A Dancer's Mindset

Ballet with Isabella
  • 4.8 (24)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Hi friends, it’s Isabella! Vaganova graduate, international coach and recovering perfectionist. It’s time for you to step into what’s possible, This is the podcast for anyone striving for more – in your ballet career, your training, or just within yourself. We’ll talk confidence, resilience, motivation, mindset and the real-life stuff that comes with wanting more and that can often get in the way! So wherever you’re listening from today, I’m glad you’re here. Let’s get into it.

  1. 4 hrs ago

    EP. 171 How To Have A Growth Mindset. Chun Wai Chan.Principal Dancer NYCB

    Hello Everyone! What does it mean to dance not just for yourself, but for an entire community?In this episode of A Dancer's Mindset, Isabella sits down with Chun Wai Chan — Principal Dancer at New York City Ballet and a true trailblazer. In 2022, Chan made history by becoming the first Chinese principal dancer in NYCB's 74-year history, and since then, his perspective on what it means to perform has evolved into something far greater than the stage itself. Together, they explore what a growth mindset really looks like in the world of dance — how you stay curious, keep evolving, and never stop reaching. Chun Wai opens up about finding genuine joy in movement, even through the gruelling demands of a career at ballet's highest level. And in one of the episode's most powerful moments, he reframes stage nerves entirely — because when you're this grounded in your purpose, the absence of anxiety isn't a weakness. It's a superpower.But what makes this conversation truly special is the bigger picture Chun Wai is holding. He has become a source of hope for young dancers of different cultures and ethnicity, who tell him that his career gave them the belief that their own dreams are possible. He's not just dancing — he's opening doors, shifting representation, and showing an entire generation of Asian and Chinese dancers what is possible at the very top of the art form. This is a conversation about ambition, identity, joy, and legacy. Whether you're a dancer, an artist, or anyone who has ever had to carve out a space where one didn't exist before — this episode is for you. 🎙️ Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. ✨ EXPLORE MORE WITH ISABELLA 🌐 Website — ⁠⁠⁠balletwithisabella.com ⁠⁠⁠ 📩 Join the mailing list — ⁠⁠⁠mailchi.mp/balletwithisabella/isabella ⁠⁠⁠📸 Instagram — @balletwithisabella 💫 Want to train properly from home? Everything is inside the Ballet With Isabella membership — classes, courses, corrections and more.

    56 min

  2. 1 day ago

    Ep. 170 BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! My Story

    Hello Everyone! This is so exciting - We are launching ISABELLA - our rebrand and new platform June 24th 2026 I wanted to not only thank this beautiful community but also share more about how this has evolved, why the change and why it is such a personal change and how this has been born out of my journey. In this episode, I will share with you some of the very steps in my life that led to this point and why I am so passionate about not only helping other people but helping people see what can happen if that step into what's possible How when in the right environment, when with the right people, huge change can happen for you both in and out of the studio. I am so excited for this next chapter and thank you for being here! --------- JOIN OUR MAILING LIST! NEVER MISS A THING https://mailchi.mp/balletwithisabella/isabella-platform-sign-up

    31 min

  3. 4 days ago

    Ep. 169 Never Give Up Again!

    Hello Everyone!, Today we talk about what makes us actually want to give up. It happens to all of us, the determination slips, the motivation just isn't what it used to be. We associate those emotions with how much we may actually want something when in fact, it could be how you are spending time. This can look at the pockets of time in the day that are actually wasting your time, and the lack of systems you have in place in your life. We often think, to get good at something or to work hard means the the journey needs to feel hard. While ballet is hard as we know, I don't want the systems in place to feel hard or effortful. I want them to feel easy, so I can keep doing them, keep improving and keep achieving what I have set out to do! This episode will help you achieve all of that! So let's dive in! ------- JOIN OUR MAILING LIST! NEW PLATFORM COMING :-) https://mailchi.mp/balletwithisabella/isabella-platform-sign-up

    47 min
  4. EP. 168 How To Visualise The Future You Want

    10 June

    EP. 168 How To Visualise The Future You Want

    The Power of Visualisation: See It To Become It What if the most powerful training tool you have costs nothing, requires no studio, and works while you sleep? In this episode, we dive deep into the science of visualisation and why your brain doesn't know the difference between vividly imagining something and actually doing it. We cover four types of visualisation — outcome, process, negative, and creative — and exactly how to use each one as a dancer. I also share a story from my own childhood that I didn't even have a name for at the time, and how it quietly made me better at movements I'd barely tried. If you've ever been trapped in the 'what ifs' — what if I mess up, what if I'm not good enough, what if I don't deserve this — this episode is for you. Grab a pen and paper. You're going to need it. Let's dive in! ---------- ✨ EXPLORE MORE WITH ISABELLA 🌐 Website — ⁠balletwithisabella.com ⁠ 📩 Join the mailing list — ⁠mailchi.mp/balletwithisabella/isabella ⁠📸 Instagram — @balletwithisabella 💫 Want to train properly from home? Everything is inside the Ballet With Isabella membership — classes, courses, corrections and more.  Join us → ⁠balletwithisabella.com⁠

    43 min

  5. 20 May

    EP. 167 Failures & Mistakes Are Not Your Identity!

