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70. Dream Big, Make It Happen: Hannah Martin’s Journey from Rhythmic Gymnastics to the Birmingham Royal Ballet
194 Plays14 days ago
What does it take to go from Commonwealth Games rhythmic gymnast to professional ballerina with the Birmingham Royal Ballet? In this episode, Hannah Martin shares her remarkable journey, the lessons she’s learned along the way, and why she’s passionate about helping dancers dream big and make it happen.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode:
- Hannah’s early career as a rhythmic gymnast, including competing at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and earning 22 national titles.
- The key differences between gymnastics training and ballet training—and why flexibility alone wasn’t enough.
- How competing on the BBC’s The Greatest Dancer became a turning point, ultimately leading to her acceptance at Elmhurst Ballet School, where she graduated with the Sir Peter Wright Award for Performance.
- The challenges and breakthroughs of transitioning into ballet at 16—and why learning the “in-between steps” became her biggest growth moment.
- How recovering from injury gave her a deeper appreciation for dance and helped unlock the “next level” of ballet.
- Why Hannah founded the Make It Happen Academy—an online platform empowering dancers to build strength, refine technique, and develop mental skills for long-term success.
- Her best advice for young dancers stepping into the professional world: find a life outside of ballet, avoid burnout, and protect your body.
Connect with Hannah:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannahmartinrg
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@hannahmartinrg
Website: www.hannahmartin.info
Make it Happen Academy: https://make-it-happen-academy.teachery.co/make-it-happen-academy
Links and Resources:
Ballet Help Desk Website
Let’s connect!
My WEBSITE: thebrainyballerina.com
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/thebrainyballerina
Questions/comments? Email me at caitlin@thebrainyballerina.com
This episode was brought to you by the Pivot Ball Change Network.
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Transcript
Introduction and Caitlin's Ballet Journey
00:00:00
Speaker
I feel like I've unlocked a new level of ballet, which I've never experienced before, where I can go into movement and think about how I want to do it, not just doing it. It's like, oh, how would I feel like today? do we want to go more oozy or do we want to be more staccato?
00:00:14
Speaker
Do I want to do a little bit more juju with the arms or do we want to keep it very classical? Getting to play now, now that is like where ballet gets really fun.
00:00:25
Speaker
I'm Caitlin, a former professional ballerina turned dance educator and career mentor. And this is the Brand New Ballerina podcast. I am here for the aspiring professional ballerina who wants to learn what it really takes to build a smart and sustainable career in the dance industry. I'm peeling back the curtain of professional dance world with open and honest conversations about the realities of becoming a professional dancer. Come along to gain the knowledge and inspiration you need to succeed in a dance career on your terms.
00:00:59
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Brainy Ballerina Podcast. I'm your host, Caitlin Sloan, and I am joined today by Hannah Martin. Hannah is an artist with the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the founder of the Make It Happen Academy, which is a supportive platform to empower dancers to reach their full potential in strength, technique, and mental skills.
Hannah's Early Ballet Experiences
00:01:19
Speaker
We're going to get into all of that today, but first, Hannah, would you tell us why did you take your very first dance class? Hi, I just want to say thank you so much for having me. i'm Super excited to be here and just share hopefully like a little bit of my story, a little bit of inspiration for everyone's day.
00:01:36
Speaker
I first got into a ballet or dancing actually in in my church, to be fair. My mum was a dancer and she always used to dance in church. and I was just there and the music would be playing and literally i could be dancing, improvising for like hours on end. It was just like a passion and a joy. And I just knew that I loved it.
00:01:55
Speaker
I started ballet classes, I think when I was, I did baby ballet like three. And then I did some RAD classes at the RAD headquarters when I was eight. I have to say, I do feel like ballet was a bit, I loved it, but i don't know if it really loved me back. Like I i wouldn't say as a kid, I was like your typical,
00:02:13
Speaker
Now, I have a bit of a complex around the term ballet body because I believe everyone has their own ballet body. But for the sake of, you know, i wasn't that typical ballet body when I was younger growing up.
Body Image and Transition to Gymnastics
00:02:25
Speaker
So that was like an interesting, like ah coming to ballet, loving it, but also kind of struggling already with a kind of a the pressure to to look or be a certain way.
00:02:36
Speaker
But obviously it didn't stop why still my passion and I'm here today as a professional dancer now for many years and it's a privilege to be able to do what we do and I think each day I'm trying to re-fall in love back with that first love for dance and I've actually had an injury for the last few months. I'm literally just getting back. It's been a really, a big struggle, this injury.
00:02:59
Speaker
But it's funny because it's taught me how to have like that childlike just love for dance again. And I really want to hold on to that, especially when obviously when the workload gets really hard, sometimes you can lose a bit of that wonder. I want to hold on to that.
00:03:12
Speaker
Can you tell us about your training growing up? As I said, it started some baby ballet classes and then did just like once a week at the RAD for a few years, kept it quite recreational. And then I actually found myself doing rhythmic gymnastics. So when I started at the RAD classes at eight, I also started going to rhythmic gymnastics classes and I found, oh, wow, like this is where I can really thrive because I was such a flexible kid.
00:03:41
Speaker
The legs would just go everywhere. I had no control, no strength whatsoever. I used to be called floppy and messy and all of those different name tags that you put with very hypermobile dancers and gymnastics.
00:03:53
Speaker
But in rhythmic, it was really ah great thing that you were so flexible. So I found myself like going down that route when I was 11, when I watched the British Championships for the first time that I was like, wow, this is what I want to do. I wasn't even close to qualifying. I was just like, this is my dream.
