The DancePreneuring Studio

Ten years after her first appearance on the podcast, Anabella Lenzu returns for an in-person conversation recorded in her New York City studio — and the growth since is staggering. In this episode, Anabella traces the eleven-year journey behind her second book, Teaching and Learning Dance Through Meaningful Gestures, born from kitchen-table conversations with students while she breastfed her newborn daughter and shaped, years later, into a manifesto on technique, energy, and the body as an instrument of expression. She opens up about the panic attacks that shadowed the book's final years, the making of her deeply personal work Listen to Your Mother — a piece exploring immigrant motherhood and artistry that she performs alongside her own twelve-year-old daughter — and what it means to lead the American Dance Guild into its seventieth year as its president. Along the way, the conversation moves through dance history, AI and the irreplaceable friction of live performance, and what Anabella calls the responsibility of being "the connector" between generations of artists.

• The book took eleven years because translating the stage into words is its own art form.Anabella began recording conversations with students and interns over lunch at her home — starting with questions, not a manuscript — because she believes writing, unlike podcasts or tutorials, leaves space for the reader to complete the puzzle rather than handing them a formula.
• Prolific output can sit right alongside real struggle.While finishing the book, premiering a new show, and stepping into a national leadership role, Anabella was also privately navigating panic attacks — a reminder that outward accomplishment and inner difficulty aren't mutually exclusive, and that naming the struggle is part of the artist's excavation.
• "My body is my country" — motherhood, immigration, and the stage as the one place to be seen.Listen to Your Mothergrew out of interviews with thirty immigrant mother-artists in New York City. Anabella now performs alongside her daughter Fiamma, teaching her the family's Argentine repertory and telling her that the stage is often the only place an immigrant artist feels fully visible.
• Leadership, for Anabella, means being the bridge between generations.As President of the American Dance Guild, she launched the first-ever Dance Book Fair, expanded a summer intensive preserving techniques from disappearing modern dance lineages, and is digitizing decades of archival material — all in service of what she calls ADG's role as "the window to the past, but the doorway to the future."
• Energy is the first stone of performance — before technique, before muscle.Anabella teaches that understanding your center of energy, your intention, and your awareness of who's watching is the true foundation of performance craft; without it, movement is just muscle on display, not communication.
• AI is a tool, not a replacement for friction.Anabella and her husband, who teaches AI at the university level, experiment with it at home — but she's clear that art requires the unpredictability, imperfection, and human connection that only live performance and real friction can offer.

• Teaching and Learning Dance Through Meaningful Gestures— Anabella's second book
• Anabella Lenzu's website
• American Dance Guild
• La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club— whereListen to Your Motherpremiered in 2024
• Peridance Center— site of ADG's annual Modern Dance Intensive

Instagram: @annettbone

A body built for ballet, broken by it, and rebuilt through language, acting, and yoga. In this conversation, Susan Priver traces her path from the School of American Ballet and classical companies like Cleveland Ballet to a devastating firing at 24 that shattered her identity and plunged her into profound depression. She shares how acting training at the Actors Studio, method-based sensory work, and eventually Harold Pinter’s The Lover gave her a new choreography for her inner life, letting her translate the “pure poetry” she once found only in dance into voice, language, and character. Along the way, yoga, art modeling, and teaching became lifelines, helping her live in a body that no longer looked like a ballerina’s while she slowly reclaimed her artistry as an actor and author of the memoir Dancer Interrupted: A True Exposé of a Ballerina’s Fall from Grace.

• When ballet is your whole identity, being fired feels like erasure.Susan describes being let go from Cleveland Ballet in her mid‑20s during the Reagan-era funding cuts as a trauma that froze her in time, triggering a “very, very deep depression” and a sense of being utterly unloved and without identity beyond dance.​

• Art doesn’t die when one form ends—it changes shape.Initially more fluent in movement than words, Susan spent years in acting training learning to connect her “sensitive instrument” to the music of language, eventually discovering that the same inner poetry she once expressed in ballet could live inside a character’s body and text onstage.​

• Sex, Lies and Harold Pinter taps her dancer’s sensuality in a new way.In The Lover, Susan plays Sarah, a wife who keeps her marriage alive through ritualized erotic role‑play, using her dancer’s awareness of sensuality, timing, and physical presence to navigate Pinter’s razor‑edge of fantasy, danger, and desire—without literally dancing. Bongos, ritual, and Pinter’s precise language become the score she moves through.​​

• Yoga became a bridge between the “fallen” ballerina and the emerging actor.In her late 20s, after her father’s death, stalled auditions, weight gain, and hair loss from alopecia, Susan turned to yoga to manage anxiety, befriend her non‑dancer body, and quiet the “constant negative chatter” that told her she was no longer enough. That practice eventually led to teaching, where she discovered a new voice guiding others into their own bodies.​

• There are ways through a “fall from grace” for dancers.For dancers who feel their career is over, Susan advocates reaching out—through therapy, movement practices like yoga, mentoring, or education—to translate kinesthetic and emotional intelligence into other forms: teaching, choreography, community programs, other art forms, or entirely new professions. She highlights colleagues who became painters, community dance leaders, and arts educators as examples of what’s possible beyond the stage.

