In this episode, Cara breaks down one of the biggest teaching blind spots in the dance industry: correcting symptoms instead of strategy. As studio owners and dance teachers move toward a new year, this conversation challenges how we diagnose technique issues and why symptom-based corrections keep dancers stuck in the same patterns.

Through real studio examples, Cara explains why symptom vs. strategy in teaching technique matters more than ever, and how learning to diagnose alignment, muscular imbalance, and root causes can dramatically accelerate dancer progress. This episode is essential listening for educators who want smarter training, better results, and more effective use of limited class time.

This description intentionally emphasizes symptom vs. strategy in teaching technique multiple times, alongside supporting keywords such as dance technique strategy, diagnosing technique issues, alignment-based teaching, injury prevention in dance, and teacher training for dance educators.

Cara talked about:

• The difference between symptom-based teaching and strategy-based teaching
• Why “stop gripping your quads” doesn’t work
• Understanding root cause vs visible correction
• A real studio example: knees that won’t straighten
• How teachers unintentionally waste class time
• Symptom corrections dancers hear every day
• Why alignment-based strategy solves symptoms naturally
• The danger of repeating the same corrections year after year
• How teachers can sharpen their diagnostic eye
• Ending the year with intention

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Relative Motion: https://www.instagram.com/relativemotiondance/
Youtube Relative Motion: https://www.youtube.com/@relative_motion

In this episode, Cara breaks down why alignment over everything isn’t just a philosophy — it’s the fastest path to real technique growth. She challenges the belief that moving faster, adding more layers, or piling on props creates better dancers. Instead, Cara explains how prioritizing alignment, slowing down, and simplifying movement leads to stronger technique, safer training, and faster breakthroughs.

This episode dives deep into dance alignment, proper placement, pelvic alignment, intentional training, and injury-preventive dance technique, giving dance teachers and studio owners a clear framework for building dancers correctly from the inside out.

Cara talked about:

• Why “alignment over everything” must come before speed, tricks, or difficulty
• Why slowing down is a teaching superpower
• The hidden cost of pushing through misalignment
• Pelvic alignment as the foundation of all technique
• Cueing smarter, not louder
• Gripping vs. functional muscle engagement
• Using props strategically — not as crutches
• Why slow control exposes real technique
• The slow → strong → powerful training formula
• How teachers can maximize limited class time

This episode is a must-listen for dance teachers, studio owners, and serious dancers who want better results without burnout, injury, or wasted training time. If you’re ready to stop chasing speed and start building dancers who move with control, clarity, and confidence — this episode will change how you teach.

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Relative Motion: https://www.instagram.com/relativemotiondance/
Youtube Relative Motion: https://www.youtube.com/@relative_motion

In this episode, Cara introduces the transformative concept of the vertical learning ladder — a framework that helps teachers, dancers, and studio owners shift from comfortable, parallel learning to elevated, intentional vertical learning. Instead of repeating the same level of knowledge year after year, the vertical learning ladder unlocks growth, mastery, and deeper understanding in technique, strategy, and teaching.

Cara breaks down the four knowledge blocks, explains why parallel learning leads to plateaus, and reveals how the vertical learning ladder dramatically accelerates progress for both dancers and educators. This conversation is filled with practical insight, strategic clarity, and aha-moments to help you uplevel your work in the studio and beyond.

• What the vertical learning ladder actually is
• The four blocks of knowledge
• Parallel learning vs. vertical learning for dance teachers
• Why dancers also need the vertical learning ladder
• How Relative Motion structures true vertical training
• The “I didn’t even know I didn’t know it” breakthrough zone
• Why outside perspective accelerates vertical learning
• How coaching, community, and mentorship keep you in levels 3 and 4
• How Total Technique Academy is built on the vertical learning ladder
• Encouragement to step into your next level

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Relative Motion: https://www.instagram.com/relativemotiondance/
Youtube Relative Motion: https://www.youtube.com/@relative_motion

In this empowering episode, Cara opens up a deeply needed conversation about overcoming imposter syndrome in the dance world, as dancers, teachers, and studio owners. She shares the mindset shifts, practical reflections, and real-life examples that help us break out of comparison, step into our next level, and move forward with confidence. Through personal stories, reframed beliefs, and grounded reminders, this episode gives you the tools to recognize imposter syndrome, overcome it, and reconnect with your purpose.

