The Dancer Mama Podcast

Ep 54: First Overnight Away!!Plus Invisalign and No Sleep

Jenna is back much earlier than anticipated from her podcast break- she just couldn't stay away! Tune into this solo episode to hear about the major milestone that is the first night spent away from baby, as well as life updates such as the start of an Invisalign journey, sleep challenges (for mama not baby!) and more!
Call for guests: Jenna is looking for podcast guests! If you or someone you know would like to come on the show and chat about anything related to motherhood, pole, health and wellness, fitness, or any other topic you think our audience might be interested, please email Jenna at dancermamapod@gmail.com or connect on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/thedancermamapodcast/ 
 
If you are enjoying the podcast, please subscribe, share, and leave us a rating or review!
Connect with us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thedancermamapodcast/ 
Email us at dancermamapod@gmail.com 
Cover Art by: https://www.instagram.com/craftymama.yyc/

Ep 53: Hello again, and Goodbye for now!

After many weeks without publishing a new episode, Jenna is back, but unfortunately to say goodbye for now. She gives a life update, talking about the pros and cons of being a stripper mama in the early years of parenting, a quick update on the pelvic floor scenario, nursing, and bedsharing, the mental weight of the world, busy toddler fun, and more! While almost everything is going great, it all amounts to just a little too much these days time-wise, and as she is unable to commit to any sort of regular upload schedule at this time, Jenna has decided to take a step back from podcasting for the time being. This will not be the end though- Jenna may well start the podcast back up in the next chapter of her motherhood journey. 
 
Thank you all so much for listening and supporting the podcast over the last year and a half. Have a wonderful holiday season and goodbye for now!

Ep 52: Emily Laura: A highly qualified pole instructor and brave, resilient mama

!Content Warning! : Today's episode contains some sensitive topics such as pregnancy loss, fertility challenges, NICU stays, and parenting a child with complex disabilities. 
Today Jenna is thrilled to host Emily Laura on the podcast, in which she tells her incredible story of resilience in motherhood and passion for pole. Emily is a pole, heels, and felxibiltiy instructor with an extensive range of certifications, allowing her to serve her students in a unique way informed by education and physiology. She is a former lawyer, mom of two (including her first son who has complex disabilities) and is currently expecting her third. Emily shares her story, relaying the challenges she faced on her parenting journey with grace and eloquence. This episode contains many nuggets of wisdom and solidarity and Jenna is so grateful to Emily for sharing!
You can learn from Emily Laura at 
https://www.emilylaura.com/
and connect with her on Instagram at
https://www.instagram.com/emily.laura_/
Cover photo by Robotic Clouds Photography
If you are enjoying the podcast, please subscribe, share, and leave us a rating or review!
Connect with us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thedancermamapodcast/ 
Email us at dancermamapod@gmail.com 
Cover Art by: https://www.instagram.com/craftymama.yyc/

Ep 51: Sharenting, Digital Safety and Respecting our Kids in the Digital Age

*Content warning*- discussion of digital safety, general mention of child sexual abuse and exploitation, adult themes.
Last week's solo episode ended with the question: should adult content creators, or any one of us, be posting our children on social media for the world to see?
This week's episode picks up the conversation, delving deep into the topics of "sharenting", both in the context of large influencer accounts and regular social media users just sharing our kids online. Drawing from the educational and awareness raising efforts of @mom.uncharted Jenna discusses how we got to a place where it's so normalized to post intimate moments of our kid's childhoods online and what the concerns are, from digital safety to disrespecting our kids fundamental rights to privacy and dignity. The digital age we are living in is wild, and for most of us, sharing our lives online is something we do without a second thought. But when it comes to our children, a great deal of thought and reflection is needed in order to do right by them. 
This is a heavier episode with some potentially triggering topics- it may even feel triggering to hear that we shouldn't be posting our kids online! But Jenna feels this is an essential and timely conversation that we ALL need to be having. 
With this episode in particular, please consider sharing, or sharing @mom.uncharted on Instagram to spread this conversation far and wide!
https://www.instagram.com/mom.uncharted/?hl=en 
If you are enjoying the podcast, please subscribe, share, and leave us a rating or review!
Connect with us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thedancermamapodcast/ 
Email us at dancermamapod@gmail.com 
Cover Art by: https://www.instagram.com/craftymama.yyc/
 

Ep 50: SWer Mamas and Misogyny on the Internet

*Content Warning: This episode contains frank discussion of adult themes, specifically adult film and adult content creators, and the accompanying mention of sex and sexual relations. Please take care around sensitive/little ears!*
For this week's solo episode, Jenna finally dives into a very specific topic she has been wanting to take on for weeks: a discussion of sex workers as mothers and what happens when they are open about both their work and their families online. Using recent events involving fabulous adult content creators and mamas Lena the Plug and Riley Reid as case studies, Jenna talks about the misogyny, stigma, and over all misunderstanding and hate women receive when they openly participate in sex work. Jenna tells the recent story of Lena the Plug making content with a man (other than her husband) and the extreme hate and backlash she received, with people condemning her as a horrible wife but also as a horrible mother. Some commenters went so far as to say that adult content creators should never be allowed to have children...  
The intended audience for The Dancer Mama podcast is both pole dancers/athletes and/or sex workers of various kinds. Jenna takes destigmatizing sex work seriously, and she was profoundly disturbed to see the level of misogyny, patriarchal double standards, and misunderstanding playing out online in the case of these two women. 
This episode is part one of two separate but related episodes: this episode ends with questioning NOT whether porn stars should be moms, but whether or not they should be sharing their children online. Next weeks episode will dive much deeper into that second question. 
Resources mentioned in the show to learn more about sex work from sex workers themselves:
https://strippedbysia.com/
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/touchy-subject-with-lena-the-plug/id1632271097 
If you are enjoying the podcast, please subscribe, share, and leave us a rating or review!
Connect with us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thedancermamapodcast/ 
Email us at dancermamapod@gmail.com 
Cover Art by: https://www.instagram.com/craftymama.yyc/  

Ep 49: Pelvic floor physiotherapist Dr. Ariel Sernek Returns!

