The Balanced Ballerinas Podcast

Today's guest couldn't be more on brand if I tried!
As you'll hear in this interview, Karis began ballet classes at age 2 before she joined The Royal Ballet at age 6 after they held a workshop at her primary school and picked her out of a line up of students. She continued through the school before graduating at 19 - but as you'll hear it wasn't all peachy.
After a serious spinal injury, the development of an eating disorder and severe depression Karis stepped away from the ballet world for a few years to work extensively on her wellbeing, physical strength and mental health. In hindsight the work she did during this incredibly traumatic time is (in my opinion) the reason why she is such a caring, committed and empathetic teacher with her adult ballet students and built an amazing following.
I've reflected on this many times before and Karis and I briefly bring it up in conversation. Do I regret (like Karis) experiencing any trauma as a young ballerina? I don't think so. But should it happen to another? Definitely not. But the reasons for not following through with a professional career as a ballerina are probably the reasons why we are the teachers we are today.
So perhaps thats why I feel so connected to Karis. A shared sense of accomplishment despite the odds, a reconciliation with ones past and a passion inspired by hope for the future...
In this conversation we discuss Karis's current working from home situation, or the 'zen den' as she likes to call it. We also geek out on some adult ballet teacher challenges, concerns and teaching techniques, all whilst gushing over our love of ballet and how it truly does heal both the soul and body simultaneously. Basically I loved picking her brain as I admire this smart, beautiful, spiritual woman so much.
I think you're going to love this conversation and now is as good a time as any to announce that you might be seeing a little Georgia and Karis collaboration in the future (when we're allowed to fly around the world again!) because Karis is based in London and obviously as the listeners know I'm in Australia. So hopefully one day in the future our two adult ballet communities can collide so we can continue spreading ballet love around the world together.
As always, you can find me @thebalancedballerina on Instagram and be sure to join our private Facebook Group, just search 'Balanced Ballerinas Secret Facebook Group' to connect with like-minded #BalancedBallerinas from all over the world! And of course go find Karis on Instagram @karisscarlette and check out her stunning new website which is simply karisscarlette.com
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Get your FREE Balanced Ballerinas 'Intention Setting' worksheet HERE and start kicking GOALS: https://www.balancedballerinas.com/product/balanced-ballerinas-intention-setting-worksheet/
You can find more resources at www.balancedballerinas.com
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Are you an 'exercising' or 'training' ballerina? You'll have to listen to find out...
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Get your FREE Balanced Ballerinas 'Intention Setting' worksheet HERE and start kicking GOALS: https://www.balancedballerinas.com/product/balanced-ballerinas-intention-setting-worksheet/
You can find more resources at www.balancedballerinas.com
Instagram @thebalancedballerina Podcast @balancedballerinas Facebook - Balanced Ballerinas (ensure you join the *SECRET* Facebook group too!)

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 happened in my life and dance community recently.
This episode is a tribute to my dear friend Cathy who recently passed away after her battle with cancer.
There's not a part of my dance community that Cathy didn't touch with her elegance, grace, humour and this episode is all about celebrating and saying goodbye to her.
Thank you for allowing me to grieve this way. The way I heal and process the world around me is by writing, creating and communicating. So I'm going to just that with this very special episode...
If this episode brings anything up for you please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or call a friend. It's important to talk about these things.
Grit & Grace, Georgia x
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You can find more resources at www.balancedballerinas.com
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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 movement and keeping it real.
And in the interest of keeping it real with my beautiful podcast listeners, I want to preface this conversation with the truth that I wasn’t feeling quite myself during this interview. It’s been a really rough week on the Balanced Ballerinas home front, loosing one of my closest clients and friends to dreaded cancer.
What they don’t tell you about in business school, is that if you’re lucky enough to cultivate a community you’re going to attract amazing humans and a handful of those humans will become your closest friends. So when you experience the tragedy of loosing someone you love within this environment, not only are you heartbroken yourself, but you also have the weight of your other clients heartbreak on your shoulders too.
It’s been a lot.
But I’m not going to talk about it anymore because I want to share more about who this beautiful client was in my 50th episode. Definitely not what I pictured for my 50th episode, but Cathy was the most elegant and graceful woman who deserves to be not only remembered but also celebrated. And I have the power to do so via this platform, so that’s exactly what I plan on doing in the next episode.
But for now, whilst everything is still a bit raw I SO welcomed today’s gorgeous guest with open arms. I’ve been wanting to e-meet and catch up with Louise (also known as Train Like A Ballerina) for so long, which is why I couldn’t possibly cancel.
Sydney born, Louisa’s career as a professional Ballerina took her to world stages where she danced Soloist and Principal roles alongside some of the worlds leading ballerina’s in Munich, Stuttgart and Berlin. Retiring at the height of her career at 25, Louisa studied chemistry, biology and nutrition whilst completing her Masters in Personal Training.
Why did she retire? Well, reading between the lines Louisa (like many) found out that life as a professional ballerina can be very unbalanced and with a burning desire to help others she embarked on a mission to empower women rather than sit back and become another broken ballerina.
And I couldn’t be prouder of her because she’s done just that! Empowering women globally through her Train Like A Ballerina method and new program delivering premium online dance workouts – Relevé. The launch of her new website is super sleek and I highly recommend checking it out.
But the reason why I love Louisa is because she’s more than her workouts and sexy new website. She’s the full package, a curious mind with a heart of gold. Open to learning and not afraid to be graceful in one breath and dorky in the next. I’m sure you’re going to love her too…

