A Dancer's Mindset

Ballet with Isabella
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This podcast, hosted by ballet dancer, Vaganova graduate and international coach Isabella McGuire Mayes @balletwithIsabella For all the dancers out there with a desire for more and to reach their highest potential. Isabella will build your confidence, self esteem and self belief so you can make it to the top. There are many stories from Isabella's training days, tips to improve your mindset, special guests and more!! Giving you a winning dancer's mindset! Explore BWI - Your secret weapon to excellence. www.balletwithisabella.com Email hello@balletwithisabella.com

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 30 APR

    Ep.163 Day 4: Don't Overthink & Align Yourself

    Hello Everyone, Welcome to Day 4 of The Dancer Reset Series. Hopefully we are feeling good! Let's dive in to episode 4 Day 4: Why You Overthink Under Pressure The combination starts and your brain won't stop. Check your arms. Is your core on? What comes next? Why does everyone else look so relaxed? You're thinking so hard about every single thing that there is no space left to actually dance — and the harder you try to switch it off, the louder it gets. Overthinking under pressure is one of the most common and least talked about struggles in dance. And in this episode we get into exactly why it happens. We cover what is going on in your nervous system when pressure triggers the overthinking spiral, why trying harder to stop thinking actually makes it worse, and the specific mental tools that help you get out of your head and back into your body — where the dancing actually lives. Because you already know how to do this. Your body just needs your mind to get out of the way. 🌐 balletwithisabella.com 📩 Join the mailing list: mailchi.mp/balletwithisabella/isabella 📸 Instagram: @balletwithisabella ▶️ YouTube: youtube.com/@balletwithisabella

    18 min

  6. 29 APR

    Ep. 162 Day 3: Self Worth Tied To Decisions Out Of Your Control

    Hello Everyone, Welcome back to this Dancer Reset Series Day 3! You got the part — and you felt worthy. You didn't get the part — and suddenly you questioned everything. Whether you're good enough, whether you belong there, whether all of this is even worth it. If a casting list has ever had that kind of power over how you feel about yourself, this episode is for you. Today we get honest about what it really means when our self worth becomes dependent on external outcomes — roles, results, rankings, recognition. We talk about why the dance world makes this so easy to fall into, what it costs you when you live there, and how to build a sense of self that is solid regardless of what any list, any teacher, or any audition panel decides on any given day. You are not your casting. It is time to separate the two. 🌐 balletwithisabella.com  📩 Join the mailing list: mailchi.mp/balletwithisabella/isabella 📸 Instagram: @balletwithisabella  ▶️ YouTube: youtube.com/@balletwithisabella

    19 min

  7. 28 APR

    Ep. 161 Day 2: The Comparison Trap

    Day 2: The Comparison Trap She got the correction you wanted. She has the extension you've been working on for years. She seems to pick everything up faster, easier, better — and suddenly you're not in class anymore, you're in your head, measuring every part of yourself against someone else and coming up short every single time. Welcome to the comparison trap. And today we are getting out of it. In this episode we talk about why comparison is one of the most destructive habits in the dance world, why your brain is wired to do it and how to interrupt the pattern, and what happens to your dancing — and your joy — when you finally make your own journey the only one you're focused on. Your path is not her path. And that is not a weakness. That is your greatest advantage. 🌐 balletwithisabella.com 📩 Join the mailing list: mailchi.mp/balletwithisabella/isabella 📸 Instagram: @balletwithisabella ▶️ YouTube: youtube.com/@balletwithisabella

    21 min

  8. 27 APR

    Ep.160 Day 1: Amazing In Class. Lose It When Performing

    Hello Everyone! Today marks the start of a new series! The Dancer Reset Series - 7 Days To Reset Your Mind. Episode 1, dives into why we seem to nail things in class but not when it matters, be it in an audition or when performing. You know you can do it. You've done it a hundred times. In class it flows, it feels good, it looks exactly the way you want it to — and then the lights go up, the audience sits down, and something happens. The body tightens. The mind goes blank. The very thing you've rehearsed so many times suddenly feels like a stranger. If this is you, you are not alone — and you are not broken. In this episode we dig into exactly why the gap between class and performance exists, what is actually happening in your mind and body when the pressure hits, and how to start closing that gap for good. Because the dancer in the studio and the dancer on the stage? They are the same person. It's time to let her show up everywhere. Follow, Rate & Review & Share on your instagram! @balletwithisabella Tag Me ------ Never Miss A Thing! Join The List 🌐 balletwithisabella.com  📩 Join the mailing list: mailchi.mp/balletwithisabella/isabella 📸 Instagram: @balletwithisabella  ▶️ YouTube: youtube.com/@balletwithisabella

    30 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

This podcast, hosted by ballet dancer, Vaganova graduate and international coach Isabella McGuire Mayes @balletwithIsabella For all the dancers out there with a desire for more and to reach their highest potential. Isabella will build your confidence, self esteem and self belief so you can make it to the top. There are many stories from Isabella's training days, tips to improve your mindset, special guests and more!! Giving you a winning dancer's mindset! Explore BWI - Your secret weapon to excellence. www.balletwithisabella.com Email hello@balletwithisabella.com

Information

  • Creator
    Ballet with Isabella
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    169
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Ballet with Isabella
  • Show Website
    A Dancer's Mindset

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