Gymnastics Achievements and Return to Ballet
00:04:10
Speaker
I remember dreaming about it every single night that I might have the opportunity to go to the British Championships as a rhythmic gymnast. And i worked every single day. And eventually I somehow didn't even just qualify. i actually she won the championships the next year, which was kind of unheard of to like flip the switch so much because no one really, again, thought much of me as a Rhythmic Gymnast before that point, which is kind of what's inspired me to make the Academy, but that's for a later point. So it kind of took me on this whole journey of this Rhythmic Gymnastics journey, which I had no expectation that it went beyond my wildest dreams. I started traveling the world,
00:04:47
Speaker
competing for Great Britain. I ended up, you know, going to the Commonwealth Games in 2018 in Australia and the World Championships, European Championships. It was a whirlwind. Definitely, it wasn't all sunshine roses, just like ballet. It had its many ups and downs and the training was very rigorous.
00:05:06
Speaker
But it gave so many different life experiences. And I think the way now I approach dance, it gives me like something a little bit extra, something a bit different. And then when I was 16, I stopped Ritford Gymnastics and then decided, okay, let's give ballet was always there. I was always training in ballet as a Ritford Gymnastics, you always had ballet training, but it was very different. We would do the same ballet training all year round. The classes wouldn't really change.
00:05:31
Speaker
I did my ballet grades like in the background, like the RAD advanced one, a bit of Cicchetti and stuff, but I actually hadn't had a lot of training. There was a, had an eight month gap before the Commonwealth Games where I did just go and train specifically in ballet, but that's where it gets all a bit complicated. But I did go and train privately for eight months in that time before I went back and trained for the Commonwealth
Late Start in Ballet and Adapting to Challenges
00:05:51
Speaker
Games. But when I was 16, I was like, you know, this now or never, because 16 is so very late to make that decision.
00:05:58
Speaker
So I ended up going and trying to get into ballet schools, which, you know, at 16, people have been working towards that. If you haven't gone already in year seven here in the UK or before sixth form, that would have been your main focus. But for me, it was kind of finish rhythmic gymnastics on Saturday, try and audition on the Sunday type feeling. So it just felt quite rushed.
00:06:21
Speaker
I ended up not going to ballet school fully that year. which I know mum was worried about, but I was like, oh, you know, I would love another year just to focus on myself to really get my technique grounded and give myself like the best opportunity to go to really good school and see what happens. But at this point, though, I was 17. So it's like, wow, really getting on now.
00:06:41
Speaker
ballet school I ended up going on this tv show called the greatest dancer BBC the greatest dancer and that was again not in the plan not in an opportunity happened to come around I was like you know what life's not quite going the way that I thought it would right now so I'm just going to jump in and see what this opportunity brings I ended up progressing all the way to the semi-finals on that show thinking nothing of it really in terms of my ballet career because I'm like I don't know if like this TV show and ballet are really like, you don't go on the TV show like that to get into ballet school. It's not really the pathway you normally take.
00:07:15
Speaker
And then week or so later, I got a call saying, oh, we'd love you to audition for the graduate year our ballet school. And was like, Oh, well, maybe it is like, wow, this is crazy. This has gone completely flipped everything on its head. And so I think in that time, there was a lot of trusting and just trusting the process, trusting what you work for is it's going to happen for you.
00:07:35
Speaker
And then I went into a third year in a ballet school thrown right in the deep end. I do remember the first day that she said, okay, right now, you know, this first week, because it's grads year, like it's big deal. We're preparing to get for jobs and everything. But she was like, hey, this week we're going to ballet class on flat. But then like as of next week, the point shoes, you know, in the center.
00:07:56
Speaker
was like, oh, wait, like normal ballet class on point. Just like the general ballet class. That concept hadn't really like clocked in my brain. I was like, so every day, like we're not going to do a ballet class on flat. Like I always thought, okay, ballet class morning on flat. And then we do a point class.
00:08:12
Speaker
I really went in a little bit blind, I felt. And so it was a big, big learning curve. And I remember that year at ballet school, just working so ridiculously hard to try and learn the ropes, learn also not just the technique, but the approach and the etiquette, because there's a lot of unspoken etiquette in ballet that you learn by doing.
00:08:37
Speaker
And by observing, and that all had to happen very, very fast. I call it like the microwave method. And I wouldn't recommend the microwave method because it does mean that you have to go and fill gaps later. And that's not always the best way to do it. It's much better to do it slowly. But at that point in my career, it was like, well, it's now or never.
00:08:56
Speaker
At the end of my year at ballet school, then was completely blown away to have received the apprenticeship for the Birmingham Royal
Apprenticeship and Navigating COVID Challenges
00:09:02
Speaker
Ballet. And I ended up going there for my apprentice year. And again, was like learning on the job because at ballet school, unfortunately, it was COVID year.
00:09:12
Speaker
So i only actually was at the school for eight months. Four or five months of my education was actually in the garage, which obviously Elmhurst did an amazing job of providing support in that time. But obviously nothing is quite like being in the studio.
00:09:26
Speaker
So I remember getting to apprenticeship and it was like, oh, like, wow, this is what still trying to figure out what ballet really was about. Because in my mind, up to that point, ballet was all about like my brain was in a point system strategy. It was like, okay, so if I do four turns, does that mean i get like four marks? And does that mean then I get cast in the role or this or that? Like my brain was very much still in that mentality. And the way I would drill things, it was like, okay, now we go in the studio and we do six clean double pirouettes.
00:09:59
Speaker
Then we do six clean triple pirouettes. And that's how I used to work in rhythmic. It was still like learning things the dancer mentality because obviously working like that long term, although it got me up to that point, got me an apprenticeship training that way, it's not sustainable for long periods of time when you have heavy workload on your body.
00:10:19
Speaker
So had to learn a lot in a very short amount of time. And unfortunately, I did, people who have Ostrigonums will know what I mean, that apparently 30% of the population have little bone at the back of their ankle that's extra.
00:10:35
Speaker
A lot ballet dancers have to have the surgery. It doesn't necessarily mean that you've done something wrong. It just means you genetically just got something a bit extra then it's got to go. So I ended up but by the end of my apprentice year ah having to have that out.
00:10:48
Speaker
And I just had the other one out last year as well. So those little surgeries have taught me a whole lot. ah Would have preferred to have avoided it. But the things I've learned from it, I think have been absolutely vital for me maturing.
