Episodes

Dancers, this one is directly for you! You can be a mentally healthy dancer who is ALSO mentally tough. Here's the difference between mental toughness and mental health and how you can build your mental toughness. Learn more at:

Do you feel like it's getting harder and harder to challenge your dancers and hold them to a high standard without hurting their feelings or being seen as a mean coach? When I talk to dance educators, many of them express this internal conflict where...

Before you dive too fast into next season, do you stop and ask your dancers to reflect on the past season and share their candid thoughts with you? Though I know sometimes at the end of the season it's easy to go straight into next season, hopefully...

Do you teach dancers under ten years old? Can you teach dancers that little about mental toughness, or is it better to wait? I'm often asked if mental skills training is appropriate for young dancers taking level one classes or in the mini competitive...

In the dance world, summer isn’t just the time for intensives and summer camps, it’s also a time for a whole lot of planning. If you're someone like me who loves a good planner, someone who color codes everything, and someone who enjoys mapping...

This episode is an incredible story of resilience and how one woman went from leaving an abusive home at 14 to creating a life for herself as a performer and business owner. Our guest today, Josephine Lancuba, is an award-winning performing arts...

Dancers, have ever wished you felt more confident? Dance teachers, have you ever felt like you’ve tried everything to help your dancers believe in themselves, yet it's falling on deaf ears? The truth is, as dancers and humans, we can’t just sit...

Do you wish you had dancers who pushed themselves in class and held themselves accountable? This seems to be a common challenge for a lot of dance teachers: we wish our dancers would embrace a challenging class with a positive attitude and enjoy the...

Do you find yourself getting crazy busy during competition season? You’re burning the candle at both ends only to crash hard and probably get sick as soon as it's over? If you're a passionate dance teacher, you've probably pushed yourself too hard....

Have you heard of grit? Even if you haven’t, I bet you've seen it or you've felt it. Grit is the mental skill that could be the difference between getting that challenging turn section or staying stuck at your current level. This episode is for the...

When you're trying to motivate your dancers using positive coaching, you might focus on celebrating the small wins, cheering them on, praising every step of growth along the way. That all sounds good, but let's talk about the flipside: could too much...

If you’re a part of the dance world, you probably saw the University of Minnesota's jazz dance routine at UDA Nationals with the passion and technique and the now viral turn section. But how do they pull off two incredible routines year after year?...

Real talk: are you too hard on yourself? When you leave a competition, do you start thinking about the next event as soon as this one is over? Are you a little too self-critical and don't allow yourself any moment to just enjoy the present? If...

Summary: Do you ever look at another dance team you admire and think, “They must be so locked in. Every single practice they're probably making progress and getting better every day”? I guarantee that a team you admired at that event didn't just...

Summary: Disappointment is something we all have to go through, but we don't actually talk about how. We're just supposed to get over it and keep pushing forward. So how exactly do you deal with disappointment and continue pushing forward? In...

Summary: When it's time for competition season, there are usually two types of dance teams. First, there’s the dance team who usually all gets along and enjoys working together. Then, there’s the dance team that doesn’t actually get along all...

Do you feel like you have a good work-life balance, or do you feel like the dance side of your life can sometimes tend to take over? If you feel like you have too many passions and it's impossible to do it all, I have a better plan for us: work-life...

Dancers, how far is the gap between what you want and what you actually have right now? If you have big dreams, I hope there's a gap between where you are now and where you want to be. But how big is that gap, and do you have a real sense of the hill...

Dancers today are seemingly terrified of failure. They might be scared to try something in front of other people, or they might be scared of looking silly or stupid in class, and they hold themselves back. As a passionate dance teacher, you've...

Leaders who are happy and effective will create a team of hardworking dancers who enjoy their time together. A negative leader though, can ruin an entire season. I’ve always loved having strong leaders on my dance team, but sometimes the dancer who...

Since it’s Thanksgiving week here in The States, I’ll be taking time off to be with family and away from screens and work, but I didn’t want to leave you without another episode to help improve your dancer's mental toughness. This is a...

Why do people choke? You've been cleaning your routine for months, you’ve spent hours in technique classes, and the routine looks flawless. Then finally the time comes to take the competition floor, and someone chokes with a random mistake that...

As a passionate dance teacher, do you ever feel overwhelmed or struggle with making decisions? I know after a day of teaching, I often struggle to make a simple decision about what to eat for dinner. If you've ever felt overwhelmed, especially with a...

Do you feel like your dancers are focused, dialed in, and confident when it’s time to take the stage, or do they seem nervous, distracted, and scared? As a passionate dance teacher, you might feel like you've done your best to prepare your dancers...