Jenelle Manzi, the founder of a nutrition start-up, said entrepreneurship gives her a rush.
And then there is performing with New York City Ballet, which she has done for nearly two decades.
“The feeling you get when you leave the stage and your mind is still buzzing, your body’s still buzzing — it’s a high like nothing else,” she said.
A catalyst to do both came early in her time at the ballet.
“For the first few years, it was complete bliss, and after year 2, I started to deal with a lot of injuries and inflammation,” Ms. Manzi, 34, said. “And in those moments of having my identity completely stripped, you don’t really know, one, what is happening in your body, and then two, what you’re doing with your life.”
Injury, surgery and recovery sidelined her for over two years.
“I had learned at a very young age how short lived ballet was,” Ms. Manzi said, adding, “Having that happen at such a young age really opened my eyes to figuring out what my other passions were.”
After years of injury and food sensitivities, Ms. Manzi, in consultation with a doctor and a nutritionist, re-evaluated how she was training, recovering, strengthening and fueling. She also launched a recipe blog covering her healing journey and her interests in nutrition and female longevity. She began selling granola bars that she first made in her toaster oven and eventually started her company, Get Golden.
“It’s been fun for me to have my two worlds collide in that sort of way, where my passion for female longevity and health is the Get Golden side, but then that’s also part of being a ballerina,” she said.
Ms. Manzi lives in a one-bedroom apartment in the Hudson Yards neighborhood of Manhattan. She recently spent a Tuesday with The New York Times as she performed in “The Nutcracker.”
This interview has been condensed and lightly edited.
MORNING BLISS I wake up at 6:15, 6:30 and I immediately go to this mat with a vibration plate at my feet and I listen to the Open app, and I meditate. The vibration plate has been a complete game-changer for the lymphatic system, which is something that I’m incredibly passionate about as I’ve dealt with a lot of circulation issues throughout my career. It’s literally my 10 minutes — and it’s only 10 minutes — of bliss before the busyness starts.
I go down to the pool in my building and I just jump and do a lot of kicks. I find that if I don’t get the blood moving and if I don’t wake up my muscles, I feel very sluggish to start my day.
PROTEIN TIME After the pool, I take a shower and get ready for the day. I do my skin care and my makeup, both things that I love. It’s another form of self-care for me. Next up is breakfast. I do overnight oats a lot with Get Golden protein. I’ll have a coffee and look at my Slack messages with my team and also check any urgent emails for the day.
SEWING I get dressed and I commute to the theater where New York City Ballet performs [the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center]. We have company class from 10:30 to 11:30.
From 10 to 10:30, I stretch, sew pointe shoes and get ready for ballet class. Our pointe shoes are custom made. They come unsewn, so we have to sew the elastics and ribbons on them. And that’s very time-consuming. It leads me to leave a lot of voice notes and call my team a lot because I’m often unable to use my hands. We go through a pair of pointe shoes one, every two days.
REHEARSAL TIME Rehearsal is from 11:30 to 1:30. We’re rehearsing for our winter season. I’m really excited about it because there are two ballets that I really love dancing that are going: “Le Tombeau de Couperin” and “Serenade.” They are iconic New York City Ballet George Balanchine ballets.
PLUNGE Sometimes I will do a quick ice plunge at the theater midday after the rehearsal to kind of calm down my legs and calm down my calves. I’ve found ice plunging to be a game-changer in terms of recovery and inflammation. I’ve always dealt with inflammation. I have a hypermobility. It’s called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and it impacts how flexible your joints are, and that also comes with a lot of inflammation.
I hate the ice plunge. But it’s one of those things that’s kind of like going to the gym: There are moments where you really don’t want to go, but you never regret going to that workout.
After I get out of rehearsal, I’m sweaty, and I take off my pointe shoes and I go to the dressing room. I grab the wrap that I had made out of the little fridge in our dressing room. It’s literally two Siete tortilla wraps with turkey, avocado, mayo and lettuce. It’s very plain, simple, it digests really well, high protein.
IDENTITY SHIFT After the ice plunge, we go into founder mode. I commute down to W.S.A. I’ll usually get ready in the cab to save time. I’ll take calls there. Lately, my calls are typically with a designer for finalizing the logo for the relaunch of my Substack. It’s called Making Moves. It’s equal parts beauty, fashion, science and lived experience. And I do this while, yet again, sewing pointe shoes.
PERSONA CHANGE After that, I have to commute back to the show. Once I get to the theater, I will immediately start doing my hair and makeup.
In ballet you become a character in a way. There’s a complete persona change in a way where during the day we’re messy hair in warm-ups and ripped tights and very sweaty, and then all of a sudden, you have to transform into this very, very put-together glamorous beautiful ballerina.
I’ll have a single AirPod in my ear, and I’ll always be listening to a podcast or YouTube.
I eat a bar, a Get Golden bar, and drink a coffee. And then after my makeup is done, I do an entirely new warm-up sequence. I’ll do various exercises in the Pilates room. And then I’ll go down to the stage level and do a warm-up barre.
BALLERINA MODE I’ve done the “Nutcracker” a lot, and I still go over the dance every time before I go out onstage.
Once the curtain goes up, you go into euphoria. There’s nothing like live performance.
SHOES OFF The show’s from 8 to 10. After we get offstage, we go back to our dressing rooms, and we take off our pointe shoes. We have to cut out the ribbons, cut out the stitches. That’s why I have my scissors ready at my spot so that the moment I get up there, they’re open. Slice, slice, rip off the shoes, grab the towel and go to the ice plunge, and that’s 10:08. It’s the same thing, three minutes, 38 degrees.
It’s a love/hate because it burns, especially when you’re dancing a lot and your legs are really pumped. I usually cab home around 10:30.
SUNDAE TIME Then I eat a light dinner. I meal prep at the beginning of the week and I just make bowls. So it’ll be like half an avocado with some sesame seeds and salmon and sweet potato and a vegetable, let’s say broccoli or a side salad, but usually always lean protein. And then I always have dessert. I am obsessed with Ninja Creamis right now. I make a little sundae.
WIND DOWN After the show you need time to get back to equilibrium and then be able to sleep. I like to have a little bit of an unwind routine that gives me a sense of normalcy. Mind you, I’m also doing this while checking emails.
Then I do a little bit of another skin care routine. It just brings me back to myself. I’ll typically elevate my legs after the show as well.
I go to sleep probably between midnight and 12:30. And no, that’s not enough sleep — I know.
The post How a ‘Nutcracker’ Ballerina Spends a Day of Business and Dance appeared first on New York Times.
