that promote rest and relaxation. This might look like putting your phone away at a certain time each night and committing to not touching it for the first couple hours in the day.

• Consistently eat enough. Do the planning required to have lots of meal and snack options ready to go, especially when things get busy.

• Create a pleasing, calm, and relaxing home environment. You can do this by diffusing essential oils, bringing plants into your home, and opening windows to allow fresh air in.

Self-care also includes the basics: taking a break when you need one, sitting on the couch without guilt, waking up, getting dressed, brushing your teeth, and feeling your feelings (cry whenever and however much you want). Stay tuned for a new resource, “A Dancer’s Guide to Self-Care,” coming out later this month for even more tips and ideas. If you’re on The Whole Dancer email list, you’ll be the first to get it!

Tools of Transformation was originally published on April 30, 2016

Reposted and updated for clarity and content on June 30, 2021

The post The Tools of Transformation appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

It’s easy to look to your metabolism for the reason your body is progressing slowly. Well, what if your metabolism isn’t the problem? First, let’s look at the things that likely aren’t keeping you from reaching your body goals.

Your Metabolism:

It’s a common scapegoat—do you ever have that feeling that you just have a slower metabolism? Your metabolism (resting metabolic rate) is the amount of energy your body requires to simply function.

Things to keep in mind: if you lose weight, restrict calories, or lose muscle mass, your metabolism will be negatively impacted.

 If you’re holding onto weight even though you feel like you’re doing “everything right,” there is the slim possibility that you have a thyroid issue. Hypothyroidism affects 4.6% of the US population over age 12 and makes it difficult to adjust your weight. If you think your thyroid isn’t functioning optimally, get it checked by a professional.

Aside from a thyroid issue, your metabolism is not likely the problem when it comes to reaching your personal best dancer’s body. When you find the food plan that is best for your body (just yours, no one else’s), your metabolic rate will work for you and help you get to where you want to be.

Yes, there are certainly dancers who are fast metabolizers. These tend to be the people who are always eating and always bouncing off the walls with energy, and they easily stay super thin. If you’re not that person, it’s ok. (I’m certainly not!) You can still reach your body goals.

You might think the problem is your genes.

An artistic director told a client of mine that to attain a “ballerina body,” she’d have to stick to lettuce and water. The artistic director pointed to genes as her problem. Not only was the information and advice inaccurate, but it was extremely damaging to the dancer as well.

More and more nutritional research points to the fact that our genes are malleable. Certain ones can be turned on or off depending on your food choices.

When I was dancing, I remember feeling that if I wanted to reach my body goals, I needed to eat as little as possible. I don’t even remember blaming anything like my metabolism or genes. It just seemed that to be as thin as some of my fellow dancers, it would take extremes.

This led to under eating throughout high school and college. I kept it up throughout my early years of dancing professionally. Then, when I was working through long days of rehearsals on little food, it started catching up with me.

I’d return home ravenous and uncontrollably eat everything in sight. My weight fluctuated between 5 and 10 pounds most of the time. A tutu would fit one week and not the next. The ballet mistress once said to me, “did you actually gain weight since last week?” If you’ve experienced this on any level, you know it’s pretty devastating.

Stress and stress fractures consumed my training and professional career. My erratic food choices were the cause of all the injuries and anguish I experienced on my dance journey.

You’ve been bombarded with mixed messages by teachers, friends, family, and the media about how you should look and what you should do to attain that goal. You might feel like you’ll only be able to reach your body goals if you go to extremes.,

So if the problem isn’t genetics or metabolism, what is it?

Dancers, the #1 thing you need to work on to reach your personal best body is your relationship with food.

Your metabolism and genes are probably not slowing down your progress. This means you hold the power! Put the time into cultivating a mindset that supports you in reaching your goals. View your body with positivity.

Treat your body with respect, and fuel it lovingly with food you enjoy.

To help you start moving in a positive direction, claim your FREE Best Body Guide and join The Whole Dancer Community. With this guide and the weekly emails from The Whole Dancer, you can start to identify action steps to take you forward!

