Pointe To Rise

Susanne Puerschel’s guests in this episode are, Sarah Schiewer and Courtney Ulrich who are former dancers, now massage therapists who share a mutual passion for mental wellness and dancers. They are bringing together mental health experts from all corners of the ballet world to explore how dance training impacts the mental health of dancers and what they can do to help them "Dance Better."

Resources:

• Sarah’s Instagram
• Courtney’s Instagram
• Dance; Better Podcast
• Further resources from Dance Better
• Tech Ballet website

Bio’s

Sarah Schiewer and Courtney Ulrich are former dancers, now massage therapists who share a mutual passion for mental wellness and dancers. The two have joined forces to form Dance; Better, a mental health podcast for dancers. They bring together mental health experts and dancers from all corners of the ballet world to learn how to create a safer dance world for everyone.

Sarah, a former professional dancer and now the owner of Tech Ballet, a virtual ballet school, incorporates mental fitness into each and every ballet class.

Courtney is a wellness coach who helps young women level up their relationship with their body image, emotional health, and self-worth.

Pointe To Rise Links:

The topic for discussion in this episode is “Why Making Money is Important and Why We Don’t Like to Talk about It”. Christy and I discuss the value that money can bring into one’s life and put our heads together for the reasons behind the idea that money is a bad thing. We also share how a switch in perspective can change your energy around money, self-validation vis-à-vis seeking external validation, self-development, awareness, the impact of the company you keep, embracing change, and taking action.

Susanne chats openly about what she is currently seeing in the communities of dancers and performing artists as a whole, the lack of an empowered state of mind. She is seeing a lot of fear in the community, much resistance, and uncertainty on what will become the "arts".

Susanne asks herself what would it actually look like if artists would speak up more. Really truly step into their power? Collectively work with one another to tackle the overwhelming feeling of not being empowered to bring on change.

The topic for discussion in this episode is the quote “You Can Only Grow Your Business to the Extent You are willing to Grow Personally”. Christy and I discuss how dancers and artists need to be open to growth in order for their businesses and careers to progress. We go into detail about the inevitability of change around us and the need to adapt to it as artists. We expound on the importance of the energy we exude and how it affects our environment and teams. We further discuss Brené Brown’s book The Gifts of Imperfection and its lessons for personal growth for dancers and artists, taking tips on how to become a professional dancer today and how to be successful in your dance career. We look at what it means to live a fulfilled life and bring to light how the dance industry today is far from achieving that.

Resources:

• The Gifts of Imperfection book by Brené Brown

Susanne talks today about the journey of her most recent project. How it has made her reflect on how she spends her energy, with whom she spends it. How it has made her realize how she was hiding in stories she had created for herself to protect her old self. What does it mean to suffer for the Art form? And how she remembers what it is to be a woman, a person, a mother, a wife, a young girl, a silly girl for that matter, that loves to be outside.

Resources

• Lori Harder - Tribe called Bliss
• Lite Pink