Ballet goals for the autumn

[psavola]

There was a thread on the Men's Forum a while ago about the goals they set for next year, and I thought people here might also enjoy listing their balletic goals.

 

For myself, during the next autumn I want to:

1. Improve my placement. I have learned much about finding my center, aligning my pelvis and the feel of verticality in spine during summer, and I want to maintain and expand on that knowledge integrating it to all my dancing.

2. Improve rotation. I'm not rotating evenly, and often lose turnout when I'm concentrating on something else. In the coming year I will try to make concentrating on my rotation a habit.

3. Lose excess tension from my upper body. My dancing looks too athletic. Everybody can see the effort I'm making, which is very much not the point.

4. Get rid of a stupid, insistent wrist flick I make when transferring my arm from the rounded positions to allonge.

 

To achieve these goals I plan to continue taking 4-5 classes a week, and keep my new stretching habit. I'm also taking a music theory course to deepen my understanding of classical music. Tonality analyzation, here I come!

 

Päivi

[Jaana Heino]

For now, I want to concentrate on my alignment. Most issues I have (with balance, with turnout, with too stiff plies) could be corrected if my alignment was better. I can keep a good alignment if I really, really work for it. I want to become strong and focused enough for this work to be routine.

 

Also, related to this, I want to get rid of the remains of my two main bad habits: not keeping my knees straight all the time when they should be, and looking down too much. I'm definitely better with these two than I used to be, but I want the problems to completely disappear...

 

I wouldn't mind if I got my single turns solid, too, but that can wait.

[koshka]

--Solid double pirouettes on flat, singles on pointe. I am getting there on both, but would like to have them down pat by Christmas. I think at this point it is a matter of making the double spot a comfortable, automatic thing. It is _much_ different from a single spot. Then I will think about double turns en dedans...

 

--Not lifting the working hip in passe, coupe, etc. This is something that I've probably been doing for a while but was only recently pointed out to me.

 

--Working the feet more thoroughly.

 

--A little "more" and a little "better" on everything else--arms, shoulders, alignment, head--well, the usual assortment.

[Kate B]

Wow, I wish I gould be as ambitious as you guys!

 

My aim is to get out of work at a reasonable time twice a week and make it to class!

[lampwick]

By Christmas I'd like to have a solid double pirouette en pointe. I'd also like to have both my splits back. I lost them. if anyone's seen them, please let me know

 

If I could finally control my shoulders and upper back fully, that would be a big achievement.

 

Through this fall I will be taking 10 classes a week (7 ballet--3 floor barre) and I'd like to be taking twice a day starting in January, so juggling my work hours and motivating enough to get in EARLY will be the biggest challenge for me. I'm a night-owl. NO more stupid TV.

[Guest BBNButterscotch]

My goals:

 

- Clean up my double pirouette.

 

- Master and clean up my entrechat quatres.

 

-Continue to improve my turnout.

 

-Continue to improve my pointe technique and strength on pointe.

[scoop]

Add me to the list of pirouette resolvers! I am really determined to finally get these right. The past couple of months, I've worked really hard on placement so I'm at the point where I basically do slow singles, concentrating on staying in the right position and balance throughout the revolution. BUT my spotting remains just awful, so of course I can't do more than one.

 

But now, a second BUT: Last night, I suddenly spotted correctly! I actually felt that clean snap of the head! (Where's that "mon dieu" smilie when you need it?!) Of course, I was so shocked, that the balance and placement I'd been working so hard on abandonned me for the rest of the night.

 

So that's my resolution -- to get everything at once and to finally enter pirouette nirvana....

[koshka]

Getting the spot is a good feeling! I remember it took a while for that to come back to me, and even now it is not quite as habitual as it should be.

 

I have to warn you, though--in my experience, learning a double spot has been as hard as learning to spot in the first place.

[scoop]

Yes, if it takes me as long to get a double spot as it did a single, I'll be getting that double pirouette in the nursing home!

[Sanna Koulu]

Hmm, reading these posts I realized I'd love to be able to do consistent single pirouettes Anyway, this autumn I'll focus on

 

- my alignment and turn-out. I think I'm learning how to work safely within the limitations of my body; I'd like to make that a habit so that I wouldn't need to worry about it all the time. More stretches and PT exercises and always working exactly right in class.. *sigh*

 

- pliés - I want beautiful squishy demi-pliés instead of these clumsy angular ones. Good pliés would help my feet and knees to get better, too.

 

- recovering. I haven't been doing any jumps or many relevés for a while. By the end of the year I want to be able to do (or at least try ) everything in class.

 

I'd like to think that working on all the basics will miraculously improve my balance and turns and musicality and grace

 

- Sanna

[Guest luna]

My goals are:

1) lose a few pounds

2) get my double pirouette on pointe

3) work on gaining a higher arabesque

[Susanne]

I would like to:

 

1. Be able to do an acceptable single pirouette on both sides.

2. Loose some tension and DANCE instead of looking like a robot.

3. Do proper simple sutés with soft and deep pliés in between even if a high tempo is required.

4. Not losing the fun in dance. Have found classes a little bit too demanding because I'm having a quite busy scedule this autumn. When I get to class I'm usually more or less exhausted

[jayo]

I want to work on my feet and arms - pointing the feet as soon as they leave the ground, working through the foot, and making sure that my arms are more "classical" - I tend to move them more than is necessary, and sometimes I don't hold them as nicely rounded as I should.

 

jayo

[Guest bunion buddy]

I'd like to master fuettes on flat and on pointe, but I've been working on these for so many years, it seems unrealistic to set this as a fall goal. (It is a goal not to fall!)

 

I want to replicate combinations correctly on the first try.

 

I want to improve my expression with head placement and more relaxed arms.

 

Boy, seeing my goals in black and white motivates me to keep trying!

[skittle]

1. improve my technique and alignment overall

2.clean double on the right and a clean single on the left consistantly.

3.learn to spot correctly.

4.learn to use my arms and head with grace.

5. musicality

6. improve my jumps

 

 

I could go on and on and on .......