Did you find this post helpful? Please comment below and share your thoughts!

Resources :

https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/endocrine-diseases/hypothyroidism (1)

The post Your metabolism isn’t the problem… 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.

Cross–training may or may not be a missing link for you as a dancer. It’s possible you’ve got your cross–training plan all figured out, but if you don’t, no worries, most dancers are a bit lost when it comes to cross–training.

To find the best way of eating for your needs, experimentation is required. This is true for cross-training as well. For some of you lifting weights will be ideal, for others Pilates or Pilates reformer sessions will work best, and for others yoga or cardio might be beneficial.

Things to consider for some of the most popular cross-training options…

1.Weight Lifting

• Studies have shown that resistance training can be used to help improve mood.1
• Frequency is often not a factor. The increase in strength is often similar whether you lift weights more or less frequently.2
• Don’t fear “bulking up.” Women don’t have the hormonal capacity to get “big.”

2. Pilates Reformer or Mat Exercises

• Ideal if you need more focus on abdominal strength and trunk stabilization. An easy way to determine if your core is weak is to assess any back pain you experience.
• Pilates, especially reformer exercises, can help to balance out your muscles and physical proportions.
• The physical movement of Pilates can also have a positive impact on emotional well-being and self perception.3
• Again, pilates is not likely to be something you have to do every single day to reap the benefits. For most, 2-3 times per week would be beneficial.

3. Yoga

• For dancers, one of the greatest potential benefits of yoga is movement without a mirror. Taking the focus away from how you look and putting it instead on what your body can do is extremely positive.
• Combining the goals of strength and flexibility, yoga is supportive especially if you experience muscle tightness or want to improve stability.
• To go a little deeper into the benefits of yoga for dancers, check out this interview with Louisville Ballet dancer + yogi Leigh Anne Albrechta.

4. Cardiovascular Exercise

• Cardio can support your dancing, but it’s essential to find a balance.
• Hours of cardio each day can have the opposite effect leading to fatigue and less energy and stamina for class and rehearsals.
• High Intensity Interval Training isn’t shown to have a more positive impact on stamina and endurance than sustained cardio like swimming, running, or the elliptical.

Whatever you do for cross-training, you should enjoy it!

Dancers are consistent with dancing. It’s what you love to do, and it’s been drilled into your head that missing a day can be detrimental (not true, but that’s a topic for another day). Whatever you choose to do for cardio, find something you enjoy that you can stick to. Just like with food — that’s the only way you’ll see the potential positive impact in your dancing.

If you’re unsure where to start, pick one thing and include it in your schedule a few times a week. Stick to it for 2-4 weeks so you can see how it makes you feel and how it impacts your dancing.

Throughout your time dancing, it’s a good idea to switch up your cross-training and try new things. Keeping your body guessing can build strength and wake up your body in new ways that will help you to continue improving as an athlete and artist.

The post Improve your dancing with this missing link appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

Recently I came across a post by a dancer who talked about all the “father figures” she came across in dance and her desire to please them and gain their love and approval. I can relate to that. I lost my father at a young age, I had closer relationships with men in ballet than anywhere else.

Dance is a people pleasing art. You’re concerned with looking good and living up to the standards expected by your teachers. That goal becomes ingrained early, it’s challenging to shake.

As a child as young as 7 or 8 the aim in class is often to perform and show our teacher’s we’re listening…obedient.

The discipline of dance isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, the authoritative stance and mean, critical approach some teacher’s take really breaks down your sense of self. It makes it hard for you to find authentic joy and confidence in dance.

When body comments and criticisms start at a similarly young and vulnerable age, you’re set up for what can be a lifetime struggle to accept your body and abilities.

In all of this, it’s easy to get pulled away from what should be your focus – improving your technique and artistry AND enjoying your dance pursuits.

It all becomes about earning a teacher’s love and approval. Which in reality, you don’t need to succeed. Being the teacher’s pet alone does not guarantee a job after your training.

The most loved student doesn’t necessarily go the furthest, BUT if you let the lack of love and admiration from your teacher impact your confidence it can be a big factor.