• Sex, Lies and Harold Pinter at The Odyssey

• Dancer Interrupted: A True Exposé of a Ballerina’s Fall from Grace– Susan’s memoir of ballet, loss, and rebuilding a life in acting​

• School of American Ballet

• Susan on Instagram:@susan_priver

• Photo above by Jeff Lorch

Session #240: When Movement Becomes Medicine with Arianne MacBean

Session #098: How to Overcome Body Image Issues

Dance holds our everyday stories and wildest questions—and when curated intentionally, an entire city moves differently. Barbara Müller-Wittmann shares how her 2017 "risky experiment" grew into LA's largest independent contemporary dance festival: 17 choreographers, 6 companies, 6 weeks of boundary-pushing work across two stages.

• Barbara's curation process: staying connected with artists, blending returning favorites with fresh voices for cohesive evenings.​
• Stories driving selections, from family puppets to social justice via Dancing Through Prison Walls—art as humanity, empathy, visions.​
• New expansions: dance films from Dare to Dance in Public, workshops, interactive experiences to feel dance "in all its forms."​
• Qualities that make her say yes: work that touches, surprises, melts the heart—beyond technical skill.​
• Simple artist visibility tips: email curators, invite to rehearsals, share short videos—she watches every one.​
• Audience magic: loyal subscribers who attend everything, declaring "I didn't know dance could be this in LA."

• Dance at The Odyssey 2026

Instagram: @annettbone

Let me know your reflections, questions, or favorite moments from this episode!

From birthday breaking classes to international battles, Canadian breaker and educator Ryan Everett (Bboy Frescy) shares how work ethic, community, and curiosity have shaped his journey in hip hop. He talks about not being “the most talented in the class,” learning to love the grind of practice, and why showing up for the community matters just as much as winning or losing.​

Ryan also explores the evolving landscape of breaking, from battle etiquette and subjective judging to the power of groove, foundation, and studying all the elements of hip hop culture.

• Show up for the culture.Even if you don’t feel “ready” to compete, being present—cyphering, spectating, supporting—builds experience and community.​

• Let work ethic lead. Not being the most naturally talented can become an asset when it motivates you to train with consistency and intention.​

• Stay after you lose.The event is bigger than your bracket; the cyphers, conversations, and shared energy are part of what you give back.​

• Don’t shrink your style. Trying to match what you think judges want can water down the individuality that makes your dancing memorable.​

• Honor every element. Learning about music, DJing, graffiti, and MCing offers context that can transform how you move and how you listen.​

• Use footage wisely. Let battle clips and tutorials inform you, but resist the urge to compare or copy to the point you lose your own voice.​

• Groove is non‑negotiable. Bouncing, rocking, and feeling the music for full songs helps keep your breaking rooted in dance, not just acrobatics.​

• Tailor your own pattern. Your journey doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s; you can follow references while still designing a path that fits you.​

YNOT

• Session #227 Beyond Cyphers: Cros One's Legacy & Business Brilliance

• Session #226 From Breakin' to Breaking Free with Bboy Wicket

• Session #221 How To Cultivate the Effective Habits of a Champion

Instagram: @annettbone

Share what speaks to you about this episode—how you work your craft.

In this session of The DancePreneuring Studio, we travel from a small Pacific island to the bright lights of New York City, tracing a 41-year dream that finally arrives in real time through breath, presence, and synchronicity. Rooted in personal reflections on childhood in Guam, a formative love of dance, and a recent trip to see Turn It Out with Tiler Peck & Friends at New York City Center, this episode explores how intentional breathing and long-held vision can reshape the way we move through art, business, and everyday life.

In this session, you’ll learn:

• How a dream first sparked by movies likeBreakin',Flashdance, andFamegrew over four decades into a lived experience of walking New York City streets and sitting in the audience forTurn It Out with Tiler Peck & Friends.

• Why breath functions as a quiet companion through seasons of doubt and distance, becoming a grounding practice for both performance and entrepreneurship.

• How Tiler Peck and her collaborators fuse ballet, tap, contemporary dance, and improvisation into a living example of presence, authenticity, and risk-taking onstage.

• What the commissioned pieceTime Spell—with its live vocals, emphasis on breathing, and invitation to “be yourself”—reveals about authenticity and the sacredness of live performance.

• How a seemingly separate business conference in New York echoed the same themes of breath, leadership, and showing up fully, highlighting surprising synchronicities between dance and business.

• Why non-linear journeys, detours, and pauses often serve as preparation for the very moment that once felt impossibly far away.

• A simple three-breath practice you can use anytime to reconnect with presence, possibility, and trust in your path.