00:11:04
Speaker
and becoming a more sustainable dancer more consistent because I just used to burn myself out a lot and so now I think I've learned a lot better how be like take care of my body which I think is only something you can learn through sometimes experiences like that especially when you're very headstrong like me so yeah Yeah, there's my journey in a nutshell. Amazing. Amazing.
Cultural Differences and Injury Insights
00:11:29
Speaker
Okay, I want to go back a little bit.
00:11:31
Speaker
You mentioned, you know, how different it was going from the culture of gymnastics and the point system and all of that into a, you know, ballet school and a company. Were there any other big cultural differences that you noticed between the two? Obviously, there's similarities and some things that probably helped you get to that point in your ballet career, but were there any big differences? Yeah.
00:11:52
Speaker
Yeah, I think the training was just so different. I think in rhythmic, everything is drilled, really, really drilled. So you can be doing the same routines. So you get four routines a year, all year.
00:12:04
Speaker
Sometimes I even had routines for two years. And you come in and you do the same drills and you do the same routine and you have the same music. Everything is just like drill, drill, drill. When I came to ballet, it was like learning a whole new repertoire of steps, but also learning how to piece them together in about 0.5 seconds.
00:12:23
Speaker
Because I had also only done ballet classes that were set classes, so the RAD syllabus. So I would do the same thing with that. I'd just take it away and I'd just drill it every day for however many weeks, months, years. And then you go and you do the exam and you show the... It's very similar approach. So even my taste of ballet had been very similar to the rhythmic. It was like drill, drill, drill, present, drill, drill, drill, present.
00:12:48
Speaker
And so the whole concept of having to learn so fast and piece together steps so fast, that was a whole new muscle that is developed from a young age in ballet. And it needs to be developed from a young age because it takes time to like work that muscle.
00:13:03
Speaker
And I would say like it's only been like the past two or three years where I'm like, Oh, like, wow, this is how everyone else was feeling in ballet class. When I was in my apprentice year, just trying my hardest to like, for me, even when my ballet repertoire wasn't complete by that point, because I hadn't been in ballet that long.
00:13:19
Speaker
So not only was i having to learn the combination like everyone else, I was actually having to try and learn the steps. Because I was like, so what? what are they actually doing? I couldn't quite figure out sometimes like what the, it was like, I knew the steps, but at the in-between bits, you just learn from watching from like the age of seven that I was trying to still figure out.
00:13:41
Speaker
And boy, once you get the linking steps, ballet is so much easier. Like before I was just trying to figure out and then, you know, trying to put it on point. So how does this work on point? And then you develop bad habits and bad techniques. So it's just, it was a and like a lot of learning,
00:13:57
Speaker
to learn very organically, working that muscle. That was a brain, a mental muscle that I had never, that hadn't been worked, just like your physical muscles, you know, that you get them stronger by working them every day.
00:14:09
Speaker
It's the same with the brain. And it's amazing to see how that has developed over the course of my time at BRB and Almhurst. But it's amazing how long, that one can't be microwaved.
00:14:20
Speaker
You can try, but it can't be microwaved. You've got to roast that one for a long time.
00:14:27
Speaker
Does the mere thought of audition season make your palms start to sweat? Do you feel completely overwhelmed with getting everything together on top of your regular dancing schedule? I've been there, and I totally get it.
00:14:39
Speaker
As dancers, we spend hundreds of hours honing our technique and artistry. But when it comes to figuring out how to put together a resume or what to expect in a professional audition, we're often left to figure it out ourselves.
00:14:52
Speaker
That's why I put together the ultimate audition guide. This is your one-stop shop for everything you need to tackle professional company auditions with ease. No more spending hours Googling and trying to piece together a somewhat coherent audition package.
00:15:06
Speaker
With this guide, you'll be ready to conquer audition season like a true professional. We're talking resumes, headshots, dance photos, dance reels, plus info on how to find auditions, what to wear, what to expect, how to budget, mindset tips, you name it.
00:15:22
Speaker
It is in this guide. You are ready for this moment. Head to the show notes, grab your copy of the Ultima Audition Guide, and empower yourself with the knowledge to approach audition season like a true professional.
00:15:36
Speaker
So what's your strategy? Was it just, like you said, lots of time in repetition and practice or was it, did you ask someone in the company for help? Did you just go home and like go over it?
00:15:47
Speaker
What did you do? i think just by doing it a lot, by learning a lot of choreography, I think the more sometimes I tried to force myself to be able to learn quicker,
00:15:59
Speaker
the worst it got because you just go into like panic mode. It's funny, I think being off injured, I've learned so much about my body and have so much more awareness that things seem to link a lot easier now than they ever did before. And I'm i'm not quite sure why because it should be opposite really because you haven't been dancing as much. But I feel like all the work that I maybe did before I was injured for those years...
00:16:22
Speaker
has finally kind of fully set in my brain. And I'm like, oh, now I understand. Now it makes sense. I think also funny enough doing reformer Pilates, I know it's not like anywhere near the same, but doing reformer Pilates helped me like connect with my body in a new way. It's like creating those neuro pathways so that they're quicker, so they can communicate with your, the parts of your body faster.
00:16:45
Speaker
And when you're learning a piece of choreography or learning a combination class, if those neuro pathways firing quicker, then you're able to piece the and coordinate the steps together much, much faster. And that makes all the difference. But ultimately, it really is just force, not forcing yourself, but like putting yourself in situations where you do have to learn on the go learning you know in calm situations but also learning in more stressful situations where choreographers going really fast I remember one ballet we were learning so like probably an hour of material every single day and my brain was just like exploding but I remember after that
00:17:22
Speaker
I was like, wow, like now piecing stuff together, like I know where, when a choreographer shows an arm movement like that, I know it's just in the body. Unfortunately, it's just doing and trusting the process and not not panicking when it's, like even now sometimes I'm like,
00:17:38
Speaker
I didn't really learn that exercise very well. But it's before I used to really get in my head about it. I'm like all those past ghosts of like, well, you you can't learn anything. You're not a good learner. You're not fast learner. I'm like, no, when I apply myself, I know I can do it and I'll be fine.
