40 Dance Goals for the New School Year
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Back to School season also means Back to Dance, and you’re determined to make this your best year ever. Maybe there’s a trick you really want to nail, or your splits are just inches away. Maybe you want that prized role in The Nutcracker, or maybe you just know you want to get better but you’re not really sure how. Well, here’s a list of 40 ideas for dance goals to inspire you!
Technical Dance Goals
- Break your habit of hopping in your turns.
- Improve your balance.
- Jump smarter – knees over toes, deep plié.
- Improve your control.
- Get that strong “pop” in your leaps.
- Get your hips square consistently.
- Improve your turnout, either flexibility-wise or in your dancing.
- Get your kicks higher.
- Get better at spotting your turns.
Tip: A good way to know if you’ve achieved a technical goal is when you no longer get corrections about it. Bonus points if your teacher actually tells you that you’ve improved!
Artistic Dance Goals
- Get more comfortable with improv.
- Make a habit of using your eyes, not looking at the floor.
- Improve your transitions to get that “graceful” look.
- Break your habit of biting your tongue, squinting, etc.
- Get better at showing different emotions through movement.
- Improve your musicality.
Attitude Goals
- Be less passive in class. Pick a focus or something to work on every day.
- Take corrections humbly, remembering that they’re meant to help you.
- When you get a correction, give your best effort to have it fixed by the next time you see that teacher.
- Be a good sport if you don’t get the part you want.
- Be a good sport if you DO get the part you want.
- Make the new girl feel welcome.
- Stop saying “I can’t” and start saying “I’m still working on.”
- Always dance to your fullest ability, even when the combo’s easy and boring.
- Be smart about sitting out when you’re sick or injured.
- Go out of your comfort zone more often.
Achievements
- Get your splits – right, left, middle, or all three!
- Add to the number of pirouettes you can already do.
- Add to the number of fouettes you can already do.
- Pick any trick and try to get it consistently this year.
- Take a move you can do in flat shoes and try to get it in pointe shoes.
- Get a solo part in the ballet.
Other Dance Goals
- Improve your stamina.
- Throughout the year, have at least one conversation with everyone in your class, even those you wouldn’t call “friends.”
- Go for perfect attendance, or set an absence limit for yourself.
- Learn how to give yourself corrections when your teacher’s not giving individual feedback.
- Watch all those dance movies you haven’t seen yet.
- See a professional show.
- Try a dance style that’s new to you.
- Get better at picking up combinations quickly.
- Be on time, ready to go, more consistently.
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