In order to stay positive in your pursuit, you can’t make it about pleasing every teacher or Artistic Director you come across. It can’t be about gaining their love.

To find success in dance you need to love yourself. With the ups and downs and challenges you might face, you’ve got to be your biggest supporter.

Usually, the love of your teacher or Artistic Director is conditional. It might be given or taken away based on your weight. Or it could be dependent on your placing at a competition or receiving a scholarship. If you’re coming back from injury they might be less supportive.

The only unconditional love you can count on is from yourself (if you work to get there). And one of the big benefits of working towards unconditional self-love is that it’s going to support you in dance and beyond.

When you release self-judgement but instead support yourself towards your goals, you’ll dance better, freer and with more joy.

The joy can radiate off of you and that’s what will get you hired! Check out this recent chat I had with dance photographer Rachel Neville. We discussed the importance of finding inner peace and confidence and how your body language speaks volumes:

Photo on Visualhunt.com

The post You don’t need your dance teachers love… appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

Dancers are a restless creature that are incapable of sitting still. But what do you do when you’re injured? We feel stir crazy sitting on the sidelines watching rehearsals while your injury heals. You worry about losing strength and technique and wonder how long it will take to get it back.

With all of these questions in mind, I talked with Dr. Elizabeth Barchi, Staff Physician at the Harkness Center for Dancer Injuries in New York City about how she creates a cross training plan with her patients while they are recovering from an injury.

“An injury can be a blessing in disguise,” says Barchi. Because dancers are told by teachers every day what to do, as a young dancer, you sometimes struggle with figuring out how to take care of yourself (both physically and mentally) when a teacher is not instructing exactly what to do. The one positive to injuries that Barchi points out is: “Injuries force dancers to learn the responsibility of taking care of your body.”

Many of her patients feel like it’s the end of the world when they are injured and have to take time away from dance. However, she quickly reassures them that an injury doesn’t always mean a complete shutdown. “An injury can be a reset button with your technique,” says Barchi. She works with her patients to find body weaknesses that caused the injury and strengthen it.

“I have the dancer work everything else in the body but the injury,” says Barchi about creating a recovery plan for her patients. “If we isolate an injury, why not work everything else?” She advocates dancers doing cross training methods such as Pilates, gyrotonics, and floor barre that allow patients to strengthen while isolating the injury and putting less stress on the body.

“I have my patients start cross training right away, unless its burnout syndrome or anorexia, or issues that have to do with the entire body,” says Brachi. She will often prescribe physical therapy to her patients, but also gives them freedom to do cross training they are familiar with.

When first starting recovery cross training, use light or no resistance for your exercises from physical therapy, Pilates, or gyrotonics, focusing on correct placement and alignment. Gradually, as you build strength add more weight or resistance. Your physical therapist or instructor will be able to help you with creating a plan gradually increasing the resistance.

For cardio, Barchi is a huge fan of swimming: “You can change up the strokes to work different parts of the arms. You can use a kickboard, or swim just using your arms.” She cautions: “Don’t push off too hard on the wall if you’re recovering from a foot, knee, or ankle injury.” The elliptical machine and stationary bike are other forms of cardio that Barchi recommends. Dancers can also use the rowing machine for cardio, unless they are recovering from a back injury.

I asked the polarizing question: should dancers run? “The last thing you want to do is add more impact, especially if you have a stress fracture or stress injury. Don’t run until you’ve built up the proper mechanics,” says Barchi. She believes it’s a great form of exercise and good cardio, but you have to make sure you’re doing it properly, so you do not cause further damage to your body. Barchi advises not running if you already doing rep with a ton of impact in your season or semester.  

What blew me away was her prescription of one exercise every dancer should do while recovering from any injury: self reflection. She has dancers ask themselves: “What it is you love about dance? The way you feel, the music, the feeling of being in a tutu? Boil it down to the specifics. You can carry that feeling on to your next career when you retire.”

Barchi focuses on mental health, not just physical health, when working with dancers. She works with patients on developing new thought patterns of being positive. Barchi feels creating positivity in dancers is important: “Because we are raised being yelled at, it has a profound affect.”