Turn It Out with Tiler Peck & Friends – New York City Center

New York City Center

Business and Leadership Conference (New York)

• Session #223 Transforming Pain into Powerful Expression

• Session #216 Healing Through Dance, Meditation and Movement

• Session #201 Adventures in Hope, Healing and Happiness

Instagram: @annettbone

Share what speaks to you about this episode—your own long-held dreams, your experiences with breath and presence, or your reflections on Turn It Out with Tiler Peck & Friends.

In this session of The DancePreneuring Studio, we explore how movement, memory, and the wisdom of the body can become portals to authentic selfhood with dance artist, somatic psychotherapist, and author Arianne MacBean. Rooted in a rich background of community-based dance theater and deep clinical training, Arianne shares how she guides clients and communities to “swim through the muck” of grief, anger, and loss through the sensations of the body. She also talks about her upcoming somatic journal, Tough Shit: The Angry Woman’s Guide to Embodying Change, and why anger can be a powerful doorway to true self when met with compassion and curiosity.

In this session, you’ll learn:

• How Arianne uses body sensations as an access point to get close to the psyche, helping clients move through grief, heartbreak, and shadow material toward true self.

• Why her work with The Big Show Co. and long-term projects with veterans and women in recovery revealed that community dance theater was doing real healing work long before she formally trained as a therapist.

• A fresh, somatic way to approach ballet and technique class—slowing down, closing the eyes, and letting the body lead plies, tendus, and relevés from lived sensation rather than only aesthetics.

• How ancestry, myth, archetype, and her namesake Ariadne inform her idea of “liminal imminence,” a moving, gender-fluid sense of the divine within the dancing body.

• What it means to be a “wounded healer” navigating her mother’s death, midlife grad school, and a lifelong devotion to excavating the feminine psyche.

• How women’s somatic circles, ritual, drawing, and movement can create multi-generational spaces where things “get real pretty quick” and deep resourcing in the body becomes possible.

• Simple somatic practices anyone can use—like noticing how you’re sitting, tracking a “rock in your shoe” concern into the body, or even clenching and releasing a fist—to honor emotions instead of bypassing them.

• Synergy Somatic Psychotherapy (Arianne’s practice)

• Journal – Tough Shit: The Angry Woman’s Guide to Embodying ChangeA self-reflection and somatic journal that uses anger as the starting point to trace “negative” emotions like fear, sadness, and hurt back to true self, with writing prompts paired with somatic exercises.

• Publisher – Tehom Center Publishing

• The Big Show Co. & The Collective Memory Project

Instagram: @annettbone

Let me know your reflections, questions, or favorite moments from this episode!

How does dance create space for connection, presence, and self-awareness? In this contemplative episode of The DancePreneuring Studio, I reflect on my experience attending Ballet Preljocaj’s Gravity at The Joyce Theater in New York City. Through honest observations shaped by fatigue, distracted thoughts, and moments of boredom, I explore the practice of non-attachment—recognizing how deeply we cling to sensory engagement and expectations.

I wrestle with being present amidst mental fog while witnessing a contemporary ballet that both challenges and rewards with its slower rhythm, minimal sound, and cyclical movement patterns. Alongside personal reflections, I appreciate the graceful way The Joyce Theater and Ballet Preljocaj handled unforeseen crew challenges, inspired by Artistic Director Angelin Preljocaj’s mantra, “Don’t complain, don’t explain.”

Whether you’re invested in dance, mindfulness, or the intersection of art and life, this episode invites a pause to appreciate gratitude, presence, and creative resilience.

The Reality of Fatigue:

Non-Attachment in Practice:

Movement as a Mirror:

Gratitude and Grace Under Pressure:

A Guiding Mantra:

• Ballet Preljocaj

• The Joyce Theater

• Digital Program forGravity

• Photo by Jean-Claude Carbonne

#234: Between Light and Shadow

Instagram: @annettbone

Let me know your reflections, questions, or favorite moments from this episode!

• Site-Specific Innovation:Every Heidi Duckler Dance work is created on location, inviting the community into the process and letting site and story co-evolve.
• Holding Space for Legacy and New Voices:Ray honors the company’s history while expanding its reach—mentoring foster youth, exploring film, dreaming of international impact, and fostering diverse artistic collaborations.
• Navigating Artistic Leadership:Balancing the perspectives of performer and director, Ray advocates for artist well-being, clear communication, and leading with empathy.
• Audience Agency and Surprise:Audiences are empowered to engage on their own terms, producing moments of genuine connection and unpredictability from food truck ballets to rooftop classes.
• Movement as Dialogue:For Ray, dance addresses cultural themes, sparks dialogue, and becomes a universal language for belonging, healing, and empowerment.

• Heidi Duckler Dance:heididuckler.org
• Ray on (@raymondejiofor)
• Learn more about the company’s legacy:Heidi Duckler Dance Anniversary.