00:17:53
Speaker
ah So I think not getting in your head about it. Because I know some people are just like light bulb, got it straight away. My brother is like that. It's just super smart. Like, get you know, we spent, we did the same mass test. He took 15 minutes and I took two hours and we got the same result. Like some people are just quick.
00:18:10
Speaker
For those of us who are a little bit slower, I think being kind to ourselves because we can be our own worst enemies because you can talk down on yourself so much and that just makes it worse because then your brain goes into shutdown. It's like, well, I can't learn anything, so I'm just going to like shut down.
00:18:25
Speaker
So I think putting mental strategies in place so when those like little foxes come has also been key. I've just been like, well, I got the exercise wrong and yeah, it was a bit embarrassing, but...
00:18:38
Speaker
Oh, well, next time I'll do better. ah Yeah, yeah. That makes sense. And it's kind of when you mentioned the having been injured and ah kind of more clicking during this time, it kind of makes sense because I think about like sometimes you'll learn choreography and it's it's not clicking. It's not clicking. They go home and sleep.
00:18:56
Speaker
And the next day you have it and it's like your brain solidifies all of that while you're sleeping. And so I almost wonder if because it's so much then you had more time to kind of let it solidify if it's just started, it's still working in the background, even when you're not actively thinking about it.
00:19:11
Speaker
That is so true. And I think that is something I've learned a lot from my injury is having recovery. Whenever I couldn't get a movement, I would just like rhythmic, I would just drill it and drill it and drill it and try and get it in the body and push it and force it.
00:19:25
Speaker
And then with my injury, I've actually been unable to do a lot of that. I've been able to do smaller amounts of work. But I realized like when I was, I was getting some coaching and normally the old me would do the coaching and then spend like an hour and a half trying to like go over the step or whatever she was trying to teach me and force it into my body. And like, I'm really going to get this. So tomorrow it's going to be better.
00:19:49
Speaker
And often, you know, you end up hurting yourself or getting an overuse injury or something. This time around, I was like, I'm going to to my coaching. going listen. I'm going to pay full attention, give 300%. And then I'm going to go away. i was in Japan at the time. going to go away. I'm going to experience Japan. And then I'll go in tomorrow and see what happens.
Rediscovering Joy and Artistic Expression in Ballet
00:20:06
Speaker
And funny enough, it was the first time in my life where I'd done this because I was always, I'm always ah hard worker. And there is a time and place for that as well. Don't get me wrong. But physically, I just couldn't at this moment.
00:20:18
Speaker
But I felt like when I was coming in, I was like, wow, I'm coming in and it's actually better. The neuropathways have had time to develop while I'm not even working on it. And I think that's been quite the revelation.
00:20:29
Speaker
recently of like, you don't always have to force everything for it to happen. Sometimes you put the work in you take a step back, you have a Kit Kat, you come back and then, and then actually maybe it's gonna, gonna be there.
00:20:45
Speaker
I mean, that doesn't work for everything, but I'm learning like, you don't have to force everything. I think that is key though, that you said you have to put in the work completely when you're in the moment and then let it process. If you're not fully present in those moments first, then it's not going to process later. But if you really take that time, because think about too, like how often good ideas come or things come to you when you're in the shower, you're on a walk, you know, you've thought about it first and then now it's kind of just marinating. Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:16
Speaker
100% and I think giving yourself I'm i'm definitely someone who who probably overthinks as well so I'll think about it too much until it like almost has a reverse psychology of like where I'm like coming up to and I feel almost worried about the movement or something because I've thought so much about how to do it right.
00:21:35
Speaker
And I think trying to now lean into more like the my natural way of moving, the natural way it feels right in the body. And then if it needs correcting of technique, then we take it away and we break it down, but not to constantly be, I think before, especially when I was trying to learn the steps, was I was trying to break it down, put it all together and make it perfect all in one swoop.
00:21:59
Speaker
And that brain process, by the time I'd finished the pose arabesque, no wonder I couldn't remember the rest of the exercise because I was thinking, we've got to do this. We've got to turn out the back leg. We've got to pose forwards.
00:22:10
Speaker
We've got to push forwards more onto the leg. We've got to make sure the next day's relaxed. Let's keep a long spine. And by the time you've had like the... 80 50 different thoughts going on in your brain then like you can't think about anything else you can't think about the artistry and I think that now is like I feel a little bit I don't want to like speak too soon but like I feel like I've unlocked a new level of ballet which I've never experienced before where I can go into movement and think about how I want to do it, not just doing it. It's like, oh, how would I feel like today? Like, do we want to go more oozy or do we want to be more staccato? Like, how do I want to do this?
00:22:48
Speaker
Do I want to do a little bit more juju with the arms or do we want to keep it very classical? And getting to play now, now that is like where ballet gets really fun. Because, you know, when you're younger, ballet can be quite dry and boring and you need that. Actually, my rehab I had like months of where it was just like slow tendus, really slow tendus. No, not in fifth position. So I mean, that was a bit too far. We were in first for ages because my ankle just couldn't take it.
00:23:17
Speaker
And so now kind of being released back, it's like the artistry that's been like kept in for so long. is just like beaming out. And it's just, yeah, it's a really, i think quite like beautiful process, even though it's been one of the most ugly processes is now like turned into something quite beautiful.
00:23:34
Speaker
Okay, so you kind of talked about this a little bit, but I'd love to hear a little bit more about what their transition was like from student professional. How did it go beyond this?
00:23:44
Speaker
We talked a lot about just the concept of like having to learn a lot of new things really, really quickly. Was there anything else that you struggled with? Was it kind of smooth in other ways? Yeah. I think the life adjustment was huge. So you come from your graduate year. And I find this with a lot of graduates, actually.
00:24:01
Speaker
It also depends on what company you go to or what's on in that season. But I remember when I joined, we were just doing Romeo and Juliet. And there's really not that much for the core in Romeo and Juliet.