As an exercise, Barchi has her patient watch a video of themselves performing and asks them to list 10 things they liked about their performance. Sample responses are: I liked my musicality, I like how I finished my pirouette, my smile was beautiful, my transition steps were clean, I liked the epaulement I used.

“Knowing your positive qualities helps you know what to sell at auditions, instead of being nervous thinking I hope they like me. It’s taking control of circumstances,” says Barchi.  

About Elizabeth Barchi, MD, Staff Physician at Harkness Center for Dance Injuries

Dr. Barchi is a board-certified pediatrician with an added qualification in pediatric sports medicine. Her early career with Brandywine Ballet sparked both her passion for dance medicine and her career in the innovation of medical care and training of dancers. During her fellowship training at NYU School of Medicine, she studied dance medicine under the mentorship of Dr. Rose and Dr. Weiss. She is thrilled to be a part of the groundbreaking medical and research teams at Harkness Center for Dance Injuries.

Note: ALWAYS TALK TO DOCTORS FIRST AND DO NOT SELF DIAGNOSE. WORK WITH YOUR DOCTOR TO CREATE AN INJURY RECOVERY PLAN DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU AND YOUR INJURY.

The post Cross Training while Injured appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

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.

Burnout – a very real mental issue for dancers that can get even the best of us. It’s the dread of going to the studio, not feeling motivated in class, wishing you were anywhere else during rehearsal. Even the dancers who are the most passionate about dance feel this way at one time or another.

Why does this happen? Well, there is no set reason why burnout happens, and it’s different for each person. A few possible reasons why you might be feeling impassioned include: going a long period without a day off, lack of sleep, stress, Seasonal Affective Disorder (especially during the winter months), and lack of self-care time.

Life happens and so does burnout. So let’s talk about a few days to cope with burnout so you can happily jump back into the studio.

Spend Time with Friends

Call your friends and make a friend date. You don’t even have to go out; it could be watching a movie at home or drinking tea and catching up. Use this time to talk about your in studio mental struggles, but also make sure to take a break from studio talk and have a good laugh. If your close friend doesn’t live nearby, schedule a Skype date.

If none of your friends are free, take yourself on a me date. Go to your favorite coffee place, buy a drink and/or snack, and read a book. Go to a museum or a movie. Find something that is a “treat yo self” moment.

Friends and family are your support system. Don’t be afraid to use them, especially when you are in a mental place where you need extra support and love. Know who your key support people are and have them on speed dial.

Get Your Feelings Out

Sometimes it just helps to get your feelings out, whether it’s journaling, improving, talking with a friend, or singing at the top of your lungs.

When you write, it could be a free writing ramble, a bullet journal, a poem, or just doodles. The main point of this exercise is just to let the emotions go, instead of keeping them bottled up inside.

If you chose to improv, pick a song or your favorite artist and just dance. It doesn’t have to be in the studio while you’re wearing leotard and tights. You could be in your room dancing in your pajamas to Spice Girls. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as the improv reminds you how good it feels to move.

Create a playlist for when you choose to sing your emotions out. I have a playlist of my favorite songs to belt while I’m driving home after a long day for this exact reason.

Go To Yoga

It’s cross-training, stretching, meditation, and depending on the style- a good sweat. Go to yoga to give yourself time and space to take care of yourself and just breathe. If meditation or a breath focused class would better serve you, take a Hatha class. If you just need to move to clear your mind, consider taking Vinyasa or a heated Power Flow class. No one yoga class with serve your needs each day or week, so be open to trying different styles depending on your current needs.

Make a Meal

Make a meal you would not normally have time to make during a busy week. During the week, we sometimes fall back on recipes that are familiar and easy to make, which can sometime lead to feeling as if you’re in a food rut. Try a new recipe, put yourself outside your usual food choices, and cooking habits. It’s so satisfying spending a free evening creating a recipe that takes upward of an hour. You get a delicious result and a sense of accomplishment. Plus, this is another great idea for a relaxing friend date.  

