Meet Caroline Laporte

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Caroline Laporte. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Caroline, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.

Feeling inspired and creative is what makes me feel alive. Unfortunately, after years of struggling to find balance, harmony, and joy in creating, I came to a harsh realization that I might never create or dance again if I remained in the life, environment, setting, and priorities I was in. This is when I decided to face and honestly answer this simple question: “What is stopping the flow of creativity in me?”
Three clear answers came to my mind then: my current home environment, the digital world in which we are living with over-complicated processes, tools, and technologies, along with the self-acceptance of how much I can achieve on a daily basis.

The importance of the right environment

For creativity to flow inside out, I had to be aligned outside in, and it all started with securing my home base where I could resource, create, recharge, heal, and rest. The right home environment is my foundation for joyful moments, to feel secure and safe, supported by loved ones, and connected to nature. However, as a widow, with my children growing up and out of the family house, and no place to call home for nearly two years, I had to learn to be self-reliant to define and build the home environment I was aspiring to for peace and harmony to create again. It has been a scary and risky journey to do so, as such a realization calls for perseverance, determination, and faith. It has been a risky journey emotionally, as not everyone in your life will follow or understand your path. The other risk is the financial risk in trying to make a living out of your art and passion. You might even feel guilty of possibly failing and using up all your resources for pursuing something irrational. But to you, to your heart, which is led by the limbic brain in the decision-making process, you wouldn’t have it any other way because creativity is what you believe in, what makes you feel alive and vibrant. It is the source of hope and blissful moments. As Simon Sinek stated in his bestseller book “Start with Why” – Keeping my creativity alive through the art of ballet is my Why and sharing it with the world is my motive.

Navigating the digital world

The second element that was stopping the flow of creativity in the process of launching the BalletConnect fitness program was the overload and lack of seamless integration of the technologies, tools, applications, and systems of the digital world. How could I, as an artist who lives simply in music and movement, think of creating when I had to be stuck in front of the computer to figure out AI, YouTube, Instagram, e-commerce, Google SEO analytics to name a few? I am a performer, how am I supposed to learn the lighting, the video filming process, the video editing, virtual classes, and the way of sound engineering? How could I handle behind the scenes and still create? The answer: I simply couldn’t. I didn’t create for over 8 months while I was going through the intricate and overwhelming learning curve of the digital world and technologies. This was one of my biggest roadblocks to creativity. It is not until I became more familiar and at ease with that side of the business, thanks to friends and family, that creativity flowed back again. The biggest lesson I learned from this experience is to give yourself all the space and time you need to overcome any blockage that may come your way while staying open to learning and remaining creative.

Creativity does not fit in the box set by your agenda and timeline

The third crucial element that has kept my creativity from flowing freely was my personal resistance to not making things happen fast enough. I wish I could, yet I haven’t found a way to force creativity onto an agenda and a timeframe. As I am writing this article, I was supposed to be creating a special BalletConnect cardio class today! It didn’t happen, obviously, since I was more inclined to reflect, write, and dance for myself today to refill my inner well of inspiration. I used to get very frustrated at myself when things would not go as expected and scheduled as per my strategic agenda. However, I have learned to honor my body, mind, and spirit, to honor my need for sleep, nutrients, light, and self-care to stay vibrant from within and allow for the spur of creativity. My biggest lesson is to become flexible in welcoming those moments of creativity as they come and go and create a lifestyle that would allow me to capture those moments on the spot!
You know what you love and what lifts you up. Committing to your passion is the key to keeping your creativity flowing, while understanding that creativity is just like life, a cycling wave of ups and lows. The key is to stay connected to what makes you happy, and to learn to catch the waves with joy, playfulness, and consistency until you reach a more permanent state of creativity that becomes your second nature.

Beyond these three creativity blockages, I realize I can do it all, while still enjoying the journey of getting there. All is possible to a willing mind and a vibrant heart! Blissful dancing always,

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Join www.BalletConnect.World in sharing grace and beauty with the world and transforming the way you think Fitness.
Embrace the Ballet Lifestyle and Workout to feel beautiful, graceful and inspired inside out.
Try our new transformative ballet-inspired fitness program- Unique method, new fitness class format, new way to experience movement.