This episode uses essential keywords such as overcoming imposter syndrome, comparison in dance, confidence for dancers, growth mindset for teachers, and next-level leadership, making these show notes searchable, strategic, and aligned with what listeners are actively looking for.

Cara and Kate talked about:

• Why overcoming imposter syndrome begins with self-awareness - How comparison distorts your progress and convinces you you're “not ready” — when you actually are.
• The ‘refillable glass’ mindset shift - Inspired by Jasmine Star, Cara explains why it doesn’t matter if your glass feels half full or half empty — what matters is that you have a glass and it’s refillable.
• Seeing your value as a teacher or dancer - Why you’re farther ahead than you think — and how your experience can serve someone who is learning from you.
• Why auditions are powerful practice opportunities - How overcoming imposter syndrome in auditions builds confidence, resiliency, and readiness for future opportunities.
• The difference between discomfort and unreadiness - Understanding when you're genuinely not ready vs. when you’re simply stepping out of your comfort zone.
• Rewriting negative soundtracks - Tools from John Acuff’s Soundtracks to help you identify and replace limiting beliefs that fuel imposter syndrome.
• Failing fast vs. feeling like a failure - Why failure is part of growth — and how reframing failure helps you overcome imposter syndrome more quickly.
• Giving without expectation - How encouraging others, sharing knowledge, and supporting your community strengthens your confidence and reduces comparison.
• Practices to refill your glass - Affirmations, continuing education, community, gratitude, and small habits that rebuild confidence and clarity.
• Daily reminders for overcoming imposter syndrome - How to catch negative thoughts, rewrite your internal dialogue, and step back into alignment with your goals.

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Connect with us! 🎧

Relative Motion: https://www.instagram.com/relativemotiondance/
Youtube Relative Motion: https://www.youtube.com/@relative_motion

In this episode, Cara breaks down the real behaviors that make a dancer desirable vs. unhirable in class, auditions, and professional environments. After teaching across studios and conventions nationwide, she’s sharing the patterns she sees over and over again, the habits that make dancers stand out and the mistakes that cost them opportunities. This episode gives teachers and dancers a clear strategy to transform class behavior, improve professionalism, and become more desirable to choreographers, casting directors, and educators.

This description intentionally includes the episode’s main keyword — desirable vs unhirable — multiple times, along with supporting keywords like dance audition strategy, hireable dancers, classroom professionalism, and dance industry expectations to improve search performance and visibility.

Cara talked about:

• The real meaning of “desirable vs unhirable” - How teachers and choreographers instantly identify hireable dancers based on focus, work ethic, and professionalism.
• Why planting yourself in the front can backfire - The difference between a desirable dancer who works 110% and an unhirable dancer who distracts, chats, or checks out.
• Details = desirability - How ignoring choreography, changing steps, and altering timing signals unhirable habits, and how honoring details elevates your hireability.
• The ensemble mindset - Why desirable dancers blend, match, and hold musicality, and how this directly affects casting decisions in the dance industry.
• Forgetting vs changing choreography - How pushing through a mental blank builds hireability, while altering choreography communicates the opposite.
• Giving 110% energy — even when insecure - Why full-out effort leads to faster improvement, deeper confidence, and stronger audition presence.
• The power of listening the first time - One of the most valuable professional habits in dance: responding immediately to direction.
• Professional respect as a hireable skill - How thanking your teacher, being aware of class structure, and showing gratitude makes you more desirable across conventions, studios, and audition rooms.
• Building a hireable reputation long before the audition - The small, consistent actions that make teachers remember you, recommend you, and open doors to unexpected opportunities.

If you're ready to elevate your dancers’ professionalism, improve class culture, and step into the desirable vs unhirable conversation with strategy and confidence, this episode is your roadmap.

For deeper training on technique, alignment, and strategic coaching for dancers, join the Total Technique Academy waitlist: therelativemotionexperience.com/technique

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Connect with us! 🎧

Relative Motion: https://www.instagram.com/relativemotiondance/
Youtube Relative Motion: https://www.youtube.com/@relative_motion

What if the biggest technique breakthrough your dancers need has nothing to do with more hours… and everything to do with deeper body awareness?

In this episode, Cara sits down with educator and movement strategist Kelsey Nelson, whose Pilates-inspired, mind–body conditioning approach has helped dancers strengthen smarter, train safely, and unlock technique they’ve been chasing for years.

