The Balanced Ballerinas Podcast

Today's episode is a little different to my usual. But it's also my 50th episode (I'm quietly super proud!) Whilst this episode is not how I thought I'd be celebrating '50' it's an important one that's close to my heart. If you are a first time listener of the podcast I highly recommend you pick another episode before listening to this one because this touches on a very personal event that's happe...

Last week I had the pleasure of sitting down with the gorgeous, vibrant and talented ex professional ballerina, master trainer and all round wonderful woman Louisa Paterson. Like many guests I ask to join me on the podcast, Louisa and I first met via Instagram. Liking and tagging our way to a mutual understanding that we were all about the same things; balance, discipline, empowering women through...

If you’re a long time listener of the podcast, it’s no surprise that I’m kind of into all things human optimisation. And amongst all the podcasts I listen to, documentaries I watch and books I read, a name keeps popping up… Wim Hof. The best way to describe Wim is that he’s a dutch extreme athlete now in his 60’s. He’s a big ball of love, drinks beer and his work was inspired by the tragic suicide...

There’s so much in this episode that I don’t even know where to begin. It’s less question and answer. More of a conversation between two friends. I’ve been meaning to catch up with Rose and record an episode of the podcast for a long time now. We go way back. Childhood friends dancing side by side for only a couple of years – but a couple of very formative years in our teens. Before the pandemic h...

Josephine is the Director of The Pointe Shop and the leader of a team of professional pointe shoe fitters that work out of her Orange County, San Diego and Oakland locations or they come directly to you. After recognising a need for more accessible and knowledgeable pointe shoe fittings, she started her traveling pointe shoe fitting company in January of 2014. After our conversation I was desperat...

Now I’m really excited to bring you today’s guest because he’s one of those rare master teachers who can actually relate to dancers that begin their training as a young adult. I always have so much respect for those that find dance a little later in life and had to persevere and persist amongst other dancers who had been training their whole life. I can’t relate to my clients who start ballet late...

Jess Spinner is the Founder of The Whole Dancer and an ex-professional ballerina with Louisville Ballet. Jess began her journey into nutrition and health coaching when she had to leave behind the world of professional ballet due to an injury. Jess is a fully qualified Health Coach with over eleven years of experience behind her working with dancers from top companies such as New York City Ballet,...

Ashley Ellis started her professional career with The American Ballet Theatre before joining the Corella Ballet as a Soloist in Spain. As you’ll hear in our conversation this is where Ashley spent many beautiful European days filled with dance and work whilst meeting her husband George. Together they moved to Boston where Ashley is a Principal with Boston Ballet, mother of one-year-old Grey and th...

Finis Jhung! Where do I even begin?! It’s been an absolute dream of mine to speak with Finis for over a year now and I always thought I’d contact him when I had plans to travel to New York so we could meet and perhaps do this interview in person... However with the current pandemic, isolation blah blah blah (everyone’s sick of hearing about it!) I thought there’s no better time than the present. S...

Hello beautiful Balanced Ballerinas! How are you all feeling this week? I’ll be honest, I’m feeling better that last week. If you ever feel like sharing your thoughts, feelings, questions or maybe even a photo of your current ‘home studio’ you can do so in the Private Balanced Ballerinas Facebook group … simply search, click ‘join’ and I’ll be sure to add you. Now onto today’s guest… Debra is a Mu...

I think todays conversation is all about settling into this new norm as best as we can. I hope this conversation helps you feel less alone. I hope you're treating yourself with kindness. Our goal? To try put ourselves in other peoples shoes before judging them and try to not judge ourselves. If you want to do daily live classes from dancers all around the world, then go for it. But if you feel lik...

I know. I know. You don’t need another blog post, podcast episode or piece of social media content about COVID-19. But here we are! Today we talk about turning inward. Today we talk about powering down your devices if they’re making you anxious. Today we talk about being sensible and hygienic. Today we talk about the importance of humour and to not feel bad about trying to find light amongst the d...

Described by some as an American choreographer with a Russian soul, Eric Conrad is most famous for his work with arguably the worlds most famous ballerina, Misty Copeland. There are hours of videos on YouTube for free with Eric coaching Misty and they're an absolute gold mine of technical teachings. I’ve spent hours watching Eric break down the placement of a chasse pas de bourre or a simple tendu...