00:24:13
Speaker
Um, so i remember coming and like my first week, there's no rehearsals. so we were just building up class. My first day, there was a half an hour bar. ball And I just remember going from doing like seven, eight hours a day.
00:24:26
Speaker
and then you come and it's like, what do I do with the rest of my day? And that is actually, I, when I speak to people who just joined the company now, I'm like, I find a lot of them have the same complex.
00:24:39
Speaker
I'm like, you be so careful, because this is where overuse injuries happen. Because you go into this, if you're like me, you go into the studio and you hack away for as long as you think you need to, because you've been doing that. And then you then you get overuse injuries that you have to be really careful about.
00:24:54
Speaker
So go do your work, but like, try and find you you need to find balance and I wish I found it earlier so you need to find things at ballet school you don't often have time for hobbies you just don't it's crazy it's 24 7 but when you do join a company or go into the working life like you need to find things that you enjoy outside because it's going to be so important for you later down the line and you never um and ah people are going listening and going to understand like you don't understand it want to accept it coming in because that was me I was like
00:25:25
Speaker
I'm a bunhead through and through. Like you can't tell me that i'm not going to work like that many hours. But now like I totally get it because, you know, if you go through a period of injury or if you are a little bit less busy in the season at some points, if you go burning yourself out before the season's even started,
00:25:45
Speaker
you're going to be in trouble. Like once those like clap big classical nutcrackers come in, if you've already worked yourself something silly into the ground, your body is not going to be able to sustain that for long periods of time. And that is something that, you know, sport did, should have taught me by this point but of like tapering up and down. Like there is such a thing that they do in sport where, you know, you come up to a performance and you taper right down and then then you can hit your performance peak.
00:26:11
Speaker
But in ballet, like I did find it, more strange of like how many performances we were expected to do in rhythmic you know we'd work towards a competition every two to three weeks maybe sometimes we'd have it week on week but that was rare whereas like ballet once we started touring it was like relentless you know you you're double show daying you know most days you're in the theater till 11 p.m at night I'm an early bird so I was just like trying to stay awake. And I think that was a huge transition, like trying to figure out, okay, how do I feel myself? How do i take care of myself so I can sustain these super long days?
00:26:49
Speaker
And yeah, make sure that I'm not just good for today because I feel great today. It's Monday, you know, everything's good, but feel great on Saturday when you've got a double show day.
00:27:00
Speaker
And sometimes that means taking the foot off the pedal a little bit ah still having some energy maybe and not feeling guilty about just conserving that because you're going to, boy, you're going to need it by Saturday.
00:27:12
Speaker
So I think that's something that I've had to learn. I'm still learning. What are some of the hobbies that you have or things you like to do outside of dance? So i i look well I love content creation. So that's something that I've kind of done before I even went to ballet school after the Commonwealth Games. I started my own YouTube channel and i just, I don't know, I just love being able to like kind of share the journey with people, share like things I'm learning, things I've done wrong. Like it's just, it's a beautiful process and
00:27:45
Speaker
I mean, I used to enjoy the editing. Now the editing is it gets a bit long
Building Relationships and Launching an Academy
00:27:49
Speaker
because it's a bit more complicated. So that's something I ah really enjoy and find a lot of fulfillment in outside the studio.
00:27:55
Speaker
And then other things I like to do. i love... I'm a bit simple. I love having a smoothie bowl. My favorite smoothie bowl place around the corner. i love going out with friends and just having like intimate, like one-to-one coffee time. Like those are like the kind of social things that love to do, like having intentional conversations with people.
00:28:16
Speaker
And i think, you know, in this time of injury, not even in this time of injury, I think since joining the company, learning that relationships are so important in ballet, but also outside ballet, because you actually draw so much inspiration and get so much bigger perspective if you have like a variety of relationships.
00:28:40
Speaker
I love having coffee with friends who who know nothing about ballet because it's just like getting ah like a glimpse into a world. Because as ballet dancers, we talk to ballet dancers, we talk about ballet. We're like so encapsulated in this ballet world that sometimes we forget that there's like a big wide world out there that knows nothing about leotantites.
00:29:01
Speaker
And so talking to people and just getting their perspective on the world it grounds you for one. It makes you realize like, wow, I'm deciding to be in that world, but there is also like this other big wide world, but it also, you bring situations to them and sometimes they can have a completely different spin on it.
00:29:18
Speaker
And that can just, sometimes when you're in a really tough moment, cause there's a tough, it's a tough career. Like in those tough mental moments, it can just be like the key to like unlocking, oh, okay. That thing I was struggling with for ages in my mind, like it's really not a big deal.
00:29:34
Speaker
But when you talk to other ballet people, they're probably kind of stuck in the same revolving thought pattern as you. So I don't know how I got off on that tangent. But yeah, there you I love that. That's no, it's so true. You need those other people in your life to bring you back to reality. I mean, ballet is our reality, but sometimes it just can get so hyped up and built up in our brains and our bodies that we do forget that there's more to life.
00:30:01
Speaker
Let's pause this episode so I can tell you about one of my favorite resources for dancers, Ballet Help Desk. If you've been loving the Brainy Ballerina podcast, you'll want to add the Ballet Help Desk pod to your list.
00:30:15
Speaker
This is the premier podcast for dance parents and hosts Brett and Jenny share weekly expert insights on supporting your students' ballet education. They cover key topics like summer intensives, ballet competitions, full-time and post-grad training, health and wellness, boys in ballet, and more to help your dancer make the most informed decisions about their unique training path.
00:30:40
Speaker
Another one of my favorite resources from Ballet Help Desk is their reviews. Head to their website for over 1,400 reviews on summer intensives and year-round training programs.
00:30:52
Speaker
And while you're at it, submit your review to help other dancers and their families make important decisions about their future. The more transparency in the dance world, the better. Head to the show notes to visit the Ballet Help Desk website today.
