TOP NEWS

OCTOBER 8TH

OCTOBER 13TH

BTCF Board Member Dr. Gia Marson talks with Goop about helping loved ones with an eating disorder.

Breaking the Chains and NEDA

Breaking the Chains Foundation partnered with NEDA in support of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week on February 26 – March 4th by promoting awareness via a variety of our social media networks, celebrity support, sharing NEDA’s screening tool through our social media platforms, as well as having our own online event through out the week.  Also joined NEDA in forming our own team for the Los Angeles NEDA Walk on April 7th, walking and raising funds in support of stopping eating disorders.

Check out BTCF Celebrity
Ambassador Jillian Rose Reed
at the NEDA walk event! 

7 Chairs Dance created by 
BTCF Board Member, Alex Little’s, 
performed at the NEDA walk event
by 5 inspirational dancers.

GREAT NEWS

The award winning short film “FINDING ALICE” was an Official Selection both as a short film and written word in The Hollywood Dreamz International Film Festival and Writer’s Awards in Las Vegas, August 2017!

UPCOMING NEWS

STAY TUNED! – BTCF YOUNG HOLLYWOOD CAMPAIGN

 

AN INTERVIEW WITH JULIA KATHARINA

BTCF: How long have you been dancing and how did you begin your journey into this world of dance? What types of dance are you trained in?

JULIA: I have been dancing my whole life. It started as a little girl… whenever I heard life music or any sort of music I just had to dance. On holidays at the age of 4, I would run towards live bands and my parents followed me to find me dancing on the dance floor by myself. I went to my first ballet class at the age of 5 in my small hometown in the south of Austria and fell in love. I choreographed my first pieces when I was 8. And started doing Competitions in Europe and the USA as a teen. My love for dance and Movement just expanded over the years. I am trained in Jazz, I did Ballet and Pointe for a while (still am doing Ballet, because it is SO important) and Musical Theatre. I have a strong technical foundation, which, later, gave me the freedom to fully explore movement. I started doing Contemporary, Commercial and Hip Hop. I love dancing in heels because I feel fully in my feminine Energy and Expression. All these styles as well as Circus and Contortion -training shaped my Movement. 

BTCF: You are multi-talented as not only do you dance, sing, and play the guitar – you are an extraordinary aerialist.  There’s Duo Hoop, Dance Trapeze, Aerial Tissue Loop, and Bungee forms of aerial.  Can you share a little bit about each of those forms?

JULIA: First of all, thank you SO MUCH for the compliment. I am a Gemini and extremely curious, I guess that’s why I just cannot stop acquiring new skills and knowledge. 

Duo Hoop: I started off doing Aerial Hoop as my very first Circus Discipline. Later on I started working with my friend and Duo Partner. Two Artists in one Aerial Hoop, relying on each other’s movements, skills and strength is something extremely special. Having to be in sync with another person is so much fun. Plus: I love to interact with others and sharing my passion with a friend!

Dance Trapeze: Over the past years, I started focusing on Dance Trapeze in the Air. I personally never thought I´d like Trapeze, because the barre is uncomfortable and the ropes are scratchy. I started working on it for Backup Act for Cirque du Soleil and wanted to continue. All the things I used to dislike, are factors I now appreciate in working with this Apparatus. I also love to spin and use my flexibility, and this is what I can highlight with Dance Trapeze

Bungee: Bungee comes in Various forms, and I recently had the chance to perform Bungee Dance with Cirque du Soleil. It was especially fun, because the Choreography contained a lot of Dance Technique Elements, Spins and Flips, supported by a bungee.  Being in a Harness takes the force off your arms and hands and gives the opportunity to move them freely. 

Aerial Tissue Loop: The Tissue Loop is a big sling out of beautiful colored Fabric. I love the movement of the fabric, spinning, drops and shapes you can create with it. In my opinion the Image it gives is especially nice for performing. 

BTCF: BTCF uses all forms of art to inspire healing and recovery for those who struggle with eating disorders, disordered eating, negative body image relationships and co-occurring conditions. How does being an artist translate to you when it comes to your own body?

JULIA: My body is my tool. I use my body to express my feelings and emotions. I have mad respect for the things my body is learning and how my mind can push it to get stronger in my art. I also learn to surrender to its needs and let go. It is a dance to keep the balance. We have to demand a lot from our bodies, but we need to give it the space to reset so we can keep doing our art. 