BALLETCONNECT – THE TRANSFORMATIVE BALLET-INSPIRED FITNESS METHOD

Why are we different?

Traditional fitness classes tend to offer repetitive, isolated exercises in one static plane and a limited range of motion. As such, the natural spiral mechanism of the body is weakened and out of balance in its synergistic relationship as a whole. As a dancer, I could never quite relate to a gym approach for these reasons. I had to find my own maintenance program that would allow me to do fitness in a ballet-style way.
BalletConnect redefines fitness classes by exploring beyond physical movement and tapping into functional movement, learning to move seamlessly across multi-planes, multi-dimensions, and multi-directions for greater mobility, grace, fluidity, and spatial awareness. BalletConnect reaches beyond fitness; it helps bring unique benefits you can take beyond the gym or studio.

Everyone can enjoy BalletConnect and rip off the fundamentals of ballet

Feeling beautiful and graceful should not be exclusive. It is a gift for all to enjoy. It is the gift of BalletConnect to you. While ballet can be exclusive, competitive, and intimidating, the BalletConnect program brings the basics of ballet principles to you. It is accessible to dancers as an injury prevention and recovery program, to cross-training athletes seeking to improve skills such as speed, agility, or springs, to fitness enthusiasts wanting to try something new and different, and to the ‘ageless’ population for heightened cognitive skills, balance, and alignment.
BalletConnect is embracing the new dance revolution of the fitness world through its innovative and progressive interval training approach to Movement Synchronization and Rhythm. It goes beyond fitting ballet steps into a common fitness class; it is evolving the fitness class format itself to better fit ballet steps and principles for an elevated and completely new workout experience, ensuring a deeper, long-lasting impact on your body and mind.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

As an entrepreneur, we don’t always have the resources to hire someone for the skills we don’t have. As such, we find ourselves wearing multiple hats and performing tasks we have never done. The ability to jump in and the willingness to learn how to do and run things that are beyond your core expertise are quite critical in the early stages of development.

The second quality I would enhance is your ability to define and communicate your vision and set of values to your team and audience. My vision was crystal clear to me from day one; however, I found myself reshaping and reformulating it over and over for months before it made sense to others. What we envision is not always what others perceive, and as an inspiring leader, we need to stay tuned to how our message is being delivered and received.

The last quality I would encourage to develop is your firmness in sticking to your vision, truth, and what you believe in. You will always come across individuals who will tell you it is not possible to do it that way and who will suggest you change your approach, whether it is out of ease or lack of drive. Stick to your ground and vision. If technology is not there yet, it will be soon, or you will find a way to get to your goal. Always keep in mind that you’re the creator, the visionary, and your vision is your drive and your inspiration, not your compliance with the status quo.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Because of the uniqueness of the BalletConnect fitness program, I am always looking for collaborations with:
• Musicians to compose music for the program or use their existing music in my classes. Music is critical to the success of the program, and I would love musicians to arrange classical music to fit my classes.
• Wellness experts across multiple backgrounds, from personal trainers, chiropractors, naturopaths, herbalists, athletes, yoga teachers, dancers, ballet teachers, to Pilates and Gyrotonics teachers, to create a community of experts willing to share feedback in assessing and improving the program and its impact and benefits to overall wellness, mental health, physical performance, injury prevention and recovery, and enhancing cognitive skills in both younger and elderly populations.
• Yoga/Pilates/Barre studio owners who would love to start offering and teaching BalletConnect classes in their studios to bring in additional traffic and introduce a new type of fitness class.

For more information about partnering and collaborating with BalletConnect, feel free to send your email inquiry to [email protected].

Contact Info:

• Website: www.BalletConnect,World
• Instagram: @BalletConnectWorld
• Linkedin: carolinelaporte
• Youtube: BalletConnectFitness

Image Credits

Oneil Brown
Danica Albritton
Ravi @DocTeja