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.

Thank you for listening to The TuTu thin Podcast

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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

Thank you for listening to The TuTu thin Podcast

Please contact us through
www.dawntheodore.com
www.tututhin.com
IG @tutu_thin
Facebook @tututhin
Twitter @tututhin

Thank you to Matt Miller @ Smacky Media Group