Read a Book of Watch a Movie

Pick a form of entertainment that will allow you to step into another world for 2-3 hours. Find a story that will lift your spirits, make you laugh, and maybe even cry. I would not recommend watching a tv show, because it is very easy to turn watching one episode into a six hour long binge.

Take an Epsom Salt Bath

Give your body some TLC and do an Epsom salt bath to help relax your muscles. Add some lavender oil for a calming effect.

Go for a Walk or Hike

Living in the city (New York City), I am definitely a creature of habit: I walk to work the same way every day, I take the same subway lines. One my free days, I like to change it up and explore different parts of the city (which is often part of my me dates). I’ve found some great tea and healthy lunch places while exploring. This change of pace feels like a much needed breath of fresh air compared to my usual rush to get where I need to go (fast).

If you live in a more suburban or rural area, enjoy nature and go for a short hike. Another great way to enjoy nature’s beauty is by going to a botanical garden. It can be very relaxing to walk and sit amongst the flowers.

At the end of the day, listen to what your body and mind says it needs. Spend time attending to those needs so you can refuel and rejuvenate yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally.

The post Coping with Burnout in Dance appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

We’ve had the pleasure of reviewing Apolla Performance products on The Whole Dancer blog before – you can check out our last review here! Well, since then Apolla has come out with some incredible new products that we got to test out here at The Whole Dancer.

The K-Warmer

Last year, Apolla Performance released the K-Warmer (Kinesio Warmer)  their fresh take on leg warmers. These leg warmers are different than any other leg warmers on the market, not only do they warm your legs, but they also offer compression. They took the compression technology that goes into their shocks and applied it to the K-Warmer.

The K-Warmer measures at 29 inches total with 21 inches of leg compression, 4 inches of fabric around the ankle, and 4 inches of stretchy fabric for the top of the thigh (that isn’t compression). As someone who is 5’6”, the K-Warmer came up to almost the top of my thigh, but I did not have the ankle part over my heel. When I did have it over my heel it came to mid thigh.

Because of the compression technology, the K-Warmers fit and feel more like a compression sleeve than a legwarmer. That being said, when I wore them for class and then took them off during barre, my regular tights almost came off with the legwarmers. For this reason, I do not think they would be best for wearing backstage in between pieces when you need to quickly add or remove layers.

They do keep your legs very warm. I wore my K-Warmers over capris length leggings in 30-degree (Fahrenheit) weather, and the cold never seeped through them. While wearing them during class, my legs were very warm by the second tendu combination.

The K-Warmer is the perfect leg wear for muscle recovery. I wore my K-Warmers for the first time two days after I ran my first 5K. At that point my muscles were VERY sore. Wearing my K-Warmers definitely gave my muscles relief and helped me get through my cross training at the gym that day.

The K-Warmer is the ideal leg wear that optimizes muscle health and recovery during your warm-up, cool down, cross training, and everything in between.

The Joule

The Joule is another newer product from Apolla and it looks a lot like a standard ankle brace. Unlike a standard ankle brace – it’s supportive but not restrictive. As someone who experienced “chronic” ankle sprains throughout my dance training and career, I wore a lot of ankle braces.

Most of the time they limited my mobility so much that I couldn’t fully point my feet and I didn’t feel like I was able to keep wearing it as I moved towards recovery. The Joule however would have been great support as my ankles recovered and regained strength. They provide similar support to taping but without the hassle.

By wearing the Joule you are able to actually combat inflammation while you’re dancing. So if you’re prone to flare ups – it works wonders. In addition to the actual compression it provides, the Joule offers arch support as well.

According to Apolla, “When you don’t have support in your arch, the force of dancing yanks on the plantar fascia at the insertion points and causes inflammation. To keep strong arches, it is good to give them support in class and after during recovery.”

Did I mention you can wear them under ballet shoes and they offer a multitude of colors – various skin tones and even ballet pink so they can be worn more discretely than a brace as well.

