Today on the show, I chat with Julia, a ski instructor who recently began ballet as an adult.

We talk a little bit about how she finally decided to pursue ballet, first getting started following along on YouTube and then joining my online studio soon after that.

We also dive into the incredible similarities between skiing and ballet and how both need an incredible amount of control over rotating our legs.

The day after we recorded the episode, she reported back that she had told her other ski instructor friends about how some adults have limiting beliefs that they can’t improve their turnout or that they’re stuck with what they had, and the other instructors were legitimately confused. That’s how sure the community of ski instructors is that you can improve your turnout!

You’re sure to love Julia’s optimistic outlook and incredibly unique perspective. Enjoy!

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Julie: Welcome to the show. Julia. I'm so excited to get a chance to chat today.

Julia: I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

Julie: Awesome. So we dance together at home but together on the internet, and you recently started ballet. Tell me how you got into it.

Julia: Well, I do a lot of other very physical sports. I'm a skier. I'm a ski instructor full-time. And I mountain bike and trail run and do off road triathlons and the like. So I'm always looking for ways to kind of cross-train and kind of maintain my strength and flexibility.

I did ballet as a child, so ballet has always kind of been in the back of my mind. And during the pandemic, I was looking for new and creative ways to do all that strengthening and stretching. And I came across online ballet. I think it was on YouTube. I forget what YouTube channel I was on. But I found a YouTube video and I was like, “Wow, that looks so cool, I’ll try it out.” And it just kind of cascaded I did like a deep dive into the YouTube ballet world. And then I discovered Broche and just like signed up immediately. I was like, “Oh, this is amazing.”

Julie: That’s so exciting. I have so many questions. Let's see where to start. So first of all, I'm curious, have you been able to work throughout this whole pandemic? I mean, your sports are outdoors, but I think there were still definitely some closures in terms of like ski areas and things during all of this. So what has it been like, from your perspective?

Julia: Well, the ski areas… so last March, we shut down until the end of last winter. And that was really sudden. It was kind of like I was teaching one day and then at the end of the day, they were like “Okay, you have to clean out your locker, we’re closed.” And that was kind of shocking. But I do backcountry skiing, so I was still able to get my skiing in. And yeah, I kind of took the summer off of work and was helping my mom with some health issues and doing the whole quarantine thing. Did a lot of mountain biking, and then this winter, ski areas have been open here in California. Operations look a lot different, but I have been able to teach ski lessons and do that full-time.

Julie: Awesome. Back to work good.

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Is ballet similar to those thrill-seeking sports?

Julie: And what ages do you teach skiing?

Julia: Mostly age three - 12, but I do occasionally teach adults.

Julie: And so I have many questions about how in the world you teach a three-year-old to ski. But before we get to that, okay, so everything you named, there seems like, rather thrill-seeking or like gives you an adrenaline rush or like would be rather exciting.

And then we're talking about going to ballet where we move at a snail's pace. And the point is to move slowly and all of that. Does this scratch a different kind of an itch? Or do you find it actually similar? They seem totally different to me. But I'm curious about your perspective.

Julia: I think it's interesting because I think they're actually really similar because all those sports require very precise body movements. And ballet also requires very precise body movements. And it's really cool to finally get it right when you can feel in your body that you've got it right. So it's like in skiing when you nail that turn perfectly, or in mountain biking, you get the right flow. It's kind of similar in ballet when you like, nail a turn, or land jump perfectly in balance. It's actually kind of a similar feeling. It's definitely not the same as going straight down a mountain. But I think in terms of the body movements, it's kind of similar.

Julie: Fascinating, I suppose it makes sense that those would be very technical activities as well.

Julia: Yes.

Julie: Fascinating. As someone who never got past to lodge in the ski resort, I don't know enough to know that they’re similar.

Julia: The lodge is fun too!

Julie: The lodge is where it’s at. That chair lift is too big a barrier for me.

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When do you teach the kids to the idea of precision in skiing?

Julie: So okay, so you teach all of this? How much technique do you teach at the age of three? Or is it just like getting them used to the motions at that age? When are you able to start introducing the precision?

Julia: I think in my lessons, I tend to introduce precision pretty soon because skiing all builds on itself. So you have to kind of be able to break those movements down into a three-year-old language. So you can still teach leg rotation to a three-year-old, but it might instead of being like “rotate your legs in” you say, “Okay, let's make a triangle with your feet.” And it's just kind of like changing the language. But I think you can actually teach young kids very technical skills, but the language is different.

Julie: Amazing. What can they do at that age? It seems like they can do very little in terms of other motor skills. How does it work with skiing, it's fascinating.

Julia: I think it depends on the amount of practice they have. They progress a lot slower than an older kid or an adult, it'll usually take several lessons, sometimes a whole season of skiing for them to get where an older kid or an adult can get in one day.

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“[Little kids] progress a lot slower than an older kid or an adult, it’ll usually take several lessons, sometimes a whole season of skiing for them to get where an older kid or an adult can get in one day”

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And it also depends how athletic or how coordinated the kid is. It depends on kid. But some of the three-year-olds are like ripping around the mountain, like skiing up on the chairlift. They're amazing, what they can do. But it does take a lot of patience and practice.

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What is “coordination”?

Julie: Tell me about your definition of coordination.

Julia: I think it's people who have learned to move their bodies. With kids, you can tell when a kid is allowed to play outside or allowed to move; when they have the strength built up that they play other sports. It's kind of easy to tell in a kid if they have exercised in other areas when they come to the ski resort because skiing is a lot of exercise. So when when they don't have a background in other sorts of movement, it can be kind of a rough day for them.

Julie: Fascinating and can you teach it if they don't have it already?

Julia: Well, they can go skiing, but it usually is one of those slower to develop skills. So it takes them coming back more and more. It's something that you can develop over time. It's not something that just kind of happens in one day. I don't think it's something that you're necessarily born with. I think it's something that you get from practicing are from moving and other areas. You're not a natural skier, it's just you're strong because you also play soccer or do dance or gymnastics or something.

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“[Coordination] usually is one of those slower-to-develop skills. So it takes them coming back more and more. It’s something that you can develop over time. It’s not something that just kind of happens in one day. I don’t think it’s something that you’re necessarily born with. I think it’s something that you get from practicing or from moving in other areas.”

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Julie: Interesting. So it's like they you everyone's learning the coordination somewhere, everyone who hasn't learned it somewhere, it's just a matter of whether they learn it on the slopes with you, or if