by
Katrina Welch
“WHEN I WAS AT UNIVERSITY, I USED TO EAT A SLICE OF PIZZA AND DRINK A CAN OF COKE EVERY SINGLE DAY. I FIGURED BECAUSE I WAS DANCING EVERY DAY I DIDN’T NEED TO WATCH WHAT I EAT.”
These are the words of Performer and Wellness Coach Crystal Nicholls who first started dancing at the age of five and has followed her passion to become a professional dancer in the United Kingdom. But though the 31-yearold trained dancer led a physically active life for years, she recognised that her unhealthy mindset was fuelling consistently poor eating habits.
As she reflected on her past dietary choices, she explained that her perception was influenced by skewed societal perceptions. “We think that because we are physically active that is enough. Our society places a lot of value on being thin and thinks that thin equals healthy, but that is not true,” she said.
While attending primary school at Lawrence T. Gay Memorial, she studied ballet at Barbados Dance Theatre under Leah Gilbert until her retirement. When Crystal began her secondary school journey at Harrison College, she transitioned to the Louise Woodvine Dance Academy.
Her inspiration for the art form was drawn from her older sister. She said, “My older sister Judith started dancing first. I would watch her dance and I wanted to do it too. So, my parents enrolled me and my twin sister Cherisa and the rest was history, I fell in love with dance. I started to take it more seriously when I was 12 or 13 and that was when I knew I wanted to do it professionally.”
This led her to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Performance Dance at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. Upon completion of her degree, the passionate performer worked on Princess Cruises for three contractual periods before joining the London West End cast of the Lion King show in the United Kingdom. She spent six years with the Lion King before COVID-19 ended the contract six weeks early. It was joining the cast of this world renowned show which caused her to drastically adjust her eating habits.
“When I got to Lion King I realised the importance of healthy eating, taking care of your body and focusing on how you think. We did eight shows a week with one day off and the stage is made of steel so there is no room to play around or you will get hurt,” she explained.
The intensity of the training and performances caused her to feel elevated levels of stress and this caused her to examine her lifestyle choices. “I had to look into how I was eating and what I was thinking. I started to learn more about health and I realised that food isn’t just food, food is information. I discovered that every time you put something into your mouth it influences how your body operates and determines whether your thinking is calm and clear or whether you have brain fog. I never understood the power of food,” Crystal said.
She noted that while studying dance in Toronto, they learnt about the vitamins and minerals contained in various foods, but the programme did not teach them how they should apply this knowledge in making healthy nutritional choices.
“It is more important than people realise to maintain both your physical and mental health, but a lot of people don’t take it seriously and I too was guilty of this. I learnt how to eat properly, how to cross-train and I learnt different lifestyle habits to keep my calm and my focus. It was important for me to learn how to think differently and recognise disordered thinking,” she explained.
Her journey at Lion King increased her knowledge and awareness of health and wellness and when the global pandemic put a halt to her performances this provided her with the opportunity to further study this area and attain a relevant certification.
“In my downtime between shows I was trying to learn as much as I could about health and wellness, but because of my schedule I never had the time nor brain space to explore anything in depth. I would read and listen to podcasts between and after shows. When COVID-19 happened and everything closed, I asked myself how I could make the most of my time,” she said. “One day I was listening to my favourite podcast and he mentioned this nutrition certification and it dawned on me that health coaching was a career option.”
This realisation opened the door to a new aspiration which she had never dreamed of but one which she realised she was fully equipped to pursue. She said, “It occurred to me that I could use my knowledge and my passion to learn the tools to help performers and others with highpowered jobs make better health choices. I enrolled in the programme at the Institute of Transformational Nutrition and became a certified Nutrition Coach in January 2021. Since then I have been working to help others.”
Now, after following the passion which took centre stage of her life for more than two decades, Crystal is using that wealth experience combined with her zeal for health and wellness to empower others and improve their lives. She began coaching fellow cast members with whom she performed and has since expanded her clientele via referrals and social media to persons in the United States and even India.
Looking towards the future, she does not plan to return to her rigorous performance schedule and is hoping to audition. She said, “I am currently coaching clients and when everything reopens I plan to perform and audition for different gigs that are shorter, more fun and won’t take up too much of my time so I can continue coaching. I hope to eventually transition out of performing to coaching full- time.”
