Passion for Dance

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 dancers out there who have big dreams and goals in our dance industry but might need help to develop a little grit.

I'll be sharing what grit is, why you need it, and how you can start practicing this mental skill today to see a real difference in your dance skills tomorrow. We'll dive into the two parts of what it takes to become a gritty dancer and how to lean into creating a healthy passion for a dance for yourself as a dancer. If you have big goals and dreams in dance, tune in to learn how to develop your grit!

Episode Resources: https://passionfordancepodcast.com/148

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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 praise be a bad thing?

In this episode, I'm going to tell you all about what psychologists call the Good Job Coach, and as it turns out, the Good Job Coach might not be as motivational as you might think. We'll discuss the importance of specificity with feedback and the sweet spot of balance between praise, instruction, and redirection. Tune in to hear all about what too much praise can do to your dancers and how to keep their spirits high!

Episode Resources: https://chelseapierotti.com/147

Follow the show: https://followthepodcast.com/passionfordance

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? Well, I invited the University of Minnesota's coach, Amanda Gaines, to the podcast to tell me all about it on this episode!

Today's episode covers all four pillars of the podcast. Coach Gaines shares how she motivates her athletes, her mindset, and personal coaching philosophy, how her dancers learn to be resilient after mistakes, and the value of having a solid community around you.

Coach Amanda Gaines is in her 12th season coaching the University of Minnesota dance team and her 16th total season with the program. She's been an integral member of the Golden Gophers, winning 17 different national championships between 2006 and now, and she's graciously agreed to come on the show and tell us all about it - including whose crazy idea it was to turn, do an aerial, and keep turning. Tune in to catch all the great coaching advice and behind-the-scenes stories from the University of Minnesota Dance Team Coach, Amanda Gaines!

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Website Resources: https://passionfordancepodcast.com/146

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 everything isn't perfect during a competition, do you beat yourself up over it? We often discuss perfectionism with our dancers, but are you a perfectionist yourself? Do you know how to handle your own deep-rooted perfectionism so that it doesn't cause you to burn out?

In today's episode, we'll be talking about you, the coach, the teacher, the mentor. It's all about ensuring your own perfectionism isn't getting in the way of your joy of teaching. We'll discuss the effects of negative self-talk, mindfulness while coaching, and how self-awareness of the things we say to ourselves can impact how we show up for our dancers.

To all of my recovering perfectionist dance coaches out there, this episode is brought to you by the dance coach membership, Relevé, a community for dance coaches on the rise. Head over to www.chelseapierotti.com/membership to learn more about how to join us inside this membership where you will get the support and guidance to find a new level of joy and success in coaching!

Episode Resources: https://chelseapierotti.com/145

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 get better every day. There were setbacks along the way. There were days when it felt like progress wasn't happening, but that's why they did so well - these excellent teams understand that setbacks are good.

In this episode, we'll focus in on the three things to do when you have setbacks in your goals. We'll discuss the benefits of shifting our mindset around setbacks, why it's important to pause and reset as well as track our dancers' progress, and I'll tell you what to do when you have a setback coming up. Enjoy this episode of Passion for Dance!

Starter Journal Free Dowload: https://chelseapierotti.com/journal

Episode Resources: https://chelseapierotti.com/144

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 today's episode, I'll be speaking directly to the dancers, and we'll be talking about how to deal with disappointment. Maybe you didn't get the role you wanted, you didn't book the audition you were hoping for, or you're disappointed in how your solo scored last week. If you're a dancer, the likelihood is that you've had to wrestle with this negative emotion of being disappointed, so tune in to hear more about the six steps to dealing with disappointment. This way, the next time you need a little pick-me-up after a low score or you need help turning around a bad mood after a disappointing performance, you'll know exactly what to do!

Episode Resources: https://chelseapierotti.com/143

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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 that well and might be dealing with some lingering animosity. We know that mutual liking for each other helps your cohesion and will help your team be successful, but we also know you can't force it because sometimes it's just not there. What do you do when your team is falling short of their potential because they are just a group, not a team? How do you help them transform into a true team?

In this episode, I'm going to help teach you how to bring together the team of dancers who aren't clicking or getting along. There is a way to use positive mental skills to help ensure success. We'll discuss social cohesion, prosocial skills, and how returning to your team's goals and reminding your dancers they need each other will help bring them all back together as a team!

Episode Resources

https://chelseapierotti.com/142

https://chelseapierotti.com/podcastquiz

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 blend. This is actually something I discussed back in 2021, but I've had so many teachers ask me for help with it recently that I decided to go back in the archives to re-release this episode.

In this episode, we'll discuss how our work and our life shouldn't be in opposition to each other and how beneficial it can be to evaluate the categories of your life and use a planner to best implement the work-life blend that works best for you. If you feel like work-life balance is impossible, please listen in. If you can shift your perspective around this stuff, I promise you can find balance!

Episode Resources:

https://chelseapierotti.com/141

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 or mountain in front of you, and are you willing to do what it takes to close the gap?

I usually talk to dance coaches and teachers, but today's episode is a short and important message for dancers. We'll break down the four things getting in the way of dancers' dreams and discuss how you have the power to turn these around. By the end of this episode, I hope to help you bridge that gap between where you are now and where you want to be!

Finish Strong Workshop: https://chelseapierotti.com/finishstrong

Episode Resources: https://chelseapierotti.com/140

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 probably seen this in at least some of your dancers. They're getting in their own way.

In today's episode, I want to pull back the curtain on a fear of failure, explain what it is, where it's coming from, and how we can help our dancers get past it so our dancers can reach their full potential. We'll discuss the signs a dancer might be fearing failure, we'll break down exactly what a fear of failure in dancers looks like, and we'll talk about how to supportively push back on your dancers' fear to ultimately change their relationship with failure. As dance coaches and teachers, let's collectively help our dancers get out of their own way!

Dec 17th Virtual Workshop Info: https://chelseapierotti.com/finishstrong

Episode Resources: https://chelseapierotti.com/139