Passion for Dance

I feel like in the dance industry we use the word passion to mean your performance on the floor, to be believable, and truly go for it. But honestly, it's a lot more than that. If you have a passion for dance, I have some important news for you to consider: your passion for dance may be hurting you.  In this episode, I share some of the psychological research on passion to highlight the fact that...

Work-life balance is a myth, and I have some thoughts on the idea that I want to share with you today. There are so many self-help books and podcasts, and influencers out there telling you how to balance in work and life so that you never feel overwhelmed or guilty. I argue that true balance is impossible. But not because it's impossible to balance, but because I don't believe your life and your w...

If you've ever experienced a rehearsal where dancers aren't giving full effort, there's eye-rolling or disrespect, it's incredibly frustrating and it could be a sign the dancers lack accountability. Accountability is when you do what you say you're going to do to the best of your ability.  Accountability doesn't mean perfect or without mistakes, but if you promised you'd do something, you do it. ...

Let's talk about stress. Stress is something we all deal with, but today I want to share something with you that you might not have heard before… science has actually taught us that stress can be good for us! I know that sounds crazy but stick with me for this episode and I'll tell you all about it. Also, this episode is a little different... I'm going to speak directly to the dancers. Now dance t...

Do you feel like competing is an important part of your dance life? What would it look like if your dancers didn't compete? My guest today is Chasta Hamilton. She is the author of Trash The Trophies: How To Win Without Losing Your Soul, and the owner and artistic director of Stage Door Dance Productions. Chasta is reinventing the dance education model by focusing on character development and commu...

Journaling has so many benefits for dancers including reducing stress, noticing progress to boost motivation, organizing your thoughts, improving confidence, and growing as a dancer and person. I often talk about the lessons I've learned after years of teaching and coaching and in this episode, I want to talk about one of those lessons, in the hope that you choose to integrate some of this strateg...

Have you ever told your dancers to "leave it at the door?" I know I used that phrase a lot and it's because I wanted dancers to come into class with a positive mindset and let go of any drama or challenges that might get in the way. But in this episode, we're going to challenge that idea because maybe telling your dancers to leave it at the door is doing them a disservice.  My guest today is Ali P...

Why do we take a good performance for granted and seem to spend way too much time thinking about mistakes and performances we regret? Why do we naturally tend to docs on the bad side of things? Well, today I'm going to talk about how your brain processes information in a way that makes it so easy to hold onto the negative experiences and harder to focus on the good things. But the more we can lear...

This episode comes straight from all of you, I've had many people ask me to talk about having alternates on the team. It's a tricky situation, mentally and logistically but I didn't feel like I could talk about this topic on my own. Instead, I interviewed 5 successful high school coaches to get their insights and perspectives on using alternates in their programs. As I hoped and expected, there ar...

In my opinion as a sport psychology consultant, a positive motivational climate is the holy grail of teaching and coaching.  Every class you attend has a climate… a feeling… a sense of energy in the room.  Your job as a dance educator is to make sure that every day practice climate is one that fosters hard work, self-discipline, fun, and progress.   So how do we achieve this ideal positive motivat...

Do you have a young dancer in your life with big dreams of a professional ballet career? Knowing where to go for advice and how to choose the next step can be daunting for the young pre-professionals in our lives and I hope today's interview helps you guide them.   I had the pleasure of working on a project with a woman who serves as a wonderful ballet mentor recently and I'm so excited to share h...

What lessons did you learn from 2020? It's time to reflect on some of the mindset lessons I've learned last year and I want to share those lessons with you. The last 18 months have disrupted our normal routines and in different ways, our work-life balance. One of the important lessons psychologists have taught us is the value of reflection. It's a chance to pause and notice what's different and ho...

In this episode, I talk with a registered dietitian and former competitive dancer Jenny Accettura. As usual, I bring the mindset perspective into the conversation and Jenny shared a major mindset shift about nutrition that might serve you if you're a former dancer...aka an adult who doesn't train as many hours as you used to! We also discussed the challenging food rules you learned as a dancer and...

The Confident Dancer Summit kicks of Friday, Aug 6th 2021 Grab your free ticket: https://confidentdancersummit.com The summit will run from Aug 6th through Aug 8th 2021 Each day will be packed with amazing speakers who are ready to help you improve your own confidence and learn the tools to help your dancers We've got a pop-up Facebook group where you'll find all of our experts, connect with other...

This is part 1 of a two-part series about improving confidence and for part 1, I focus on where confidence comes from because if we understand where it comes from, we are in a better position to change it. And to help explain this in the episode I share a story of one simple competition day that changed my coaching career. Then I cover the 3 sources of confidence and a takeaway for how you can use...

Do you ever wish your dancers would focus more on individual growth rather than being the best? I know many dancers who only found success in the win or in being the best, when I know they would go so much further and enjoy their success more if they defined success differently. For this episode, I brought in Erin Manske because she has a unique background and take on dance team. She developed a w...

Have you ever heard of the self-fulfilling prophecy? It's the phenomenon where an individual's or a group's expectation for the behavior of another individual or group serves actually to bring the expected behavior. As a dance educator, it means that your expectation of your dancer's behavior and ability can actually bring about that expected behavior… good or bad. Here's one example where it play...

Whenever I discuss the negative side of punishment, and why you should always avoid physical punishment I get questions about what to do instead. The focus is usually on the side of consequences. Coaches want to know, how do I get them to stop doing that bad behavior? How do I get them to listen, how do I get them to work hard, how do I get them to remember everything. Punishment is only part of t...

There is no denying that the current generation of athletes is different . Not necessarily good or bad, but they are different. There are some things to consider this season when coaching and teaching Generation Z: the advantages, the challenges, and specifically in this episode I want to talk about how technology influences this generation and our ability to teach them. There's no question growin...

One of the biggest mental skills training sessions I do in the summer is goal setting. Why? because it is the foundation for a lot of other things. If your dancers know how to set and track goals properly, they can rely on that skill to boost confidence later on, or increase work ethic and accountability. It's a great way to start off your new season with a school dance team, or set the tone with...

I used to start every season with a mix of emotions. Excitement, nerves, doubts, plans, goals… there are a lot of moving parts! I talk a lot about self-talk with dancers. It's a really important and challenging mental skill that doesn't come easy to most of us. Today however, I want to focus on some of the negative self-talk that coaches and teachers may be experiencing at the beginning of the sea...

This week I have the pleasure of sharing an interview with Kelsey Nelson. You know how sometimes you meet someone and it just clicks? Kelsey and I clicked quickly and I think we have similar philosophies and approaches to teaching dance. In this episode, we cover topics like how to get more mentally tough dancers, how Kelsey defines success, and concrete tips for improving confidence in our dancer...

This week's episode is all about growth mindset. You may have heard of it, but do you know how to implement it with your dancers? Change how they learn and everything else improves along with their mindset.  I start by sharing a quick definition of the concept of a growth mindset, but the heart of the episode is talking about how you can implement growth mindset strategies into your classes and pr...

This episode is all about mentorship and community, and why I believe it's the secret to success in our dance industry. I share the mistakes I made early on and the lessons I  learned along the way. I'm grateful to be a mentor and have mentors in many aspects of my dance career. I truly believe the best path for personal growth is to continue to grow your village of support by giving to others whi...

Recently I asked this wonderful village of dance coaches and teachers to submit questions that I could answer on the show. So in this episode, I have 3 questions about sport psychology and dance straight from the community. One of my favorite things about my job is getting to know and connect with fellow dance professionals and passionate coaches. So know that my inbox is always open, or send me a...