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Episodes

Nov. 10, 2022

86. The Power of Asking the Right Questions with Dr. Noah St. John

Summary: If you’ve ever used affirmations with your dancers, this episode introduces a tool for a different way to use them. My guest today is Dr. Noah, a former professional dancer and a peak performance executive mental coach to the stars, who...

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Nov. 3, 2022

85. Confidence Q&A

Summary: Just imagine you get up on competition day and you are pumped and excited but actually not nervous. You know your dancers are ready to crush it today! Just imagine how good it would feel to know you did everything possible to support your...

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Oct. 27, 2022

84. University of Kentucky Dance Coach Dawn Walters

Summary: We’re going back in the archives today with an interview from 2020 with the amazing Dawn Walters of The University of Kentucky Dance Team. Dawn’s approach to coaching is so relatable and refreshing. She has such genuine advice and a...

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Oct. 20, 2022

83. [LIVE COACHING] Personal Mindset, Honesty, and Reaching Goals wit…

Summary: You may or may not yet know that I do a lot of coaching the coaches in my business. This is where I work with dance teachers and coaches to help them discover how they can best support their dancers’ mental skills while improving their own...

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Oct. 13, 2022

82: 5 Steps to Cleaning Your Dance Routine While Building Leadership

Summary: If I know our dance world, then I know that one thing you can count on every season is you’re going to have to clean your routines. Whether your dance team is game-day focused, you're preparing for a championship, or you're performing the...

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Oct. 6, 2022

81. Increase Joy and Motivation When You Celebrate Small Wins

We naturally bond over shared complaints rather than shared wins. Why do we find a better connection with people when we share our frustrations? Why do we simultaneously feel like we aren’t allowed to share a win or it’s boastful? Research even...

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Sept. 29, 2022

80. How To Easily Shut Down Your Brain At Night

Imagine this, you’re lying in bed, exhausted from a long day. You start thinking about the email you need to send to that one parent. Then you start to fix the opening sequence to your jazz routine in your head because it isn’t reading the way you...

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Sept. 22, 2022

79. Why Genetic Testing Can Be A Valuable Tool For Dancers

Do you have more slow twitch or fast twitch muscle fibers? Does your body process B vitamins quickly making you more sluggish sometimes? Maybe you’re like me and you have no idea. So what if a genetic test could tell you specific information like...

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Sept. 15, 2022

78. 3 Steps to Make Sure You Can Compete in Any Context

Have you ever had your dancers do really well in practice, everything looks fine in the studio, but then when you go to competition and change venues, all of a sudden, the routine is a mess? Some of that can come from getting too stuck in a repetitive...

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Sept. 8, 2022

77. How Focused Mental Skills Can Support You After Injury

Dealing with an injury can be devastating to a dancer. And it’s not just the physical pain, but the mental load that we deal with during recovery is substantial. As dance educators, many of us have been through this ourselves, or we’ve had our...

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Sept. 1, 2022

76. Functional Nutrition: The Important Advice You Didn't Know You Ne…

If you’re a dance teacher who feels like you can’t dance like you used to but just chalk it up to being old, you have to listen in to today’s episode. My guest today is a functional dietitian who was also a studio dancer, college dancer, and...

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Aug. 25, 2022

75. Toxic Positivity and What To Actually Say Instead

Have you heard of the term toxic positivity? It’s becoming a bit of a buzzphrase, so I want to dive into this complicated topic.  I’m seeing it more and more on social media and hearing it in conversations with the dancers I work with....

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Aug. 18, 2022

74. From World Renowned Dancers to Children’s Book Authors: Stories o…

As you may know, one of the main themes of this show is resilience. I love talking with successful and talented dancers about their own resilience journey and to hear what they can teach us about perseverance and following your dreams. As for...

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Aug. 11, 2022

73. “I Can’t Do Left” and Other Lies We Tell Ourselves

There are so many times I’ve heard dances say things like “I can’t do left” or “I’m not a turner.” And of course, there are many times I’ve thought those things too. As a coach, it honestly wasn’t a lot better. I would think, “I...

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Aug. 4, 2022

72. How To Handle Those Big Life Changes

If you are a dance educator long enough, you will go through some big life changes that will impact your career and your dancers. When you have something big happening in your life like a wedding, a medical issue, the birth of a child, or moving, it...

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July 28, 2022

71. The Most Important Conversation You Need to Have With Your Assist…

Are you an assistant coach? Do you have an assistant in your program? Maybe you’re in the school setting and lucky enough to be an assistant coach.  Or maybe you’re a head coach doing everything alone and wishing for some help! While this...

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July 21, 2022

70. Developing a Confident Dancer Off the Marley (Part 2)

Last summer, I hosted an online conference called the Confident Dancer Summit, where 20 different dance educators came together to teach a short course on different aspects of confidence. It was a great weekend and I decided to share one of those...

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July 14, 2022

69. Developing a Confident Dancer Off the Marley (Part 1)

Last summer, I hosted an online conference called the Confident Dancer Summit, where 20 different dance educators came together to teach a short course on different aspects of confidence. It was a great weekend and I decided to share one of those...

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July 7, 2022

68. My Teaching Philosophy and How it Changed Me

Do you have a teaching or coaching philosophy? Personally, it took me years to come up with my own personal teaching philosophy that was really specific to me and not just words you say on a job application. It took years of experience, challenges,...

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June 30, 2022

67. Finding Your Unique Professional Path with Caroline Liviakis

Today’s guest is Caroline Liviakis, she is the Founder and Executive Artistic Director of the Caroline Liviakis Dance Company (CLDC), choreographing and producing live performances and interactive experiences. In her most recent project, she brings...

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June 23, 2022

66. Supporting Our Dancers’ Mental Health

This episode is a little heavier, but I’m learning to lean into the hard, so I hope you’ll join me. I’m grateful that there is a growing conversation around mental health, increasing awareness and hopefully supporting your dancers. However, I...

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June 16, 2022

65. Team Building with Champion All-Star Coach Stephanie Westbrook

Today’s guest is Stephanie Westbrook, who is based in Sydney Australia, and currently coaches the University of New South Wales Warriors Premier Dance Teams. Over the years her teams have won multiple National Championships, multiple international...

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June 9, 2022

64: 5 Simple Ideas for Continued Personal Growth

If you’re a part of this community, I am pretty confident you are a lifelong learner and someone who cares about being the best version of yourself. Not every dance educator out there will spend time reading books, listening to podcasts, and...

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June 2, 2022

63. When Do I Teach My Dancers About Mental Skills?

It’s summer, which for me as a mental performance consultant means busy season! Lots of dance studios and coaches want to focus on mental skills training in the summer, which is great. It’s our “off-season” or as I like to say, “improvement...

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