TuTu Thin: A Podcast for Dancers | Be a healthy dancer/athlete in mind, body and spirit.

The TuTu Thin Podcast will explore the complex relationship between dancers, athletes, their body and eating disorders, explaining how eating disorders can too easily develop in this driven, perfectionistic yet vulnerable population. TuTu Thin also explores the relationship between the dancer/athlete and the drive for perfection. How can the dancer/athlete develop healthy eating patterns in a world where there is expectation to have a strong, yet thin body. How can the dance teacher, choreographers, coaches and parents identify who may be struggling with an eating disorder? Coaches and dance teachers can promote healthy body image, but what is their responsibility if a dancer/athlete is exhibiting signs of having an eating disorder? Both prevention and treatment of eating disorders for the dancer/athlete are examined as well as how to return them back to their passion for dance or their sport. There will also be interviews with dancers, athletes, and those who work with them to promote wellness in mind, body and spirit.

All Episodes

TuTu Thin: A Podcast for Dancers | Be a healthy dancer/athlete in mind, body and spirit.

Frankie Tan tells her journey from Ballerina to Aerialist and Beyond

February 05, 2026 • Dawn Smith-Theodore, MA, MFT, CEDS • Season 4 • Episode 11

0:00 | 34:31

Described as “resolutely incapable of being one dimensional” Frankie Tan’s is a fearsome artist and entertainer whose work explores the intersection of environment, body, joy, and grief. As the queer multicultural spawn of three worlds, they have performed nationwide, and been prominently featured as an aerial circus artist with Cirque Berzerk, Ultra Music Festival, Kaimera Wanderbeasts, and others, and as a principal aerialist with Madmann’s Playground. They have held performance residencies at legendary venues throughout Los Angeles and San Francisco, and are known for their magnetic, emotive performance style- described “as spellbinding as I have ever seen…powerful… beguiling, and totally believable” by Noho ArsDistrict (2023). Their aerial burlesque act was honorably mentioned at the Oregon Burlesque Festival 2019 & they were named a performer in not one but three of LA Weekly’s Best Burlesque Shows 2019, including as a soloist in Hollywood’s famed aerial burlesque show, Luxe Obscura. Frankie is a scholarship graduate of the Alonzo King Lines Ballet Training Program and adjacent pedagogy program, and their teaching philosophy is rooted in somatic wellness and thoughtful body mechanics. When not training, teaching, or wrangling performers, Frankie can be found authoring their next award-nominated book.

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Dawn Smith-Theodore, MA, MFT, CEDS

Host