Stairway For Ballet

Ms. Stephanie Potreck is a former dancer turned doctor and sports nutritionist, and also a psychotherapist specializing in the treatment of eating disorders, and challenges with self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-care. She has a unique insight into the challenges that dancers face these days, worldwide. She is the founder of AusDancersOverseas that was originally created to support Australian dancers and dance students whe...

Jeraldine Mendoza is a first-generation Filipina American who was born in San Francisco, California, and trained at City Ballet School of San Francisco since the age of five. At age 17, Mendoza was invited to graduate in the Russian course at the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow., and she later won First Place at the YAGP San Francisco Regional Semi-Finals in 2011. Now, she is currently dancing at Joffery Ballet and hav...

Puanani or Pua Brown is a former professional ballet dancer at American Ballet Theatre and a Harvard graduate with a degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy. After series of knee injuries, she decided to explore more of her passion of empowering marginalized communities through environmental protection, environmental justice and Indigenous rights. 

In this episode, Pua talks about her experiences w...

Ellen Roberts attended UNCSA as a ballet major and Metropolitan School of the Arts as a Dance/Musical Theatre major. She has spent summers training at Bolshoi, The Washington Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and more. She spent this year training at The Nashville Ballet and will attend Boston Conservatory at Berklee next year to get her BFA in Musical Theatre. She is also the founder of Humans in Dance Proj...

We interviewed two of the four Co-Founders of Brown Ballerinas For Change: Shania Gordon & Ava Holloway!

Shania Gordon has been performing with Central Virginia Dance Academy since 2016. She desires to become a professional dancer with NYC Ballet; without any set limitations to achieving her goal. Shania wishes to inspire those that see her, encouraging them to “not be afraid of who you really are and to work hard to ...

Daphne Lee, a member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, began her dance training at the Rahway Dance Theatre. Daphne has done community work through out the country via masterclasses and career readiness talks to the youth. She has assisted in raising over $5,000 in scholarship money in partnership with Brown Girls Do Ballet. She was a member of Ailey II, Lustig Dance Theatre, Zest Collective, Oakland Ballet Company,and ...

In this episode, we talk about  how perfectionism is also a growing epidemic in the dance world. Unfortunately, the lack of help from the dance industry for dancers has led to dancers to be be influenced by depression, anxiety, anorexia, bulimia and even suicide. We consider why dancers are generally perfectionists in the first place. We also discuss the ways to fight back the idea of perfectionism and develop productive copin...

In this episode, we talk about something that is rarely talked about in the dance world: LGBTQ+ and Non-Binary Inclusion in Dance. We explore how most ballet techniques and movements segregate itself into gender based categories. In addition, we discuss #BoysDanceToo (including how this was focused on hypermasculinity) and various examples of LGBTQ+ and Non-Binary dancers . Finally, we also discuss ways to make dance studios more I...

Special Feature!

Samantha Parr is a 17-year-old ballet dancer from San Francisco, California. She has danced since she was 3 years old, and has attended summer intensives at Pacific Northwest Ballet and Ballet West. In addition to ballet, Samantha loves to samba dance, run, and create Pinterest boards of just about everything! Samantha plans on attending a four-year university after high school and hopes to join a dance program to ...

In this episode, we talk about body image roles and issues in the dance world. We discuss how one of greatest artistic demands in dance is physical shape, contributing to the desire of a thinner body and the continuous self-dissatisfaction state because of the standard of the supposed “perfect body.” We also examine ways to build a better body image and self-confidence and the importance of loving your body.  We also point out...

Tanvi Mavuri is a 15 year old student at the Canadian International School of Bangalore and she attends the Lewis Foundation of Classical Ballet. She shares a huge passion for ballet and it's been a part of her life ever since she was little for the past 12 years. When she leaves for university, she hopes to continue she studies in the medical field and she aspires to become a cardiothoracic surgeon.

In this episode, Tanvi talks ab...

Abi is 16 years old and has danced for about 11 years. She is currently a junior at Lake Orion High School and attends Valentina’s school of ballet. In her free time, she loves to hangout with her dog and family, especially her sister. Her sister, Elizabeth, is also a dancer and attends Butler University. Abi would love to make a career out of ballet, but also shares a love for science. 

In the episode, Abi talks about what ba...

Nyla is 15 years old; she has danced for 11 years and recently started to focus more on ballet at Valentina’s School of Ballet. In her free time, she does school work and loves to hang out with her friends and her dog. When she is older, she aspires to work in the Physiology field or be a Cardiothoracic surgeon. Norah also loves to dance. She spends most of her time either working on online school or at dance- education is one of h...