BTCF: You have shared in the past you have struggled from an eating disorder.  How are you doing now and what are some positive steps you’ve taken in your own recovery?

JULIA: To be very honest, the past year has been challenging for me as well. I have learned how important it is to know your triggers and take preventative actions. For the last year I focused on my mental and physical well being. I am really happy and proud of the work I have done last year. After the first lockdown I started struggling with old behaviors more than at any point in the past 8 years. The difference nowadays is, that I can see when I need to take action in favor of my health. It is important to build yourself a stable support system. Mine has been my closest friends and a Therapist. I went back to Therapy after many years and it is a wonderful thing.  I worked with myself and focused on building my self love. I devoted all of my free time in respecting myself, working through my shadows and reflecting on my thought patterns. I write a lot. I write down my false beliefs and negative thoughts and flip them around, phrase them in a positive way. I listen to positive Affirmations before I go to sleep. I have a gratitude journal. For me a wonderful art of therapy is Spirituality. Spiritual Practice brought me to where I am now. At this point, I am grateful for the lessons I was able to learn over the past year and feel stronger then ever before. 

BTCF: Being a Cirque dancer is truly an art form that engages the audience with heightened amazement. As a performer, the exposure of one’s body can also be super vulnerable especially when your body is exhibiting such special abilities. Can you share what that feels like or if you have a process you go through prior to going on stage?

JULIA: I get really nervous sometimes. Still. After all these years. I usually do my warmup and when I am ready to go on stage  (a few minutes before) I try to slow down my breath, stay still, calm my thoughts and try to be present. Some days I also really need to dance it out and shake it off even right before the performance when I feel like I need to catalyze my energy. Other days, when I am tired I tap my face and chest and tell myself: YOU CAN DO THIS. 

The moment I get on stage, joy hits me. Whatever I felt before goes away. I love the feeling of a quiet mind when you are fully concentrated and focused and completely in the moment. That is freedom for me. It feels like meditating spiced with adrenaline. 

BTCF: What are three of your favorite self-care things you do?

JULIA: Writing, taking a bath, taking a walk through the city for taking myself to my favorite Coffee places. 

BTCF: You are also a contortionist.  Can you share what that is and how you started in this?

JULIA: I was always fascinated by Contortionists and by their capability of folding their bodies. I was always very flexible but mainly in my splits. My back was unbelievably stiff. I wanted to increase my flexibility as a dancer when I was a Teen and started stretching more. With Contortion as a Discipline I started 2 years ago. It is my newest discipline and I still have to learn so much more. I combine it with my strongest Discipline, which is Dance. I fell in love with Contortion training and cannot wait to get more and more skills. I love this process! 

BTCF: As a dance teacher, what is important to you to teach your students when it comes to their bodies?

JULIA: Listen to yourself and listen to your body especially when it comes to take rest. Treat it as if you would treat your very best friend. Nourish, sleep and hydrate. Don´t measure your capability with others. I myself am in an ongoing process of understanding my needs for reset. Resting is SO important. Every Artist is different and needs a different amount of Rest and Reset Time. I would also wish that every Dancer could experience Circus. It is so diverse and the Body needs so much strength. Circus helped me a lot in my recovery! 

BTCF: Why do you think so many youths turn to social media as a measure of success?

JULIA: Social Media works unfortunately mainly with comparison. It is easy to loose yourself scrolling through Instagram and seeing tons of beautiful images, extraordinary videos and “perfectly” shaped bodies. What have been magazines in the past, happens now with social media, only that it is faster and less filtered. Kids and Teens forget that what we see is not real. In that period of your life, you are not sure who you are and are looking for outside guidance, inspiration and trends. Social Media is an easy access for this kind of Inspiration. It is a bui reality around a brand or a person. Likes, Views, Comments give satisfaction and approval that we sometimes might not get in real life. Don´t get me wrong, Social Media is a wonderful and important tool, that I use a lot myself. But you can only see one little part of a whole person and can make you, if understood wrong, feel less worthy. Likes and Views cannot measure the amount of creativity we have in ourselves.

BTCF: What does appearance ideal mean to you and how are some ways you help your students not to depend on this?