    Hey Everyone! We need to talk about failure. Not in a "dust yourself off and try again" motivational poster kind of way. Really talk about it. Because so many of us — especially as dancers — have spent years quietly believing that every mistake we make says something about who we are. A wobbled pirouette, a bad audition, a class where nothing went right. And instead of letting it go, we become it. This episode is about untangling that. Failure is not your identity. It is information. It is redirection. It is, honestly, one of the most powerful tools you have — but only if you stop running from it and start getting curious about it. In this episode we're talking about: 🎙️ Why we attach our sense of self worth to our mistakes — and how to stop 🎙️ The difference between having a bad experience and being a failure 🎙️ How embracing mistakes (rather than burying them) is what separates dancers who grow from dancers who plateau 🎙️ Practical ways to reframe failure in the moment — on and off the dance floor 🎙️ Why the most successful, most celebrated artists in the world have failure woven all the way through their story Because here's the truth — the mistake doesn't define you. What you do with it does. Whether you're a dancer, a student, a creative, or just a human being navigating life, this one is for you. Pull up a chair. Let's get into it. ✨ EXPLORE MORE WITH ISABELLA 🌐 Website — balletwithisabella.com 📩 Join the mailing list — mailchi.mp/balletwithisabella/isabella 📸 Instagram — @balletwithisabella 💫 Want to train properly from home? Everything is inside the Ballet With Isabella membership — classes, courses, corrections and more.  Join us → balletwithisabella.com

    20 min

  6. 9 May

    Ep.166 Day 7: Becoming the Confident Dancer

    Hello Everyone! You made it to Day 7. And something has already shifted — even if you can't quite name it yet. This final episode is about bringing everything together. The work you've done this week — facing the performance anxiety, stepping out of comparison, separating your worth from your results, quieting the overthinking, releasing the fear of being seen, finding your way back from burnout — it has all been leading here. To you. The confident dancer. Not the perfect dancer. Not the fearless dancer. The one who knows herself, trusts herself, and shows up fully anyway — on the hard days, in the difficult rooms, under the lights, and in the quiet moments when nobody is watching but her. Confidence is not a destination you arrive at and stay forever. It is a practice. A daily decision. And in this episode we talk about exactly how to keep making it — so that everything you've reset this week becomes not just a moment, but a new standard. This is not the end. This is where you begin. ------ Follow For More! balletwithisabella.com @balletwithisabella on all socials Join our mailing list ⁠https://mailchi.mp/balletwithisabella/isabella⁠

    19 min

  7. 9 May

    Ep. 165 Day 6: Burned Out? "Why Am I Even Doing This?

    Hello Everyone! Welcome to Day 6 . You used to love this. You used to live for it — the classes, the rehearsals, the music, all of it. And somewhere along the way something shifted and now you're showing up out of habit or obligation or guilt, going through the motions, wondering when it stopped feeling like yours. If you have ever stood in the studio and genuinely asked yourself why you're still doing this — this episode is a safe place to land. Today we talk honestly about burnout in dance — what it actually is, how it creeps in, and why it is so often misread as laziness or lack of passion when it is actually the opposite. We talk about how to find your way back to yourself and back to the love that started all of this. And we talk about what it looks like to rebuild your relationship with dance on your own terms — not the terms of a schedule, a syllabus, or someone else's expectations. The love is still there. Today we go and find it. ------ Follow For More! balletwithisabella.com @balletwithisabella on all socials Join our mailing list https://mailchi.mp/balletwithisabella/isabella

    24 min

  8. 1 May

    Ep. 164 Day 5: Fear Of Being SEEN!

    Hello Everyone, Welcome to Day 5 of The Dancer Reset Series! Let's dive in. Day 5: Fear of Being Seen You love to dance. But something happens when you feel truly watched — really seen — and it stops you. You make yourself smaller. You pull back at exactly the moment you should be expanding. You hold something in reserve, even when everything in you wants to let go. Fear of being seen is more common among dancers than almost anything else. And it makes sense — to dance is to be exposed in a way that most people never have to be. But it is also the very thing standing between you and the dancer you are meant to be. In this episode we go beneath the surface of performance anxiety and into something deeper — the fear of full visibility. We talk about where it comes from, what it is really protecting you from, and how to begin dismantling it so that you can do the thing you were made to do, fully and without apology. The stage does not want a smaller version of you. It never did. 🌐 balletwithisabella.com  📩 Join the mailing list: mailchi.mp/balletwithisabella/isabella 📸 Instagram: @balletwithisabella  ▶️ YouTube: youtube.com/@balletwithisabella

    32 min
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4.8
out of 5
24 Ratings

About

Hi friends, it’s Isabella! Vaganova graduate, international coach and recovering perfectionist. It’s time for you to step into what’s possible, This is the podcast for anyone striving for more – in your ballet career, your training, or just within yourself. We’ll talk confidence, resilience, motivation, mindset and the real-life stuff that comes with wanting more and that can often get in the way! So wherever you’re listening from today, I’m glad you’re here. Let’s get into it.

Information

  • Creator
    Ballet with Isabella
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    173
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Ballet with Isabella
  • Show Website
    A Dancer's Mindset

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