For today’s guest episode Jenna is so excited to welcome back the podcast’s first return guest, pelvic floor physiotherapist Dr. Ariel Sernek! First things first: congratulations are in order as Dr. Ariel is now a mama! After sharing her professional knowledge and recommendations regarding the perinatal season in episode 20, Dr. Ariel is back to share her own pregnancy, birth and postpartum experience with us. She shares whether she was able to walk the talk and follow her own advice, how becoming a mama has changed how she relates to patients, why would should refrain from commenting not just on women’s bodies but also baby’s bodies, and more. It was so amazing to have Dr. Ariel back on the show for another insightful conversation. 
Content warning: Dr. Ariel shares her birth story which includes an IV, Pitocin, and an epidural. 
Connect with Dr. Ariel at
https://www.instagram.com/drariel_pelvicpt/
 
If you are enjoying the podcast, please subscribe, share, and leave us a rating or review!
Connect with us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thedancermamapodcast/ 
Email us at dancermamapod@gmail.com 
Cover Art by: https://www.instagram.com/craftymama.yyc/  

Ep 48: 1 Year of being a Mama! Life update and reflections at 1 year postpartum

This week’s solo episode is a special life update coming at the time of a big milestone: 1 year of being a mama! Jenna’s son is a year old now, and she reflects on how the year has crept and then flown by, how her body has changed, her nursing journey, how work is going, and more. Jenna is currently feeling like motherhood is the best thing ever, even as it feels a little relentless and all consuming!
If you are enjoying the podcast, please subscribe, share, and leave us a rating or review!
Connect with us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thedancermamapodcast/ 
Email us at dancermamapod@gmail.com 
Cover Art by: https://www.instagram.com/craftymama.yyc/  
 

Ep 47: Manda Ritz on the decision to have kid(s)

This week's guest episode is with pole mama, marathoner, obstacle runner and overall powerhouse Manda Ritz! Manda is now a proud mama to two boys, however, there was a time in her life when she wasn't 100% sure she wanted to be a mom. The decision of whether to have kids, how many to have, and changing one's mind is a topic that is less discussed in the motherhood space, and this is an amazing, vulnerable conversation that is sure to make many women feel heard and seen. Manda also shares highlights of her pole career, how she stayed active through her pregnancies, and her shifting priorities in the early motherhood season. 
Connect with Manda on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/themomwiththepenguintattoo/
 
If you are enjoying the podcast, please subscribe, share, and leave us a rating or review!
Connect with us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thedancermamapodcast/ 
Email us at dancermamapod@gmail.com 
Cover Art by: https://www.instagram.com/craftymama.yyc/
 

Ep 46: Planes, Trains, and Canal Boats: Amsterdam with a 10 month old!

In the first episode back after a short summer break, Jenna recaps her trip with the husband and baby to the Netherlands! Most of her worries about the trip proved to be unfounded, as babyFelix crushed both the long travel days and the time change. The Netherlands is a delightful country, and reflecting on the experience, Jenna can safely say it was one of her best trips ever (minus departing from the Amsterdam airport which was an actual nightmare!) 
Jenna also shares the change in her family's housing situation which resulted in a big, unexpected life milestone, not to mention a stressful move which had to happen immediately upon returning from Europe!
Thank you for tuning back in after the break! Stay tuned for a new episode every two weeks, alternating between solo and guest episodes. 
 
If you are enjoying the podcast, please subscribe, share, and leave us a rating or review!
Connect with us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thedancermamapodcast/ 
Email us at dancermamapod@gmail.com 
Cover Art by: https://www.instagram.com/craftymama.yyc/  

Ep 45: PSO Canada West! Plus summer break

This is the last episode for a little while! Jenna will be taking a summer break, with plans to return to recording new episodes in August. 
In the meantime, enjoy this recap of PSO Canada West: Jenna's first in person competition since 2019 and certainly her first competition since becoming a mama. Jenna shares some of the uncontrollable events that cropped up in the weeks leading up to the competition, the drive from Calgary to Vancouver with a 9 month old and 2 dogs, and a play by play of the weekend. She answers a couple listener questions about her competition experience, including the key differences between this comp and pre-mama comps. Jenna also shares some reflections about medaling, placements, and the nature of competitions. 
Thank you all so much for listening to The Dancer Mama Podcast! Enjoy your summer and talk to you all soon.
If you are enjoying the podcast, please subscribe, share, and leave us a rating or review!
Connect with us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thedancermamapodcast/ 
Email us at dancermamapod@gmail.com 
Cover Art by: https://www.instagram.com/craftymama.yyc/