Lauren Gaul has a multifaceted professional career performing as a Radio City Rockette for over 10 years appearing in the national touring company and on the great stage at Radio City Music Hall. She was also a Rockette swing for three years and worked under the direction of; Linda Haberman, Julie Branam, Dennis Callahan, Becky Downing, and Eileen Grace. As a Rockette she appeared in numerous media tours, events, and parades and on stages such as Radio City Music Hall, the Grand Ol’ Opry, the Wang (Boston), and the Fox (Detroit). She choreographed the Drama League Nominated production of Tennessee Williams's The Mutilated starring Mink Stole and Penny Arcade (off Broadway). Her choreography has been presented at Jacob's Pillow Inside Out, Jazz Dance World Congress Emerging Artist Event, Broadway Dance Center, SUNY Purchase, Pace University, Jazz at Lincoln Center and many more. She assistant choreographed shows off Broadway, for regional theater (MSMT), for awards shows (Elan Awards), industrials (Footlocker, Izod, Sesame Street etc.), and cruise lines (Princess, Celebrity), and assistant choreographed for Broadway Bares for three years under the direction of Jerry Mitchell and Denis Jones.

She graduated cum laude with a degree in dance performance from Oklahoma City University under the tutelage of Director Jo Rowan and returned to school to get her MFA in dance performance and teaching from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College. While at Purchase she was a Graduate Teaching Assistant for Kazuko Hirabayshi and Roz Newman. For her graduate research she reconstructed a Ruth Currier piece under the direction of Ann Vachon and Alan Danielson of the Limon foundation. In her graduate concerts she worked with many repetiteurs, such as Jim May (Sokolow Foundation), Regina Larkin (Joyce Tristler foundation), The Nagrin Foundation and performed pieces choreographed by Max Stone, Cherice Barton, Daniel Nagrin, Pedro Ruiz, Mark Morris, Joyce Trisler, and Anna Sokolow.

Lauren is an Associate Professor of dance and the Associate Executive Director of Sands College of Performing Arts at Pace University where she co-wrote and co-founded the BFA Commercial Dance program in 2012. She served for five years as Co-Director of the BFA program and directed the Dance Out Loud concert as well as the Senior Showcase. She recently stepped in as Interim Program Head of the BFA Commercial Dance program where she teaches courses in Jazz Pedagogy, Jazz Technique I and III, Ballet Pedagogy, Dance History, Senior Seminar, Senior Project, Freshman Seminar UNV 101 and more. Her other teaching credits include: Broadway Dance Center, New Dance Group, Dance Masters of America, Perry Mansfield, The Rockette Experience, Oklahoma City University, MacComb College, SUNY Purchase School of the Arts and Conservatory of Dance, NYCDA SDI, The Arts Council of Pennsylvania, and numerous other schools, studios, conventions, and intensives nationwide. Lauren is an ABT® certified teacher from Primary to level 5 and was an Artist in Residence and Director of Dance at the New York School for the Deaf where she created and taught a dance program for students from kindergarten to high school. Lauren Gaul currently lives in Bergen County, New Jersey with her husband, and two daughters, she is an avid watercolor painter and crocheter and loves summers on the Connecticut coast line.

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When you recover, you can do almost anything… ✨

Join us as we welcome Maggie Felmann to the TuTu Thin Podcast! Maggie, an Eating Disorder Coach and passionate animal advocate, shares her incredible journey—from battling an unforgiving eating disorder to rescuing animals during the LA fires and helping others heal.

Growing up as a young artist in West LA, Maggie faced the pressures of perfection firsthand. After years of struggle, she made a promise to herself: to guide others toward recovery. Now, with training from the Carolyn Costin Institute and a deep well of personal experience, she helps her clients reclaim their voices, their lives, and their future.

Recovery is possible. Healing is real. And Maggie is living proof.

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Professor Inês Pinto, MD, Ph.D., is a renowned Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist from Portugal and one of only three specialists in her field in the country to hold a Ph.D. She graduated from Porto Medical School in 2008 at the age of 23, having entered the program at just 17. Alongside her medical career, Inês has a background in classical ballet, an early passion that informs her ongoing interest in the mental health of performing artists.
Currently, serves as an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon, the Catholic University Medical School, and the Institute of Applied Psychology (ISPA). She is also a certified trainer in the Circle of Security International R Model, a clinical intervention framework grounded in Attachment Theory and Reflexive Functioning, designed to support parents, educators, and mental health professionals.
In clinical practice, Professor Pinto specializes in Eating BehaviorDisorders, Perinatal Psychiatry, and Early Childhood Support, working within Portugal’s Public Health System. She is also the supervisor of the Research Committee at the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at Beatriz Ângelo Hospital in Lisbon.
Her contributions extend beyond clinical and academic work. Professor Pinto is an active member of the Portuguese Association of Psychoanalytic Couple and Family Psychotherapy (Poiesis) and the international mental health advisory group for the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS). She advises on dancers’ mental health at the Lisbon Dance Department of the National Conservatoire, merging her psychiatric expertise with her lifelong connection to the arts.

