Athletic Dance Company

1:1 FITNESS, NUTRITION AND MINDSET COACHING TO EMPOWER YOU TO MAKE YOUR DREAM CAREER A REALITY

Hi, I’m Hayley and I am an ex-professional dancer turned qualified Personal Trainer.

My journey to success as a dancer was because I incorporated 3 keys into my life: strength training, mindset and nutrition.

I struggled as an “average” dancer for years. Good enough to get through the first round of auditions occasionally, but never anything more than that. Good enough to be in the front row on stage but never centre front. Good enough to be encouraged by teachers, but never singled out for my efforts.

Something within me always told me despite being a “good” dancer, I had potential for greatness. Deep down I was better than just “a good dancer”. And I knew, despite my limiting beliefs, I was capable of reaching my goal of becoming cast dancer on a cruise ship.

In 2018 at age 22, I reached a plateau, it was getting harder and harder for me to improve as a dancer and I wasn’t seeing results from the hard work I was putting in, in dance class.

I realised, if I wanted to stand out and be better than other dancers, I needed to do what other dancers aren’t willing to do. If I wanted a job most dancers can’t get, I need to put in more work than most dancers are prepared to put in.

I began waking up early and going to the gym at 6am before I’d go off to dance during the day. At first, this was because I thought my body shape was the problem, and if I could get skinnier by working out at the gym, maybe then I’d get hired. I then hired a personal trainer, and he taught me all about strength training and how to lift. This was a whole new world to me. Soon, I noticed that my body was quickly firming up from this training, due to the increase in muscle mass and decrease in body fat. My mindset soon started to shift, from wanting to get skinny, to wanting to be strong. Why? Because as I was getting stronger, I was noticing a massive change when I went to dance class. Teachers, peers, were asking me what’s changed because my dance had skyrocketed.. I was improving out of sight.

This snowballed into my nutrition. No longer did I not want to punish my body and give it the bare minimum, because I wasn’t skinny enough, but I started wanting to give my body nutritious food because I was grateful for all that my body was doing for me. I wanted to care for my body. And the more I cared about my body and ate good food, the more my body showed up for me in return. Because I was no longer trying stupid fad diets, and restricting my intake, I had 10 times more energy in class and auditions.

Lastly, but absolutely not least, I worked on my inner self.

I learnt about the law of attraction, I learnt how to quiet my mind, I explored my limiting beliefs, why I have them and why I shouldn’t let them hold me back. And mindset really was the most important step. If I didn’t believe I was capable of achieving my goal, I would have never tried. And then I would have never had the success I so desperately desired. If you want to see change in the world around you, you first have to change the world inside of you.

The combination of training, mindset and nutrition was the secret recipe that inevitably lead to me gaining my first cruise ship contract.

I honestly to this day still can not believe I achieved my dream, 5 years later and I am still pinching myself, I am so grateful. I figured out a strategy that worked, and I want to share that with other dancers so they can have success too.

Which is why Athletic Dance Company was born.

When I stopped just trying to get skinny, and started treating myself like an athlete, that’s when my success happened.

ADC’s training program is designed by me, with the help of my husband, Lachy, who has trained athletes to international championship levels. With his athletic coaching background and my experience as a professional dancer, we are committed to changing the game and revolutionising the industry. Dancers are artistic athletes. More and more dancers are getting involved in our company and seeing the results from this mindset shift themselves.