Today's episode is with my good friend Josef Brown! Josef's professional career began as a Soloist with The Australian Ballet in 1994 before joining Sydney Dance Company in 1997. Then Josef's career pivoted towards acting when he took on the role of 'Johnny Castle' in the original stage adaptation of Dirty Dancing which toured throughout Australia and New Zealand. He was even part of the opening o...

Most of the time when I do an interview, I upload it onto the computer and write the introduction at a much later date. Often the interviews are done weeks (if not months!) before I even release them. But after speaking to Alex (also known as Ally) Mazerolle, here I am, writing away only moments after our conversation. This is how inspiring this remarkable woman is. The best way to describe Ally i...

Firstly a huge thank you to friend of the pod (who became a real-life friend Dr Andrea Robertson from episode number 11!) who introduced me to her dear friend and Principal dancer with The Australian Ballet, Amber Scott. Little did Andrea know, I actually used to watch Amber through the studio windows when I was a young student at The Australian Ballet School. So this made the introduction and int...

Happy New Year Balanced Ballerinas and welcome to 2020! With a new year (hey, new decade!) I thought now is as good a time as any to talk about goals, intentions, vision and of course… balance. It’s always around this time of year that people jump on the bandwagon of dissing ‘goals’, saying they’re a waste of time and I couldn’t disagree more. I find that the people who don’t bother setting intent...

Merry Christmas beautiful ballerinas! And boy do I have a Christmas present for you today – my present to you is the delightful, inspiring and absolutely marvellous human being that is Marie Walton-Mahon. Now, I’m going to let Marie share her story because she does such an incredible job of this during our conversation! However for those that have been living under a rock in the dance world, let m...

I have a very special episode for everyone today. It's special for many reasons, but especially special to me because as a young ballerina in training at The Australian Ballet School I used to peer through the studio windows and watch Lucinda Dunn every spare moment I got. As you'll hear in this conversation, at the start, in the middle and at the end... I'm a bit of a gushing mess, because all of...

So this weeks podcast is a little different… We won’t be talking about famous ballets, differences in technique training or the importance of research and development when it comes to pre-school or adult ballet classes. No, you’ll be hearing from my now friend Glenn Azar - Founder and Director of Adventure Professionals , Project 180 and his very own podcast, The Building Better Humans Project. Ab...

One of my favourite things about starting this podcast is the fact it’s given me a platform to celebrate and highlight people who are doing incredible work within the industry, but often fly under the radar or are incredibly humble about their success. It gives me a chance to share their story, celebrate them and help them stop to reflect on the amazing work they’re doing. Todays guest is Nicole G...

A huge thank you to this episodes sponsor (and one of my favourite dance shoe brands) MDM Dance! Bill Piner graduated from Butler University's prestigious dance program in 1982 and had a wide and varied professional performing career with companies such as Ballet Austin, the Hartford Ballet and Dance Kaleidoscope, Indiana's only professional modern company. And as a member of the Actor's Equity As...

Today’s guest is Cati Angela, also known as @edrecoverygurl on Instagram. Cati has been a long-time listener of the podcast and when she reached out I knew we had to collaborate, share her journey and spark discussion around eating disorders within the dance world. I’m not going to lie. This is an incredibly hard conversation to navigate. Not only am I hyper aware of presenting information in a fa...

Yes, it's true! Sometimes I get a little unbalanced too. I hope that in sharing my story you find the inspiration required to continue your own journey of self-care and wellbeing. You can find the blog post I refer to in the episode here... https://www.balancedballerinas.com/2019/09/08/lets-be-honest-committing-to-self-care-is-cheaper-than-therapy/

Edna Reinhardt is a very special human. I instantly fell in love with her as she approached me across the lobby of the hotel I was staying at. She’s a tiny frame with a big aura. Edna is the principal and founder of Over the Moon Studios in Castlemaine Victoria and has been teaching yoga and creative dance to students from 2½ to 20 years old since 1975. Incredible. From a background in contemporar...