JULIA: Our body is here to carry our soul and heart through this world, it helps us to create and bring our passion and creative ideas into reality. That is what matters at the end of the day. As unique our ideas are, as unique is our appearance. Turn your thoughts to inside and start focusing on “how I feel” rather than “how does that make me look like”. Your feeling will shine through and shape your appearance in a natural and magical way. 

BTCF: What are some of your favorite moments in your performance reel and why?

JULIA: Some of my favorite moments where definitely the Music Video Shoot with Elephants in Thailand, my first Job as a Contortionist and a short clip of my Act with Cirque. In general, watching my Reel and especially the process of cutting it and gathering all the material from the past, was like going through a Memory Book of my professional Artist Life. It makes me so happy to still want this Life as much as I always wanted it. 

BTCF: During the summer 2020 (not sure of the dates – you can put in here), you were on the cruise ship MSC Bellissima to perform in a Cirque show, but due to COVID you became quarantined for a couple months before you were allowed to come home.  What were three things that helped you stay positive during such a trying time?

JULIA: Focusing on my goals (creating Vision Bords, working with my manifestation journal, doing research online). Yoga + meditation. Learning a new language

BTCF: What types of things do you do in your free time?

JULIA: I read and listen to Audio Books a lot. I am a Coffee enthusiast and always looking for the best Flat White with Oat Milk or making good specialty coffee myself (I did a Barista course this year). Learning Spanish. As much as I need my “Me time” I am extremely Social and enjoy meeting new people, hang out with my friends and chat.  Going for a run or walk is a lovely way to clear my head and gets me to spend time in nature. 

BTCF: What are some of your other goals in your life?  

JULIA: I want to work with Cirque in Vegas and I would love to go on Tour with an Artist. (I really would love to tour with Banks because her music is just so amazing). I want my own personal space at some point because I am currently mainly traveling and living out of suitcases. I want to work as a Dance and Movement Therapist when I am not performing anymore. 

My main goal in general is to keep living a creative life, that I design myself with courage. I want to be able to say: “I might have been scared, but I did it anyway”. I want experience life with all the ups and downs and always thrive to fulfill my dreams. 

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 lb. Boneless and Skinless Chicken Breast (2 pieces)
  • 1/3 cup Honey
  • Salt and Pepper to season
  • 2 Cloves Garlic (minced)
  • 1/4 Cup Flour
  • 3 ½ tbsp Unsalted Butter
  • 1 1/2 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1 tbsp Soy Sauce

INSTRUCTIONS

Cut the breasts in half horizontally to create 4 pieces total.

Season each side with salt and pepper.

Place flour in a shallow dish. Coat chicken in flour on both sides and shake excess flour off.

Melt most of the butter in a large skillet over high heat – hold back about 1 tsp for later.

Place chicken in skillet and cook for 2 – 3 minutes until golden. Turn and cook the other side for 1 minute.

Turn heat down slightly to medium high.

Make a bit of room in the pan, add garlic and top with remaining dab of butter. Stir garlic briefly once butter melts.

Add vinegar, soy sauce and honey. Stir / shake pan to combine. Bring sauce to simmer, then simmer for 1 minute or until slightly thickened.

Turn chicken to coat in sauce. If sauce gets too thick just add water and stir.

Remove from stove immediately. Place chicken on plates, drizzle with remaining sauce and serve.

*Serves 4 People

“Be the good”

BTCF: How did you get started as a performer and how old were you when you began?

AVA: Ever since I was little, I would always be performing. Whether it was putting on concerts in the living room for my family or on stage I knew that this was what I wanted to do. Growing up in the acting world, I did my first professional musical theater show when I was 5 and been doing on stage, and on camera since then. 4 years ago, I started to publish original songs and continued to balance the acting and singing world.

BTCF: Who is Ava’s support team?  How important is having support to you and how does it help you in your daily life?

AVA: I have a whole team of producers, managers and agents behind me and they are all super amazing. While, on the less professional side, my parents are extremely supportive and really motivate me through everything that I do.

BTCF: There are so many young people who can relate to your song, White Space.  Is this a place you found yourself or is it you looking in or even looking out or both?