Isira Makuloluwe, B.Sc., MA is an acclaimed British-Sri Lankan choreographer with over 30 years of experience in contemporary dance and theatre. While earning a degree in Molecular Biology, he trained in ballet and completed his studies at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York. His performance career spanned America and Europe, showcasing a diverse repertoire in ballet, modern, and contemporary dance.

Since 2000, Isira has gained recognition as a groundbreaking choreographer, creating 20 original works in dance and physical theatre. He led his own dance company in France for over a decade, becoming the only British choreographer to secure fixed-term funding there. He has also choreographed for companies like the Geneva Opera Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre (UK). Among his accolades are being a finalist at the Japan International Dance Competition (2001) and winning the Best Choreography Prize at the Kuopio International Festival (2003).

In 2008, Isira launched Dynamic Releasing©, an innovative training method enabling participants to develop technical skills through innate movement pathways and sensory memory. The system empowers students to channel or overcome personal trauma, fostering growth and self-expression. His method has been taught in over a dozen countries worldwide.

With an MA in TV Journalism and Documentary Film, Isira also directs award-winning documentaries, including Shadow of the Bull (2014), which won the British Journalism Training Council’s Best Documentary Award.

Based in Portugal since 2011, Isira directs Ericeira Dance Studio, a movement research hub offering classes, internships, and residencies.

Links: @dynamicreleasing

vimeo.com/dancetheatremedia

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In this episode I explore holiday traditions that I have enjoyed. Traditions are important in eating disorder recovery because they replace the rituals.

What are your favorite holiday traditions?

We will resume podcasts on January 10th.

Happy Holidays to everyone and Thank you for listening.

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An in depth conversation about the guidelines recently created by the Australian Ballet regarding body image, disordered eating, and eating disorders. Dr beth Shelton and Dr Susan Mayes were instrumental in the development of the guidelines. I am excited to have you hear their process of educating different departments within The Australian Ballet. This was a two year process and the results are really incredible. I hope that other ballet companies will follow in their footsteps.

Dr. Beth Shelton recently finished as National Director of the National Eating Disorder Collaboration (NEDC), a national sector collaboration dedicated to developing and implementing a consistent, evidence-based system of care for the prevention and treatment of eating disorders. In August 2024 NEDC launched the National Eating Disorders Strategy 2023-2033 - a call to action and a roadmap for people who care about and are responsible for improving Australia’s response to eating disorders.
Dr. Shelton is a counselling psychologist with decades of experience working with individuals experiencing eating disorders and their families/supports. She developed and led an innovative community early intervention program at Monash Link Community Health Service and was clinical lead of the adult outpatient team of Monash Health’s eating disorder treatment service. Dr. Shelton worked with the Victorian Centre of Excellence in Eating Disorders for 10 years providing complex case consultation, training and service development in Victorian mental health services. Dr. Shelton co-led a project with Orygen headspace services to support staff to provide guided help for eating disorders and helped to formulate the headspace national eating disorders practice principles. Dr. Shelton has recently collaborated with the Australian Ballet on Body Image and Disordered Eating Guidelines: A framework for action and prevention of eating disorders. She has a distinguished professional history in contemporary dance and is interested in the role of movement and embodied experience in evidence-based interventions for disordered eating and body image problems.

Dr Susan Mayes AM has been the Principal Physiotherapist of The Australian Ballet since 1997 and is the Director of Artistic Health. The Australian Ballet’s health and wellbeing support for dancers is world-renowned. Sue also consults for national and international professional sport. Sue is an Adjunct Associate Professor at La Trobe University and received a Distinguished Alumni Award from La Trobe University in 2018. She has published ballet injury related papers, and is currently researching ankle, foot and hip joint health, and mental fatigue in professional ballet dancers as part of the partnership between The Australian Ballet and La Trobe University. Sue has been invited to speak at international conferences, and lectures throughout Australia, UK and Europe. Sue was awarded an Order of Australia in 2020 for her work on preventing dance injury and improving outcomes for ballet dancers.

https://nedc.com.au/

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Steven Melendez was born in New York City in 1986 and began his ballet training as part of the LIFT Scholarship Program at Ballet School New York at the age of seven while living in a New York City homeless shelter. Later, he studied at the School of American Ballet and attended summer programs with the San Francisco Ballet Academy, Houston Ballet Academy, and Kaatsbaan International School.