00:31:06
Speaker
You mentioned your social media and your content creation. Can you share more about this community that you've built and what you're hoping to share with people, what you want to bring into this social media area Yeah, 100%. So initially, I think it was just vlogging.
00:31:25
Speaker
And like, i don't I don't know, I didn't really, to be quite honest, I saw gymnast at the Commonwealth Games doing it. And I was like, Oh, that looks fun. Why don't do that? And if it becomes a thing, maybe it can fund some my trips that I was going to as a Rittwee gymnast, because it i was very expensive sport.
00:31:41
Speaker
And then I obviously just carried it on, because really enjoyed it. And think as I went on I realized like sharing the not so pretty sides like ah training in my garage and when I was having tough moments sharing that and not just sugarcoating it was like oh wow I got into ballet school woo it was like wow this has been a hard journey but boy we made it and even at ballet school talking about those tough moments of like oh you know it's things aren't quite going the way I want them right now, but like, we're going to still keep up and keep going.
00:32:12
Speaker
i think I didn't realize how relatable that was for other people. And not only did that help me, but it helped others not feel alone in that. And so I think I try not shy away on social media to talk about the tough stuff, the the times where we feel low, the times where it feels like, you know, you're not going to make it because I feel like that's relatable, but because no one really wants to share that sort of thing, everyone feels alone in it, but like making them feel less alone, like can help empower us to be like, okay, I had this low moment, but also like I had the super high moment as well. Like it's a journey, it's a process. It's not just, I wanted to show almost a zigzag a little bit of what the journey really looks like, especially in ballet. I feel like,
00:32:55
Speaker
You know, sometimes you look at some of these amazing dancers and you're like, well, so I went to this ballet school and then I got into the company and then I got promoted and then and then I was a principal dancer. And it's like, wow, amazing for you.
00:33:12
Speaker
I really wanted to show like the nitty gritty in-betweens that everyone goes through. I mean, now on social media, I feel like, you know, ballet, there's a lot more stories out there of showing more behind the scenes.
00:33:25
Speaker
which I find personally also super inspiring. But that was kind of the feeling behind it. And, you know, recently I shared quite a lot about my injury and the whole process that has been on. And to kind of hear the responses of people who are also going through an injury. Obviously, it's quite an intimate, vulnerable thing to share because you feel like you're, I felt like I was at my weakest point and my breaking point. And it's not To be honest, when I set out with posting about my injury, I'm like, this going to like my comeback and it's going to be this awesome story. And it's like, whoa.
00:33:56
Speaker
And then like the point when it was supposed to be the comeback, I'm like, it's actually getting worse. I don't quite know like how to, this is not a pretty thing to post, but to hear the amount of responses of people, again, going through injury, going through similar stuff.
00:34:13
Speaker
And the impact that sharing that journey that wasn't picture perfect by any means and wasn't going, you know, the linear way that I hoped it would made them feel seen, made them feel ah like they weren't the only ones going through it.
00:34:29
Speaker
and made them feel like they could keep going. And to be honest, also having that community around me felt like I could keep going as well because everyone there was also supporting. So i think creating that inspiring community where we push each other up and not try and push each other down, where we inspire each other that we were going to make it might might might take a bit longer sometimes than we hope.
00:34:51
Speaker
But like, The dreams are possible. And it's just about making those everyday decisions and riding the ups and the downs, the zigzags of life and keeping on believing in yourself, even when the situation around you looks impossible.
00:35:06
Speaker
Trust me, when I was sitting in my garage and it was minus one and I was trying to get into a ballet company, it did not look likely at all. And I had people telling me it was not going to be likely to. So when you have those kind of voices, it's so hard to like, why am I keep waking up and put myself through this? Like I should just throw the towel in now.
00:35:28
Speaker
And I think, that is the voice I'm trying to combat most days for myself, but also sharing it for others to to know, like, no, we all combat that voice in our heads, but it's possible to like, keep showing up, keep overcoming it.
00:35:42
Speaker
And beautiful things can happen when you do that. And I think that's kind of the message I really want to get out to people. Love that. You've recently launched the Make It Happen Academy. Can you tell us more about the academy and what inspired you to create it? Is it a lot along these lines of everything we just talked about?
00:36:01
Speaker
Yes, definitely. I think my tagline in every single YouTube video I've ever done is dream big and make it happen. And so that kind of birthed this idea of the Make It Happen Academy. And it's really...
00:36:15
Speaker
a platform, which I thought, what would I have wanted as a young dancer? What is it that i like? What support systems would I have wanted supplementary to my training that could have helped push me forwards?
00:36:27
Speaker
And so that was kind of the idea when I started putting together the platform. So it's got like strength and flexibility classes to supplement your ballet training or your dance training. It's not just for ballet dancers specifically. It's for any dancers or gymnasts who just want to excel themselves, not only physically, but the biggest thing I really want to push on this was the mental because we focus so much on the physical, but in sport they say like it's 90% mental and 10% physical.
00:36:54
Speaker
So we should be working just as much on our physical, our mental training as we do our physical so that was the idea i have like a a full mindset course where I kind of lead people through basically the mindset that has helped me kind of overcome a lot of the challenges that I've faced and give them like a blueprint where they can do it for themselves as well and I think making not being like well this is how you do it xyz it's like no this is a blueprint that you can individualize for yourself so you can make
00:37:26
Speaker
your dreams happen. That's kind of the idea behind it. And then I've got a nutrition and body confidence course led by the wonderful Nicole Sabella on there too. which I think body confidence is such like an important thing to have in dance and to be honest just in general life and I noticed like the journey that I've been on with that has transformed the way I dance and transformed the way I feel about myself in my everyday so I felt like it was just such an important thing to have on the academy and I
00:37:57
Speaker
I haven't seen any other, ah there probably are courses like it, but I haven't seen any other courses like it personally. And Nicole is such a wonderful human being, but like, she just guides you on this amazing transformative journey.