I’ve worn my Joule’s to take class and to teach as well. You can even wear them when you’re traveling to provide some compression to once again reduce unwanted inflammation. They’re machine washable and totally versatile. I consider the Joule to be a dancer necessity. Even if you don’t have ankle issues per-se you would benefit from wearing these during or just after class to help your feet and ankle’s recover!

Head over to Apolla Performance and check out the Joule and K-Warmer. Have you tried either of these products? We’d love to hear your take! Share in the comments below.

K-Warmer Review by The Whole Dancer Content Assistant – Jessie and Joule Review by The Whole Dancer Founder, Jess.

The post Apolla K-Warmer and Joule Review appeared first on The Whole Dancer.

When I turned 9, my dance teacher asked me if I wanted to do something more professional and audition for a ballet academy. Dancing was all I wanted to do so I answered yes. My parents allowed me to take my own decisions and they supported me and my choices.

At age 10 I auditioned for La Scala in Milan and got rejected. It left me very upset, but I decided to try for another professional dance school and I got in. I moved away from home and started studying every day and I slowly found out how much discipline and hard work are required to make it as a dancer.

Two years later I moved to another dance studio that offered me the possibility to take certified ballet exams, do competitions and audition for bigger dance academies as well. I recently auditioned for the American Ballet Theatre JKO School and received a full one-year scholarship so, next fall I’ll be moving to New York and start a new exciting journey there.

Reading what I wrote above, it seems like I had to do nothing except for taking ballet classes every day to get where I am now. It wasn’t like that at all! I had to overcome many obstacles! When I moved away from home at 10 I went to live in the dormitory of the ballet school and I was the youngest girl there.

I was always alone and I slowly fell down into depression. At age 11 I developed a serious eating disorder but nobody really noticed how bad I was feeling and, if they noticed, they preferred to stay out of it. I was lying to my parents because I didn’t want to worry them but they understood that something was wrong and they brought me home.

I wasn’t allowed to dance or do any sort of physical activity form months and I was seeking help from a psychologist to get out of my eating disorder. It has been very hard, both for me and my parents. Once I started feeling better I immediately asked to go back to dance classes, I was missing ballet too much!

When I started dancing again, even if I wasn’t physically recovered, I began smiling and I rediscovered my positivity and strength. It took me around two years to fully recover from depression and anorexia, but now I look back and see how much I have grown and I am proud of myself.

When I moved to my current dance studio I started focusing a lot on improving my dance technique rather than spending time looking in the mirror to mentally measure my body and feel bad about it. This was the major turning point in my dance journey.

I was also surrounded by many friends and thanks to that I re-found my true passion for ballet and a tiny bit of self-esteem. I turned my goal from being the skinniest possible to becoming the best dancer I could be and with this idea in mind, I got where I am now and I can’t wait to see what life brings to me.

Finding out how far I can go by simply pushing myself out of my comfort zone is what inspires me to dance. I want to achieve as much as I can and share it through my dancing. Outside of dance, I just try to always be the nest version of myself, to be kind to myself and others, to be polite, to follow my heart and to make as much experience as I can.

I am a very curious person and I always want to try new things. Mental health is essential for me and to take care of it I try to treat myself as if I was my best friend. I try to reduce negative self-talk (I said reduce because I admit I sometimes judge myself), I try to stay surrounded by people I love and admire, I spend time alone because it helps me to reconnect with myself and I do things that I really enjoy outside of dance (journaling, reading, writing, taking pictures…).

When I feel down I usually listen to music or I find some motivational speakers videos, I talk about my fears with my mom and I just remind myself my goals. It’s impossible to feel positive 100% of the times: I accept it and move forward.

I have many people I consider mentors. My parents are my number 1 mentors, then the psychologist who helped me to get out of depression, one of my previous dance teacher who doesn’t teach me anymore but still helps me whenever I need support and all the people in The Whole Dancer Facebook Community.

Whenever I have a problem I write there and so many sweet people reply giving advice and sending their love. It’s a wonderful community!

Have a clear goal in mind and do everything you can to reach it. Don’t give up: there will always be haters and hard times. Ask for help when you need it and enjoy the journey.

The post Alessia – from Depression to JKO appeared first on The Whole Dancer.