In 2001 Melendez joined New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) as an apprentice and in 2006 was promoted to Principal. While there he performed leading roles in choreographies by Fredrick Ashton, George Balanchine, John Butler, Agnes DeMille, Donald Mahler, Antony Tudor, and others. In 2004, while dancing with New York Theatre Ballet, he graduated from the American Ballet Theater Studio Company Associate Program. The program culminated in a performance of Oblivion by Jessica Lang and Continuo by Antony Tudor.

For the 2006 season Melendez was invited to Buenos Aires as a Guest Soloist to perform with Ballet Concierto, directed by Iñaki Urlezaga. His repertory there included Carmen (Alonso), Don Quixote (Baryshnikov), Symphonic Variations (Ashton) and Borodin (Ariaz). While performing with Ballet Concierto, Melendez traveled extensively performing in international ballet galas and festivals in Argentina, New Zealand, Thailand, Venezuela, Ecuador, Estonia, Spain, and Italy.

In 2007 Melendez joined the Vanemuine Theater Ballet Company in Tartu, Estonia as a principal dancer. With the Vanemuine Theater he performed principal roles in Onegin (Medvedjev), The Nutcracker (Isberg), Giselle (Feco) and Peter Pan (Titova), the leading male role in Par Isberg’s Uinuv Kaunitar (Sleeping Beauty) as well as the title role in Ruslan Stepanov’s Kevade were both choreographed on him.

In 2008 Melendez received a Diploma from the 5th Rudolf Nureyev International Ballet Competition in Budapest, Hungary. He also received special recognition from head jurist Maya Plisetskya for his second-round performance of Onegin. Afterwards, he was invited to perform in the gala entitled Celebrating the Classical Male Dancer and later represented Estonia at the 13th International Baltic Ballet Festival in Riga, Latvia.

Melendez returned to New York City in March 2010 for New York Theatre Ballet’s Signature 10 series as a Principal Guest Artist performing José Limon’s Mazurkas and rejoined the company full-time the following season. In 2011 Melendez worked with British choreographer Sir Richard Alston to create his new work A Rugged Flourish and performed Limon’s The Moor’s Pavane for NYTB’s Signatures 12. Melendez is a Van- Lier Fellowship recipient and was a 2012 Clive Barnes Foundation Award Nominee.

In 2015 Melendez celebrated his 15th season with New York Theatre Ballet performing world premieres in works by Pam Tanowitz and Nicolo Fonte, and U.S. premieres of Alston’s Such Longing and Light Flooding into Darkened Rooms. He was a frequent guest artist at the Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica, a Resident Guest Artist at Ballet Palm Beach in Florida, and has performed in galas and festivals in Mexico and Japan.

Melendez co-choreographed his first large-scale work, Song Before Spring, for New York Theatre Ballet which was named a Dance Europe critic's choice “Best Premiere” of 2016. In 2018 Melendez received a Declaration of Recognition from the Mayor of Trujillo, Peru with gratitude from the municipality of Trujillo, and a Diploma of Honor from the Governor of La Libertad, Peru f

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Yasi Ansari is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics based in Los Angeles, CA. She is the owner of Yasi Ansari Nutrition, LLC a consulting practice specializing in nutrition for athletic performance and nutrition therapy for eating disorders/disordered eating. She helps competitive athletes and performing artists improve their relationship with food while providing guidance that supports meeting the nutritional demands for their sport. In addition, she works with adolescents diagnosed with eating disorders at the Medical Stabilization Program at UCLA Health Santa Monica Medical Center.

She is a National Media Spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Chair-Elect of the Academy's Sports and Human Performance Nutrition dietetic practice group. She collaborates with the Athletes and the Arts initiative to help create educational content for performing arts athletes and co-hosts the Athletes and the Arts podcast. Yasi graduated from UCLA and earned a master's degree from California State University, Northridge.

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It was so great to have Jenny and Brett on as guests from The Ballet Help Desk. They are two moms who spent years trying to figure out how to support their dancing kids. From the competition circuit to ballet training to their professional careers, we stumbled along trying to support our kids in the best way we knew how.

After several years on this path, we’re ready to share what we’ve learned with you!

If you have questions or want to contact the Ballet Help Desk.......

URL: www.ballethelpdesk.com

Instagram: @ballethelpdesk

Facebook: BalletHelpDesk

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