Today I spoke with my good friend and fellow teacher, Olivia Cianciulli. Olivia has danced with the Joffrey Ballet, Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Charlottesville Ballet, and The Louisville Ballet. Olivia has trained in both the United States and abroad while working with many notable ballet instructors from around the world. She currently serves as an instructor at the former Pennsylvania Ballet, now Philadelphia Ballet, as well as Wayne Ballet… and she is the mom to two beautiful kids and wife of another former dancer, now pianist, Joe Cianciulli. We spoke about the ins and outs of retirement, mental health, and how she came back to ballet through a discovered love of teaching. To connect with Olivia, check out her IG @oliviahcianciulli_dance Please remember that I am not a mental health professional, and anything you hear me say on the show is based on personal experience and perspectives, and should not be considered medical advice. If you are in crisis, please call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to reach a 24-hour crisis center, text MHA to 741741, call 911, or go to the nearest emergency room. To find a local MHA affiliate who can provide services, check out https://www.mhanational.org/ Theme music is, "A Journey" by Kevin Hartnell It has been edited and reproduced under the Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). Follow us on Instagram! Dance; Better Podcast @dancebetterpodcast Send in your questions or episode suggestions to [email protected] If you relate and found this episode helpful, please click follow/subscribe and leave us a review. (We might even read it on the next episode!) This helps to make our show more searchable, and will make it more accessible to more people...plus, we’d love to hear from you!