what do you say to discouraged students?

[qtpiedanzer01]

In class, exspecially in pointe I always get discourage because of my feet and how hard it makes everything on pointe for me. My teachers tell one day eventually I will have better feet if I keep doing everything I am for them. But sometimes I feel like there is noway they will ever get better. Ms. Leigh and Mr. Johnson in particular what do you say to students who get discourage easily? I'm a perfectionist and always want everything to be right and look good and sometimes its so hard working your but off and you don't look half as good as the girl next you who doesn't even care.

[Victoria Leigh]

qtpie, it depends on the student, and the reason for their discouragement, and whether I can find a way to encourage honestly. It's different in every situation, so there is nothing I can say to you without seeing you, except that discouragement is only useful if you are able to turn it into positive energy to work on the problem. Allowing yourself to get discouraged is basically a waste of time and energy that could be put into positive use, but is usually just time wasted feeling sorry for yourself. I don't mean to sound harsh, but seriously, if you want something really badly you have to be able to put in the work in a very positive approach, or it just doesn't happen. I'm not saying that a positive approach is going to change your feet, however, it could change the way you work on them and that really could make a difference.

How good the feet are, and how well one uses them are two different things, but if they are used well enough they can look a whole lot better! So, the answer is to learn how to really work them and articulate them and make them LOOK wonderful. Don't spend time on it not being there yet, put the time into making it a teeny bit better every day.