January is a time when most people are starting to work on all of those resolutions that they made at the end of last year. They have new goals to reach and are trying to put together a plan to see them through. For dancers at our studio, January is the perfect time to check-in with the goals you set at the beginning of the year and evaluate your progress.

First you should be taking a look at your original goal and how close you were to it in September. Revisit the techniques and exercises that your teachers gave you to help you achieve your goal by the end of this year and be honest about how consistent you have been in following the advice given and how often you have used it to work towards your goal.

Then it’s on to your progress. You can take a look at how far you’ve come from September by using before and after photos, videos of your practice sessions and by having your teachers give you an updated evaluation of where you are at. Are you on track to meet your goal by the end of this year?

If you are right on track: Congrats! You can stay the course and keep up with the great work, or you can talk to your teachers about possibly adjusting your goals to be a bit more challenging. Either way, you are making great progress and should be proud!

If you are not quite where you were hoping to be: No worries! Now is the time to take an honest look at where you may be able to give some extra effort or to see what you might change about your approach to make the strides you were hoping for. There is plenty of time left in the year to get on track and achieve that goal! Maybe you need to have a friend join you to practice to keep you on schedule, maybe you need some different exercises from your teachers, or you could possibly set up a rewards system that will help motivate you to put in some extra effort. (I get to do something fun for every “to-do” I complete. It breaks up my day and motivates me to finish tasks!)

If you are ahead of the game: Amazing! You should really be proud of your progress, and this would be a great tie to make your goal more challenging with your teacher’s guidance. Let’s see how far you go, and like I said above, you should definitely reward yourself for all of your hard work!

Meeting the goals that you set for yourself at the beginning of the dance year can be a daunting task. It takes dedication, consistency, effort, support, motivation, and encouragement. Make sure to let the studio staff know if we can help you in any way, that’s why we are here! Best of luck in crossing this year’s goals off of your list!