00:38:10
Speaker
I mean, i had to edit all the course together. And so I had to go through all all the videos. I found it helpful for myself. i was like, wow, this is like really, really great. And then finally, I have an injury mentoring course on there too, um to kind of help guide dancers through what can be some of the most challenging, lonely times.
00:38:29
Speaker
And it's literally guiding you from, you know, the moment you might get injured to how you psychologically deal with the process. And that's led by the wonderful Frances Collier, who has led me through both my surgeries.
00:38:41
Speaker
And that I feel like is quite a unique thing Again, there probably is stuff out there like it, but I've never seen anything like it before. And it it really, when I've heard dancers feedback to me about it, it made them feel really seen, which as an injured dancer, that is one of the things that you really don't feel. You feel so invisible to everyone because an injured dancer sometimes in a ballet company feels like you're useless.
00:39:09
Speaker
which is not the truth, but it's what it's sometimes that is what you feel. And then there's this big community element where we're sharing challenges and goals and again, inspiring each other to reach towards our dreams. And that is again, something that I really treasure.
00:39:25
Speaker
And we have the Make It Happen mentors, Francis, Nicole, on there who help the community with any questions they have and stuff like that. So I think the whole drive behind it is to equip dancers with everything they need in the situations that we're faced with, that you don't always get taught at a ballet school or a dance school.
00:39:46
Speaker
It's like to give you all those other mental tools, which actually, if you can master those, then you can master the physical. It's a lot of what goes on is right up here.
00:39:57
Speaker
Can you give an example of some of the mental skills tools that are shared on your course?
Mindset and Achieving Dance Goals
00:40:03
Speaker
Yeah. So the make it happen mindset is on there. And that's, we start literally from the the beginning, the goal setting, kind of setting short-term and long-term goals. Cause I, some people aren't goal people and we we talk about that too.
00:40:17
Speaker
But like, once you have like that goal, then you can kind of start factoring your life around that goal or dream that you have and having that focus. we talk about progress checking, checking in is like, is like you make the plan, then you have to check is the plan working? What do we need to change? What do we need to adjust? Do we need to just keep going at at it?
00:40:37
Speaker
And being i think a lot of people like, oh, like, no one's telling me what to do. Like, I don't know what to do, blah, blah, blah. You actually do you have a lot of resources in your hands. Like we have Google we have huge like there is so much we have never been so well informed ever.
00:40:54
Speaker
And so basically it's, I don't want to say the master of your own destiny, but like giving yourself the power to be like, if I want to achieve this thing in my life, if i if I want to make this happen, let's put a blueprint together and see what happens. Obviously you can never guarantee something to happen. And in my life, it's never happened the way that I've planned it, but putting the intentions there, I've always kind of ended up making it somehow,
00:41:20
Speaker
It's never quite in the conventional route. And we also talk about that in the mindset course of like, don't be scared to take the unconventional path. So often we think we can, if we haven't done X, Y, Z, then we can't achieve X, Y, Z. Well, no, who says you can't?
00:41:34
Speaker
So kind of bringing down some of those mental barriers for people and then talk where there's also a segment on disappointment and dealing with disappointments because that's such a big thing and that kills a lot of dreams.
00:41:46
Speaker
I can even put my hands up and say during this injury, like, Disappointment almost, you know, i didn't know if I wanted to keep dancing. I was in a lot of pain every single day. And I didn't know if I was ever going to make it back.
00:41:57
Speaker
We talk about dealing with disappointment and talking about the controllables and the uncontrollables. really breaking it down into practical tasks and things you can do to like a little bit like when you break technique down, right? In ballet class, breaking it down to the tendu and the plie and doing that a bit with, with a life strategy, you know, breaking it down to like, okay, what's in my control? What's out of my control? What am I worrying about? That's distracting me from my purpose or my intention.
00:42:27
Speaker
So really, giving like a holistic approach to the way you're approaching your dreams. Because if you're if you if you have the right plan, the right structure, it's way more likely you're going to make it.
00:42:39
Speaker
Well, i love this, too, because you said we have so much access to information, which is so true. And it can be so overwhelming because you go on social media, you Google search, you get so much information about what you're searching for and you don't know What's actually helpful for you?
00:42:58
Speaker
Who is a vetted resource that you can trust? And so having it all in one course from somebody who is a professional dancer, who is working with other professionals in the field who are great at what they do, that you can know you're getting trustworthy information it's condensed in a way that's like, okay, here's what you need to know.
00:43:17
Speaker
Follow these steps. And like you said, you're going to make a blueprint for each individual person. It's not like you have to do this and this and this. but having someone guide you through that process because a lot of us set goals we don't follow through with or we have all these ideas we don't know what to do. What's the next right step? I feel like it's the biggest thing when I work with dancers. It's like, okay, there's so much we want to achieve.
00:43:37
Speaker
What is the next right thing you need to do? Just do that and then we'll do the next thing and the next thing. So having that academy to help people have that structure, I think is going to be a game changer for dancers.
00:43:49
Speaker
Literally exactly what you said is kind of a guided process of like actually you end up doing like doing a lot of the work but it's like just having someone guide you through that step by step of like okay we're gonna just take everything out the picture for a second and hone in on this one thing you're gonna figure out on your brain and then we're gonna move on to the next like it just it starts to make you think in a in a very different way and it makes you feel like you you know a lot of this injury process has taught me like you're not always in control and you can't always control everything but it does make you focus on what is in your control what can you change in your like what small changes can you make in your everyday to get you that little bit closer to where you want to be because it's not going to happen overnight and it's something that you have to apply every day and sometimes you have to apply it without seeing results and that's that's hard like
00:44:43
Speaker
It's really hard. But I think even being open about that and talking about that in the course, that's like, yeah, I'm really, really excited for like dancers to go on that journey and see how it can transform.
00:44:55
Speaker
Mindset for me has been everything and being willing for it to change and shift with the seasons as well, which we talk, I mean, we talk about it all, but it's a, it's a hefty course, but I'm really excited for for people to go on it.
