What Fuels a Dancer started as my passion project.
Reflecting on the past twenty years of my life, I can see how so many roads led me to this moment. I started ballet at the age of four as a way to channel my kitchen twirling and natural love of dressing up. As I got older, making and sharing food, especially baked goods, became my trademark. I was always the dancer that hauled numerous batches of homemade mocha granola, peanut butter swirled brownies, and salted Nutella cookies into the dressing room. In my free time outside of school and ballet, I had my nose in cookbooks or was testing a new recipe for friends and family.
When I moved away from home to pursue dancing in a professional atmosphere, I struggled with injuries and anxiety that launched me into a journey to find a lifestyle that would help me become the healthiest, strongest dancer that I could be. Three years ago, I launched an Instagram account called What Fuels a Dancer. It was a way of combining all of my passions together: my ballet career, love of making and sharing food, and my dedication to living a healthy lifestyle. Just this past year, I took one more leap to become certified as an Integrative Nutritional Health Coach, which was the natural step that gave me the confidence to share what I have learned with you!
My heart behind the What FUels a Dancer blog is to provide a space for you to find inspiration, balance, and community.
Whether you wear a tutu and a tiara for a living or a pantsuit, my hope is that you can find space here to grow as you explore what it means to live a life fueled by love, self-care, and passion. You might be trying to find balance in your professional career or with mounds of schoolwork, searching for your life mission, and exploring what being healthy means to you, or maybe you need help developing a self care routine or get out of a unshakeable rut. Wherever you are on your health and wellness journey, I am right there with you, so we can go through it together. How does that sound?
Many of my stories and anecdotes are unique to a dancer, but I think the lessons I learned and the emotions I felt are totally relatable, regardless if you have 20 pairs of pointe shoes in your closet or not. Let’s be real for a second. Whether you are a professional ballerina, a stressed out college student living in sweatpants, or a business professional forging a career for yourself, there are some things we all have in common. Having been a professional both inside and outside of the dance world has taught me that every job has the ability to throw off your work-life balance, that body image issues aren’t selective to people that only wear leotards, that anxiety can come in all different shapes and sizes, and that there is so much more to you than your accomplishments and career title.
My teens and twenties were the most formidable times of my life. I was figuring out who I am and what I want to do with my life… actually, I’m pretty sure I still haven’t figured it out, but I’ll keep you posted. I was so lost when it came to self-care and self-love and felt overwhelmed at the thought that I didn’t know where I was going to be in a month, much less five years. I remember how much I wanted there to be someone who was like an older sister and professional mentor to walk alongside me and encourage me through the growing pains and help me establish healthy habits that I could carry with me for the rest of my life.
This is why I started What Fuels a Dancer: to create meaningful relationships that center around health and wellness in every aspect of life.
I am so passionate to bring you resources from my own learning and experiences as well as those from other dancers, students, and professionals, and create a space for positive community and personal growth. I promise that we will talk about some hard stuff, but there will be also be some fun recipes, random musings, fun chats, and lots and lots of smoothie bowl love.
So, pour yourself a big mug of tea, wrap yourself up in a blanket, light a candle, and come with an open mind and heart and a willingness to dig deep into yourself. Just because we aren’t face to face doesn’t mean that we can’t have girl talk. Get ready for some real conversation and genuine connection as we walk down this path together.