About Your Trainer
Trainer - Coach - Educator - Ballerina - Model
Born in San Francisco, California, Candy trained at San Francisco Ballet School under full scholarship and graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a BFA in Dance Performance -- completing the program in just 2.5 years. Candy also received a diploma in Dance from the English National Ballet School, where she performed and toured with the company. She has been named by Dance Informa as “10 most inspiring dancers to follow on Instagram.” Candy has been interviewed and featured for POINTE magazine, DANCE magazine, and Dance Informa. Alongside her dance career, Candy is a signed model with State Model Management. Her work has been showcased at the Galleries Lafayette in Paris, the Huffington Post, Nikon Europe's ad campaigns, and most notably on the cover of Harper Bazaar. In addition to her dance and modeling career, Candy is the founder and designer of Candy Tong Collection, a premier luxury dance wear company. Her designs have been sold in stores and online all over the world as well as in competitions such as the Youth America Grand Prix. Candy danced for Complexions Contemporary Ballet from 2018 till 2025.
With over a decade in the professional ballet world, Candy Tong enhanced her successful dance career with strength training, pilates, and even boxing as a form of cross training. She quickly fell in love with fitness and grew a passion for helping other athletes, dancers, and the everyday person to feel and look the best version of themselves.
Candy is an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer specializing in strength and conditioning and is a Comprehensive Pilates Instructor through second generation master instructor, Diane Diefenderfer and lead instructor, Laura Hanlon of Studio Du Corps.
My Story
Professional Ballerina, Model, Coach, Designer, Educator… everyone thought I had it easy. Far from the truth, I faced many trials and tribulations before I arrived to where I am today. My most confident and authentic self.
Consumed by the ballet world at a young age, I often faced body dysmorphia. I was consistently criticized of being too “fat” and “big boned” for this profession. Over an extended amount of time, my weight and body appearance fluctuated from the pressure and stress. A constant battle between complying with the “ballet body” vs rebelling to what felt normal for me.
Ultimately, many years into my professional ballet career, I suffered a major injury that took me away from performing for nearly two years. It wasn’t until this long road of recovery where I truly understood the phrase ”your body is your instrument.“ This phrase embodies the principle that you need a strong and healthy body to be your instrument for success in everything in life. Doctors said there was a 50/50 chance I would be able to recover and perform at the highest level once again. This motivated me to treat my body with extra care the moment I stepped out of the surgery room, knowing this was my only chance of dancing again.
During this recovery process, I had standard physical therapy, but I also added weight training and pilates into my routine. This brought my passion for weight training and pilates to a new level. Not only did this propell me forward in terms of recovering from my injury, but my body changed miraculously. There was an “ah ha” moment when I first saw change, and I finally felt like the true me. Years of being told to diet more and not eat in order to achieve the ”ballet body“ was false. Realistically I was already eating scarcely and followed many diets that never worked. In order to physically change, you must not only eat to fuel your body correctly, but cross train to build those complimentary muscles. Ultimately, this method helped me recover and achieve my goal of dancing professionally at the highest level once again.
Thanks to cross training of weight lifting and pilates, I finally feel in tune with my body. Today I have never felt more beautiful, powerful, unstoppable, strong and resilient. This feeling is what I hope to instill in my clients and is what pushed me to start Candy Tong Movement.