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 of his first wife.
Some of the crazy things he’s accomplished include setting the Guinness World Record for swimming under ice and climbing Mt Everest and Mt Kilimanjaro wearing only shorts and shoes. He’s proven time and time again to be able to resist the cold, suppress the immune system and most importantly teach people to do the same. All this craziness aside, the Wim Hof method was not developed so people can also do these insane adventures. No, it simply focuses on improving the quality of ones life through its three pillars; breath work, cold therapy and meditation.
I’ve dabbled in methods that focus on each of these pillars individually, but what I like about the Wim Hof method is that it covers all three. Now what has this got to do with dancers or our ballet practice?
Well, if you’ve ever been to one of my ballet classes you’ll know what focussing on breath is a large focus of class. I notice when people aren’t breathing, I notice when the breath doesn’t match the movement and I also notice when a student is in flow, mastering their breath.
On top of all this, I also have a lot of clients (young and adult) that suffer from serious mental illness or more mild anxiety and depression. Whilst ballet is a fantastic moving meditation, sometimes they need a little extra direction. Oftentimes I will incorporate some breath work into a private lesson or prescribe a cold shower (with legs up the wall) before bed…
These simple things work. And if I can help everyone find a little more balance and introduce you to a method that I’m personally experimenting with myself, then it might just change your life.
So today we have Queensland’s highest certified Wim Hof instructor Eden Lee on the podcast. Eden is the perfect person to talk about this method for the Balanced Ballerinas podcast because prior to being a pilates and Wim Hof instructor Eden was a professional ballet dancer and counts the likes of Steven McRae (Principal Artist with Royal Ballet) amongst his friends and clients.
So amongst all the cold therapy and breathing chat, you’ll enjoy an insight into Eden’s career and general ballerina chat that might make these concepts more digestible if this stuff is way out of your comfort zone!
Anyway back to Eden…
Eden has spent the majority of his life studying and refining his knowledge of many health and physical wellness modalities. He is an absolute wealth of knowledge and epitome of health!
Eden trains clients of all ages, abilities and talents on the Gold Coast at his studio Pilates Central in Bundall. His body conditioning approach endeavours to meet the individuals needs on the day and over time, based on the Pilates technique, the latest in scientific research and the decades of experience he has.
I really enjoyed this conversation and I have huge respect for Eden and his pursuit of mental clarity and calmness whilst improving or eliminating physical pain. You can tell he just loves his work and anyone who has a passion for what they do is someone I want to share with the Balanced Ballerinas community.
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Get your FREE Balanced Ballerinas 'Intention Setting' worksheet HERE and start kicking GOALS: https://www.balancedballerinas.com/product/balanced-ballerinas-intention-setting-worksheet/
You can find more resources at www.balancedballerinas.com
Instagram @thebalancedballerina Podcast @balancedballerinas Facebook - Balanced Ballerinas (ensure you join the *SECRET* Facebook group too!)

