Aicha McKenzie on breath, movement and allowing ourselves to slow down

In this episode of the Out of the Clouds podcast, host Anne Muhlethaler interviews former Commonwealth British gymnast, dancer, choreographer, entrepreneur and now certified breath coach Aicha McKenzie (@AichaMcKenzie). 

Aicha is the CEO and founder of the AMCK Group, which she launched in 2005 with AMCK Dance - an award-winning international premium dance agency with the most elite selection of dancers, choreographers, and creative directors - as well AMCK Models in 2008, London’s only exclusively male model agency, counting over 150 male models on its books, shooting campaigns for Prada, Gucci, Burberry, among many others. 

Aicha has made many TV appearances, appearing as a judge on reality dance shows in the UK and the US. Aicha has also been responsible for choreographing 300 Olympic dancers during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Aicha and Anne met on a very special project with burlesque cabaret dancer Dita Von Teese, a filmed performance that was to be turned into a hologram, the keystone of the famed shoe designer Christian Louboutin’s 20th anniversary retrospective at the London Design Museum. 

Over the course of this very personal interview, Aicha shares her amazing story, or her ‘many lives’ as she refers to it: from her first life as the first Black gymnast to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games, supported by her amazing mother, to becoming a commercial dancer and working as a choreographer with top artists, to her latest pursuit launching, running, and expanding an award-winning AMCK Group, which consists of four entities, AMCK Dance, AMCK Models, AMCK Fit and BreatheByAMCK.

The two of them move to talking about the stress of managing it all, Aicha’s health scares, and how movement has been a through line for her, even in difficult times. The conversation moves to managing burnout, launching a wellness arm with AMCKFit, learning to let things move through and the value in slowing down. 

Anne and Aicha also discuss the power and purpose of our breath. The certified breath coach shares this wisdom: “Breath is the whole story: balance, reset, energise, activate, transform, heal, exhale” and said that she ‘loves working with the breath because it’s allowing that pause to exist, allowing yourself to literally take a breath.’

Having helped so many talented individuals at some point in their careers, the mother and CEO says that her work in its entirety is about the connection to being oneself, not being someone else or following another's path.

A very powerful, moving and inspirational interview with an incredible woman. Happy listening!

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Selected links from episode 

You can find Aicha on Instagram - @AichaMcKenzie

On Twitter - https://twitter.com/aichamckenzie

Models by AMCK - http://www.amckmodels.com/

Dance by AMCK - https://www.amck.tv/

Breathe by AMCK - https://breathebyamck.com/

NFT recently launched - https://www.amck.io/

Pineapple Dance Studios in London - https://www.pineapple.uk.com/

Alvin Ailey - https://www.alvinailey.org/

Julliard School - https://www.juilliard.edu/

The Dita Von Teese hologram for Christian Louboutin's Design Museum Retrospective - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZedZN48VgjM

Aicha interviewed on the Power Hour with Adrienne Herbert - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/aicha-mckenzie/id1443615779?i=1000432306200

Nadi Shodhana - Alternate nostril breathing - https://www.webmd.com/balance/what-to-know-about-alternate-nostril-breathing

The article 'Something's got to give'

The song 'Optimistic' by Sounds of Blackness 

The body keeps the score, book by Bessel van der Kolk 

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This episode is brought to you by AVM Consulting 

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If you enjoyed this episode, click subscribe for more, and consider writing a review of the show on Apple Podcasts, we really appreciate your support and feedback. And thank you  so much for listening! 

For all notes and transcripts, please visit Out Of The Clouds on Simplecast - https://out-of-the-clouds.simplecast.com/  

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For more, you can read and subscribe to Anne's Substack, the Mettā View, her weekly dose of insights on coaching, brand development, the future of work, and storytelling, with a hint of mindfulness.