AVA: The song travels through all of that. The first part of the song is definitely more when I realized I was in the “white space” then transitioning through to the second verse it’s looking back in after coming out. I’m a very self-aware person so this song really shows the vulnerability of that and realizing I was part of the problem saying “I thought you were different but you’re not” reflects me talking to my past self, hypocritically calling myself out.

BTCF:  There is so much peer pressure, the compare and despair so many youths find themselves bombarded with while also striving to find their purpose, identity, a level of acceptance of others over an acceptance of themselves.  Why do you think that is?  Is your song, I Should Be Leaving a song that addresses this? If so, how?

AVA: I like to say I don’t care what other people think of me as more of trying to convince myself that is so. Putting on a front is something most people do and as I’ve grown up, I realize that if I didn’t let something get to me at some point, I probably wouldn’t be who I am today. Especially being in social media and super public with everything, hate and backlash is inevitable. When I wrote I should be leaving I just listed a bunch of weird things about myself, but that’s me. “if this is the party I should be leaving” and by putting on a front and trying to be someone I’m not is how I need to be to “fit in” then I don’t want to “fit in”.

BTCF: Do your lyrics ever come to you while you were sleeping in your dreams? Could you share a time they did and what that felt like for you?

AVA: I’ve never had lyrics come while I was sleeping, but I do sometimes get lyric ideas as I’m about to fall asleep. I keep my song notebook and a pencil in my dresser to blindly write these down as they come to me so I can see them in the morning. They also come to me as I’m just going about my day, so I pull out my phone and record myself really quick into voice memos or write it in notes. My phone is filled with them.

BTCF:  In one of your latest songs Games, were you inspired by a personal experience?  You use a lot of word coloring with different tracks playing behind you in conversations.  Do you create and envision these things or is it a process that is done with your creative team?

AVA: Yes, extremely. When I originally was recording the song the whole idea of the intro and the conversations during the bridge just came to me as the production team and I were just joking about the song and the people brought up. It’s actually layers and layers of me just completely going full mean girl on the spot. The intro “sorry I can’t hang out tonight I have… plans” when they obviously do was something that has happened before and that sucks. I think it set the tone for the whole song since the song is setting up for a new vibe and era of my music that I’m so excited about.

BTCF: What is your process when you sit down to write a song?

AVA: First, I start scrolling through my phone to listen back and revisit what I had come up with that day. Start to put chords behind it on my piano maybe blend a bunch of other songs that I hated to this new melody and idea, record it on garage band (nothing fancy) then eventually hate it again. And keep listening, re writing, singing it again and again until I finally post it on Instagram or tik tok and set it aside for future publishing.

BTCF: We have had the pleasure of having you participate in our artist series, “Elements of Expression” for two year now.  How does being a part of this series connect to you?

AVA: I think this series is so great and I’ve had the pleasure working with and meeting so many talented and inspiring people. Being able to be a part of it and share different aspects of myself through my music is incredibly special for me.

BTCF:  BTCF uses art to unmask the stigma of those affected by eating disorders, disordered eating, and body image relationships to create conversation as a bridge to recovery.  How does this speak to you as an artist?

AVA: For me, whether I am listening to music or creating it, it puts me in such an amazing place where I just get lost in it and the stress of everything goes away for 3 minutes and 15 seconds and I’d love to help someone experience that as well.

BTCF: At such a young age you have a lot to say about social media and pop culture.  Can you share more about this and why it’s so important to you?

AVA: I don’t really think of it as if I’m an advocate or like trying to stick up for problems as a whole. It’s a stage of my life where I realize that I’m part of a generation that lets social media influence a lot of things and I just write about it as it affects me.

BTCF: What are three ways that help you create balance in your life?

AVA: I use my creative side to write and sing music, I’m still a regular teenager who goes to full time high school so that bring my academic side. I also am very active; dance has always been a part of my life, but I also love playing tennis and snowboarding.

BTCF: How many instruments do you play?  What type of music inspires you?

AVA: I play a lot of instruments, but I mainly write songs and perform with piano and guitar. I also play the ukulele and in 4th grade I played violin for a month. I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the bass guitar though.

BTCF: You said before, “Music is my therapy”.  How do you connect with your fans with this mind set?

AVA: I am a very self-aware person and I’m just going through life and writing songs about it, and it connects with a lot of people who are going through the same things I have as well.