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 hit, Rose was working on a feature film and HBO special which meant that she was constantly flying between London, New York, LA and Paris. So it was hard to lock down some of her precious time!
But like many, Rose has recently found herself with a little extra time on her hands. Of course the work of an artist never stops, but she’s certainly not travelling like she was before the lockdown. Currently Rose is settled at home in London.
We cover so many topics in this conversation and it was so nice to connect with an old friend who can relate to a time in your life that so few can. You’ll hear that we often dance around a few topics, a little unsure about what to share publicly in case it deters a young dancer from chasing their dreams…
But I want any young dancers listening to know that whilst there are still some shockingly abusive teachers around, they are so few and far between than back in my day. These days it’s so easy to expose indecent practices and teachers who are in this profession for the wrong reasons just can’t get away with what they used to.
My advice? Parents, do your research. Students, trust your gut. These days there truly are some beautiful ballet teachers who are constantly striving to produce more holistic and healthy dancers. When you find one, hold onto them for dear life.
Anyway, I admire Rose’s ability to so eloquently describe her thoughts and feelings around past events whilst forgiving, moving past and more importantly moving forward with her art, vision and purpose.
Now, this episode was recorded about four weeks ago during a time that studio owners like myself and freelancers like Rose were navigating our thoughts and feelings around online teaching. My studio is back IN the studio (thank god!) but I do share how we went about joining the online landscape whilst Rose shares some thoughts that I couldn’t agree with more.
But the main reason why I invited Rose onto the podcast was because she is a true artist. Sometimes I come across a young student who naively declares they’re going to ‘start a dance company’ or be ‘an artist’ when they grow up. But what does that even mean? What does that even look like? I’ll tell you what it looks like. It looks bloody hard! It’s filled with sacrifice.
Rose so kindly shares an incredibly vulnerable story of what it’s really like to be an Artistic Director trying to get a performance off the ground. So much can go wrong between that initial idea for a performance, it’s execution and the finished product – especially when the arts is so incredibly underfunded compared to other industries.
Let’s not sugarcoat this. It’s incredibly easy to have a dream or vision. It’s not so easy to execute. And most don’t have the guts, drive, determination or willpower to push forward when the world seems to be crumbling from underneath you. Let alone the grit to make it happen against all odds and the grace to ask for help when the purpose is far greater than you.
To me, this is what a true artist is. Someone who believes so much in what they are creating that it doesn’t matter what challenges they face – the show must go on.
Before I launch into our conversation; I’m proud of you Rose. I still look up to you as I did when I was a little girl. We have different dreams today, but if I walk through life with even half the grit you possess I’ll be pretty fortunate. _______________
Get your FREE Balanced Ballerinas 'Intention Setting' worksheet HERE and start kicking GOALS: https://www.balancedballerinas.com/product/balanced-ballerinas-intention-setting-worksheet/
You can find more resources at www.balancedballerinas.com
Instagram @thebalancedballerina Podcast @balancedballerinas Facebook - Balanced Ballerinas (ensure you join the *SECRET* Facebook group too!)

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 desperately trying to figure out how Josephine could travel all the way to Australia to fit my adult and younger dancers! A bit of a pipe dream at the moment considering the world is in lockdown and most of us can't even leave our state let alone country.
So I guess I'll just have to continue consuming her content on The Pointe Shop's YouTube Channel - which is amazing by the way. Go check it out! And whilst you're searching all things Josephine, I highly recommend following her personal Instagram account @josephineylee
The thing I love most about Josephine is how inspirational yet relatable she is. And she always seems to find the right words to describe a thought I'm having or respond so maturely and gracefully to a difficult situation.
If you're a lover of ballet, enjoy this fabulous story with talk of pointe shoes woven in and out of the story line and if you're one of my younger listeners I want this conversation to inspire you to continue your ballet training with the mindset that you never know where it may take you!
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Get your FREE Balanced Ballerinas 'Intention Setting' worksheet HERE and start kicking GOALS: https://www.balancedballerinas.com/product/balanced-ballerinas-intention-setting-worksheet/
You can find more resources at www.balancedballerinas.com
Instagram @thebalancedballerina Podcast @balancedballerinas Facebook - Balanced Ballerinas (ensure you join the *SECRET* Facebook group too!)