This conversation is packed with practical strategy, alignment insight, and simple shifts you can bring straight into your classes, starting today. If you want more intentional, effective, and strategic training for your dancers, this episode is a must-listen.

Cara and Kelsey talked about:

• Kelsey’s journey from performer to educator and how body awareness completely shifted her teaching and her dancers’ results.
• Why body awareness is the missing link behind so many technique plateaus — and why dancers improve faster when they understand their bodies.
• How to reverse-engineer conditioning by identifying gaps first, then creating progressions that directly support the final technique goal.
• Using props and Pilates principles with purpose to help dancers engage the right muscles instead of gripping or forcing movement.
• The difference between gripping vs. true engagement and how this single distinction transforms turns, balances, and extensions.
• Core awareness + pelvic alignment as the foundation for every technical skill — and why most dancers haven’t been taught how to access it correctly.
• Red flags that a dancer’s training is out of balance from chronic taping to stretching-as-a-warmup to bodies that never truly feel “ready” for class.
• How to design intentional warmups that actually prepare the body, prevent injury, and close technique gaps quickly.
• Why dancers don’t need more hours — they need more strategy and how awareness-based training gets better results in less time.

This episode is all about training dancers in a way that is smarter, safer, and aligned with how the body was designed to move. Dance teachers, studio owners, and educators will walk away with clear tools they can apply immediately.

✨ Connect with Kelsey
Instagram: @kjindance
Email: kjindance@gmail.com

To dive deeper into strategic training, alignment, and technique growth, join the waitlist for Total Technique Academy at: therelativemotionexperience.com/technique

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Connect with us! 🎧

Relative Motion: https://www.instagram.com/relativemotiondance/
Youtube Relative Motion: https://www.youtube.com/@relative_motion

In this episode, Cara uncovers one of the most overlooked obstacles in dance training: muscular imbalances. These hidden issues often disguise themselves as lack of flexibility or mobility, but in reality, they’re what’s holding dancers back from reaching their true potential.

Cara breaks down how to recognize, assess, and correct muscular imbalances — so you can unlock cleaner lines, better extensions, stronger turns, and injury-free training. This conversation blends anatomy, alignment, and artistry into a practical framework that every dance teacher can use in class today.

Cara talked about:

• What muscular imbalances are, and why they’re often the hidden issue behind technical plateaus.
• How to diagnose whether a dancer’s challenge is really about flexibility, strength, or misalignment.
• The difference between a mobility issue and a muscular imbalance (and why so many teachers confuse the two).
• How to identify and rebalance muscular partnerships — like quads vs. hamstrings or calves vs. tibialis anterior — for better performance.
• Step-by-step strategies for retraining alignment, improving placement, and rebuilding strength the right way.
• How to train smarter with exercises that activate the right muscles while keeping dancers safe and injury-free.
  Why understanding strategy in dance training is key to long-term progress and faster results.
• How Total Technique Academy helps teachers diagnose, train, and transform dancers through structured yet flexible guidance.

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Connect with us! 🎧

Relative Motion: https://www.instagram.com/relativemotiondance/
Youtube Relative Motion: https://www.youtube.com/@relative_motion

Discover how to stop “winging it” and start building real, lasting success with strategy that aligns with your creative mind.

In this episode, Cara dives deep into what truly drives long-term growth — strategy. As creatives, it’s easy to lean into spontaneity and “go with the flow,” but real success in your studio, your teaching, and your artistry comes when you build intentional strategy that works with your creativity, not against it.

Cara shares the behind-the-scenes story of Total Technique Academy — a 12-week digital course that blends structured planning with creative flexibility. She unpacks why most people never finish digital courses, and how the Academy’s hybrid structure (digital modules + live community support) is changing the game for dance educators everywhere.

Cara talked about:

• Why creatives often struggle with structure and how to design a strategy for success that feels natural, not forced.
• The difference between learning from a “map” and being guided by a “GPS” and how that applies to your dance journey.
  The origin and evolution of Total Technique Academy and how it helps teachers see measurable results in their classrooms.
  How to use strategy to connect your creative goals with real outcomes through consistency, community, and accountability.
• The secrets behind creating a curriculum that fuels dancer progress, motivation, and confidence, one strategic step at a time.
• How strategy in teaching, not just inspiration, leads to dancer retention, studio growth, and empowered instruction.

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Connect with us! 🎧

Relative Motion: https://www.instagram.com/relativemotiondance/
Youtube Relative Motion: https://www.youtube.com/@relative_motion