New Year’s Resolutions for Dancers

Happy New Year everybody, and I’m sorry it’s been so long here on the blog. It has just taken the back burner for a while due to other things and stressful situations at school and ballet.

Regardless, today I want to talk to you all about New Year’s Resolutions for ballet and how to set them and keep them. Here are my biggest tips.

Follow the SMART acronym

This goal-setting acronym stands for “Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound.” Let’s talk about how these tips apply to your new year’s dance goals.

Specific. You are more likely to achieve a goal the less vague it is. For example, don’t say “I want to get better at pirouettes.” Instead, write: “I want to have triple pirouettes en pointe 1 time out of 2 by the end of January.”

Measurable. If you can record your progress and reward yourself when you are making some, you are more likely to be motivated to keep going. I recommend keeping a journal to keep track of your thoughts, and a special page dedicated to goal tracking. For instance, if you had a good turning day in class, write it down and let yourself watch one YouTube video for every triple you did. If you want to improve the height of your extensions, take one picture every week and see how much higher they get.

Achievable. Impossible goals will just make us feel more unmotivated and discouraged if and when we don’t meet them. Therefore, I recommend setting realistic goals. If your goal is to do more cardio to improve your stamina, don’t force yourself to do an hour of cardio per day – instead gradually increase the number with a set plan starting with maybe 15 minutes.

Relevant. Make your goals something that will help you and you actually want to achieve, rather than something that others want you to do.

Time-Bound. Give yourself a time limit. This will keep you more motivated to stay on track as time goes on. For example, if you want to improve your turnout, tell yourself that you want to maintain 100 degrees by your audition in January.

Create a Plan

Action steps will create purpose with your goal and help you to get there. For example, one of my new year’s resolutions is to achieve triple pirouettes en pointe 1/2 of the time by the end of January. My action steps are:

  • Practice daily on the turning board
  • Practice in pointe shoes after class every day
  • Watch helpful videos and get help from my teachers

Keep Going

Finally, persevere. If you are feeling discouraged or you find that something is holding you back, I would recommend using this app. You think about what it is that is keeping you from achieving your goal and it walks you through the thought process behind coming up with a new way of doing things.

If you ever think that you might just give up, go back to this moment when you were thinking of your goals. Write it down so you have something to come back to later.

Good luck with your new year’s resolutions, and see you next time!


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