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 later in life as I began ballet classes from the age of three. I honestly don’t know what it’s like to not know what a plié is! Sometimes I find it hard to relate to an adult ballerina who begins their journey at the age of 25, 35 or 85 years old and sometimes I need to be reminded what it must feel like in order to teach with empathy and sensitivity.
Today’s guest has this in spades. I had the absolute honour of speaking with William Waldinger (who prefers to be called Bill) who teaches both Ballet and the Luigi Jazz Technique at the Joffrey Ballet School in the Ballet Trainee Program, the Adult Program and the Jazz and Contemporary Program.
Bill is also on faculty at the New York Film Academy and has served as the Director of Jazz at the Manhattan Ballet School and the Director of Ballet at the Contemporary company Cora Dance. As a performer, Bill has appeared in musical theatre, commercials, music videos and television.
Highlights include many regional and off broadway productions. His flare for Musical Theatre makes him an excellent practitioner when it comes to developing and laying down the fundamentals of classical ballet for his clients who may have a beautiful voice and stunning acting skills but are turned away at auditions because of their lack of dance technique.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a parent or student call me in a similar situation and I have to explain that there are no shortcuts when gaining a ballet education. In fact, Bill has written an amazing blog post all about this and I highly recommend checking it out on his blog (wait, how good is this title!) – classicalballetandallthatjazz.com
I also recommend checking Bill out on Facebook or Instagram. As a ballet teacher I find his musings and way with words so eloquent, inspiring and relatable. Usually when I’m thinking something (like magic!) he tends to post about it the next day or following week, summarising my thoughts exactly.
From my apartment on the Gold Coast in Australia, I spoke to Bill in his New York City apartment about his rather unconventional start in the dance world to his incredible journey into the world of teaching. We touch on his transition to online teaching during this time, but mostly we focus on his story, his passion for keeping it real and his thoughts around teaching both Ballet and traditional Jazz technique.
Now, sometimes you might need a pen and paper to jot down notes from a podcast episode, but this is more the kind that goes well with a cup of tea. So sit back and enjoy Bill’s fascinating story and passion for teaching. ________________
Get your FREE Balanced Ballerinas 'Intention Setting' worksheet HERE and start kicking GOALS: https://www.balancedballerinas.com/product/balanced-ballerinas-intention-setting-worksheet/
You can find more resources at www.balancedballerinas.com
Instagram @thebalancedballerina Podcast @balancedballerinas Facebook - Balanced Ballerinas (ensure you join the *SECRET* Facebook group too!)

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, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Miami City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet Company as well as aspiring young ballerinas and adult ballet dancers from around the world.
Jess and I have a lot in common. Our businesses were both born out of a gap in the industry. A gap that we only discovered because we experienced the pain and anguish of not feeling balanced... or whole. I love how the two are interchangeable throughout this conversation...
Like myself, Jess struggled with body positivity, confidence and food choices as a young professional dancer and through research, study, discipline and innovation with her business has created a community that supports and encourages young dancers to find their wholeness, their balance... their best body (which you'll find out in this discussion is different for everyone).
In this conversation Jess and I do focus on the additional challenges during this particular time whilst navigating food choices and body positivity. But Jess also helps us define health and success in the broader sense with a sprinkle of confidence boosters, common sense advice and helpful suggestions.
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Get your FREE Balanced Ballerinas 'Intention Setting' worksheet HERE and start kicking GOALS: https://www.balancedballerinas.com/product/balanced-ballerinas-intention-setting-worksheet/
You can find more resources at www.balancedballerinas.com
Instagram @thebalancedballerina Podcast @balancedballerinas Facebook - Balanced Ballerinas (ensure you join the *SECRET* Facebook group too!)

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 the Founder of (in my opinion) the ballet worlds favourite leg warmers – RubiaWear which are worn by professional and amateur ballet dancers all around the world!
As a proud wholesaler of RubiaWear, I’ve been in contact with Ashley off and on for the past few years. But we’d never sat down to have a conversation. So this was a real treat for me as I’ve admired Ashley as a business woman and of course ballerina for a very long time.
We chat about her beautiful career as a professional ballerina, how she became an accidental entrepreneur, what training from home is like with a toddler and the transition to online teaching. We also discuss the importance of setting boundaries and keeping perspective during this difficult time as a professional dancer and generally speaking, human.
As always, I hope this episode brings a little balance to your day…
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