Goals For 2018

     I know I'm a bit late to the party here but I wanted to post some of my goals for this year. I don't typically do resolutions because I suck at sticking to them anyways so...wow, how shitty would it be to say "Why try?" Okay, maybe I should just make these goals and make more effort in reminding myself to do these things. lol. I have so many goals but I need to be reminded to do them. Okay, I'll just jump in here. I want to split these into dance goals and teaching goals.


Side note: Some of these I've put into my bullet journal because I really want to get better at them and need reminding. However, how I'll remember to check and update my bullet journal is another story. #ineedanadult #im32 #ineedanadultieradult

DANCE GOALS

1. Okay, so my first goal is to be more flexible. I have my left split when it damn feels like it. It's usually there like every other time I try it. Sometimes, every third time. Oddly enough, I've found that I have much better luck when I go into it from a developpe turn (developpe the left leg while turning to the left, on the right foot and then sliding down into a left split once the left foot hits the floor...it was in some choreo.) My right split laughs at me. It's gotten closer this month though because I'm really trying, guys! My middle is actually not that bad. It's not that good either, but it could be worse. I did a dance last spring where we did a turn (like a parallel soutenu...it was a chacha dance to When Doves Cry by Prince)  and then dropped into it. Doing this so much really made it better. Okay, maybe the takeaway from this is that the forced choreo helps me more because I have no self-discipline to do it on my own. So yeah, I really need to work on that, for reals. Also, back flexibility! Because hi, I have none. And I stretch my back the least of all the things. I stretch along with my students every Monday and in ballet on Wednesdays so I definitely need to set reminders to do it on my own at home every day. I need an accountability club.


2. Pointe work. Just to get better by doing it more. (My right foot is nice enough en pointe. My left is a biscuit.) I just need to work on it more. Not just in ballet class on Wednesdays. Do we see a pattern? Yes, we do! I have a dance floor in the room I share with my significant other. He built it for me. He also built me a barre, but it needs some junk (technical term) to help the wooden dowels stay in the pvc elbows. It falls apart anytime any pressure is added. Wait.

3. Fix my home barre. There we go.

4. Turns. I got a balance board and a turn board (BalletBoard on Amazon) for Christmas because I'm serious about trying harder to work on everything outside of class. I have a consistent double to the right, and only can do one and a half consistently to the left. I can get a double sometimes but never on purpose. I can do triples to the right now and then so it makes no sense. Ugh. I'm so uneven. So, yeah, have any of you used a turn board? It's scary as hell at first! But I have noticed that after using it, turns are so much easier without it, so there's that! It really does help because you notice where things have gone off. or where you need to correct something.


5. SHOULDERS. This went uncorrected for so long that it just feels so normal to me to have them raised. I'm talking years. But maybe two years ago, it was brought to my attention and it really has gotten much better. But now and then, I still slip up and I'm always self-conscious about it.

6. Weight. I'm not a skinny dancer and maybe never will be, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to get there. I was a skinny teen and gained weight thanks to depression. I just stopped eating and blew up. And it stayed. It's so hard to get rid of it but I'm down 75lbs since 2010ish and I want to lose another 100lbs or so. but I'd be pretty happy with losing around 75lbs. I know I've been losing weight but I'm trying hard not to weigh myself because I get obsessed with checking the scale multiple times a day and I don't want to go back to old habits. I just have my ballet teacher on my ass sometimes about it and she has basically told me that she wants people in lead roles to look good. And she means skinny. I have had leads but always as the villain. I am super grateful for those roles but I always want that pretty lead role like Giselle, Sugarplum, etc. I loved being the villain in Giselle, the villain in Danse Macabre, Elsa in Frozen, etc but I'll always pine for the beautiful, gentle lead pointe part.


7. Turnout. This sounds so small but I can't get my foot up to the knee all the way in retire and I was told it's because my turn out is holding it back. I didn't think it was too terrible but it's not that great either. I have been trying to focus on a lot of turn out focused barre combos during my free time at the studio this month to work on it. I think it's helping. :)

TEACHING GOALS

1. Get more students. We have this cute little studio but low class numbers. I have open adult ballet and lyrical classes and I know there are people out there that would want to take it but they probably don't know where to look. I have to figure out how to get those people in there. They are more than welcome to drop in but I'd really love people who want to do the performances. I love to choreograph. But more than anything, I love to teach and just want to help spread that dance love. 

2. Go back to working on transferring so I can go for my degree in dance. I will admit that I have been just taking classes at the college I go to just for fun and to perform. It's cheaper than a studio, they always need students, and I pay, so why not? However, I have gotten off track from getting my degree by ONLY taking dance for years. I need to finish up those other classes so I can transfer and then go for my BA and then maybe Masters. I love where I teach but my main goal is to own a studio and teach at a college also. Maybe it's a bit much but I at least want to own my own studio someday and also run a performing arts/theatre company out of it as well. Dance and musical theatre are my favorite things ever.I would love to have a hand in each. Maybe direct something. I'm only 32 but I need to really get going on this.


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This has been really helpful. There's something about writing/typing everything out that helps you really focus and think things out.