00:45:08
Speaker
Yeah. Amazing. Yeah. Okay, last question for you, Hannah. What advice would you give to aspiring dancers who are pursuing their professional career? Really great question.
00:45:19
Speaker
i think, wow, it's really crazy because i've I've been on a few podcasts before earlier in my career. Now, like I've had all this experience, like my answer is actually different.
00:45:31
Speaker
I think just being like open-minded to like to change because things are goingnna things are going to change and shift. not being like on a very one fixed track of like, well, if it doesn't happen like x, y, z, then like, it's, it's like, I'm a failure, I'm not going to make it being very flexible in your mindset in that in that
Advice for Aspiring Dancers
00:45:52
Speaker
way.
00:45:52
Speaker
And like, look, you got to learn. I mean, it's an ongoing process, even for me, but learn to enjoy the the process, the days in the days out, the times, you know,
00:46:04
Speaker
when it's not going good, the times when it is going good. Like I think learning to enjoy your dancing for you and not for anyone else, not for anything else, not for for getting a good casting or for doing a good show, like just enjoying why you fell in love with dancing.
00:46:21
Speaker
I think to hold onto that as a professional when it does become your job and it does become stressful and it does become tiring. That is something that feel like has been like given back to me since I've had this injury.
00:46:33
Speaker
And I want to hold onto that as long as I possibly can. And I think it's the best way to approach every day. Like I was at the bar today and I was just doing class I was like, oh, I love this.
00:46:45
Speaker
Like the live pianist was going and I was dancing to music and Even the day before, even the day before, I was in the same position, doing the same movements and thinking, oh, my technique's not good and I need more turnout, blah, blah.
00:46:58
Speaker
And I wasn't in a great mental head space, but then I went in this morning, I was like, it is a miracle that you're doing this ballet class right now because a few months ago, you couldn't do it. Remember why you love it. Like, stop comparing yourself to anyone else. You don't have the legs like her. You don't have the feet like her.
00:47:13
Speaker
Just like, enjoy the feeling of moving. And so, i mean, not everyone have like live music. We are really lucky to have amazing pianists at BRB, but like hearing that live music and getting to move your body and morphing with the music, like that is a special connection that like not a lot of people get to experience.
00:47:35
Speaker
And so I think just, you know, taking in those small moments and appreciating things that maybe seem ordinary to dancers, like, cherishing them. And I think from there, artistry can be born.
00:47:48
Speaker
And when you become as a, you know, young professional, when you go from being ah dancer, to an artist, that is a wonderful transition. And that is something i feel like you you go on throughout your career, you're you're on this journey from being, I don't want to say just a dancer, but just a dancer to becoming an artist.
00:48:11
Speaker
I love it. And that's why I always ask the first question. It's not a throwaway question when I ask, why you take your first dance class? It's because I want people to remember that feeling of your first dance class and you how kids just go into a studio and they just move their body to music with no inhibitions. Like, they're just out there doing their thing. And then somewhere along the way, you start to lose that. So I always just want to get back to that feeling of, like, what but did it feel like when you were three, four, or five, however years old, and you just went in the studio and you had your ribbon and you danced around.
00:48:43
Speaker
That is what I'm, I feel like I'm almost recapturing now. And I want to, I want to hold onto it because it's a beautiful feeling. And I think a lot of the inhibition comes from comparison and comes from, I mean, I talk about that in my mindset course, just saying, but it comes from comparison, comes from the feeling of like, what will people think if I'm my authentic self in this class?
00:49:05
Speaker
And that is something that held me back for so long. So I'm like, what if they don't like the real me? Like, what if they don't like the way that I really dance? And you you and then you have the techniques that's like, and then you're trying to learn the combinations, like it's all a whole thing. But going on this injury journey, I'm like, I actually like, obviously, I respect everyone and everyone's opinions and everything. But don't actually care what people think ah if I if I don't good or if I don't spout if they don't like the way that I dance I'm like I just love it and I can't I've had to keep this love inside for so long but like finally being able to like release it out it's just like and through my my time of injury I never stopped dancing I was just dancing in very different capacities on the floor or just with my arms so to be able to dance with my whole body again it just feels like such a release
00:49:53
Speaker
And not to be dancing in in pain, so much pain. is you It's just things that you used to take for granted. Like even for me right now, walking to work without pain is like, wow. I would have never even blinked an eyelid, an eyelid?
00:50:07
Speaker
Blinked at all at that. And now like I'm grateful for it. And I think as ballet dancers, we are so privileged to do what we do. And that is not denying that it's a really tough career.
00:50:19
Speaker
But taking joy in those moments is so key for like being able to keep showing up every day when it is so tough. This has been so wonderful, Hannah. I'm taking away so much from this conversation.
Connecting with Hannah and Podcast Wrap-up
00:50:33
Speaker
If anyone listening wants to learn more about you or check out the Make It Happen Academy, where can we find you?
00:50:39
Speaker
Yes, so on social media, on YouTube and Instagram and TikTok, I am Hannah Martin RG. Everyone asks what the ah RG is stands for. It stands for a Rhythmic Gymnast because I never changed the name and now it's just stuck. So Hannah Martin RG, no capitals, no spaces.
00:50:56
Speaker
And then... from there you can find my Make It Happen Academy. So it's so linked on all of my channels. You just click on any YouTube video and you'll see that there's a link to the Academy from there or link in my bio or anything like that. So yeah, I'm excited.
00:51:10
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much. This was wonderful.
00:51:18
Speaker
Thank you for tuning into the Brainy Ballerina podcast. If you found this episode insightful, entertaining, or maybe a bit of both, I would so appreciate you taking a moment to leave a rating and hit subscribe.
00:51:31
Speaker
By subscribing, you'll never miss an episode. And you'll join our community of dancers passionate about building a smart and sustainable career in the dance industry. Plus, your reigns help others discover the show too.
00:51:44
Speaker
I'll be back with a new episode next week. In the meantime, be sure to follow along on Instagram at The Brainy Ballerina for your daily dose of dance career guidance.