New Year’s Resolutions: Old and New

Around this time last year I wrote a post on my New Year’s Resolutions. Here’s how successful I was in sticking to them:

1. Keep on taking Ballet classes – Yup! Definitely achieved that one!
2. Perform – Hell yeah! Check out my Coppelia post for a recap
3. Maintain body, and improve body image – So-so… I have good days and bad days
4. Use mirrors more – Work in progress: practicing on my own in the uni studio has helped – I can’t escape the mirrors there!
5. Watch as much dance as I can – Most definitely!
6. Blog more – I’m trying…
7. Learn French – Stalled a little…
8. Make a major life change – Well I moved continent, started a PhD and got my own flat – does that count?!
9. Be happy – Well I’m happier than last year so I think that’s a definite yes!

So that was looking back at last year, what about this year? Well I’ve been having a think and here are some of my, well they’re not resolutions as such but more like goals:

1. Stretch and/or do ballet every day – I’ve started getting into the habit of doing a home-barre on most days when I don’t have class and I’ve already seen a difference in terms of flexibility. I want to get into the habit of doing ballet (or at least stretching) every day. My home-barre (the barre from RAD Intermediate Ballet) takes around 20 minutes start to finish if you really go through each exercise fully. I can easily find a spare 20 minutes every day, so I may as well put it to some use!
2. Complete my RAD Intermediate Exam (or at least keep working towards it) – I don’t know how feasible this resolution/goal is. I’ve been working on the syllabus in class for a month or two now and have the barre memorised as well as the port de bras, en dehors pirouettes and the first two allegros. Included in this resolution is an aim to master double pirouettes en dehors and en dedans as well as a few moves I haven’t really done before like tours en l’air. Although I’ve only got the one RAD class each week I’ve been going to the studio at the uni to practice 2-3 times every week and will hopefully be keeping that up too.
3. Work on my partnering technique – I’m hoping to work on this with the ballet group at Bristol. At the Christmas party we were talking about what pieces we’ll be doing next year and now they’ve got 4 guys they’re hoping to do the Rose Adagio! Will definitely need to work on my partnering before then! There’s an ex-pro guy there who is going to do some partnering classes with us which I’m really looking forward to and when the girls are doing pointe exercises he’s said he’ll go over some male technique!
4. Perform – This will also be with the Bristol ballet group – I’ve already got my first two performance dates: 25th February and 16th March! I’m really excited to get to perform again and feel that ‘buzz’. I’m not sure exactly what I’ll be performing (except for the mention of the Rose Adagio) but I don’t really care, I’m excited anyway.
5. Be more confident – I mean this mainly in ballet class. I’m always happiest at the back of the studio during centre, or hiding in the middle of a busy barre. I need to have a little more confidence during class and hopefully that will transfer to more confidence when I get to perform.
6. Eat healthily and listen to my body – I already eat pretty healthily; I don’t eat chocolate or sweets, eat plenty of fruit and veg, avoid fried foods and try not to let my porridge addiction get the better of me. That being said, my weight has a tendancy to fluctuate if I’m not careful so I need to starts listening to it more. Last year I lost a reasonable amount of weight, but some of this was due to cutting my calorific intake quite significantly. I need to be careful to strike the right balance this year, watching what I eat but also doing plenty exercise – be it in the ballet studio or the gym.
7. Learn French – this is pretty much always on my list of things I mean to do but never get around to. I’ve been working a little on my French this last year, but am hoping to enrol in a course at the university for postgraduates. I already know (very) basic French but seeing as I’ve got a conference coming up in Grenoble hopefully this will spur me to up my efforts. Maybe if I learn enough French I can reward myself with a trip to see the Paris Opera Ballet…
8. Watch lots of ballet – This can be live or not, and I also want to watch more of other dance forms than just Ballet. I’ve already made a start on this Resolution; I’ve got tickets for BalletBoyz, Ballet Black and the Royal Ballet in two Romeo & Juliets, two Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, two La Fille mal Gardées, Draftworks and their new triple bill with works by Scarlett, Wheeldon and McGregor!
9. Take advantage of any opportunities that come my way – this is a bit vague but I mean things like workshops and classes wherever possible. I’ve also been looking at Summer Intensives in the UK – I would love to be able to go on one of those for a week or more and really propel my dancing forward. I’ve found one possibility so far, but I don’t know if I can afford the fees so am still searching. If anyone knows of any then please please drop me an email to let me know!
10. Be Happy! – I think this is an important resolution for everyone! Needless to say, ballet makes me happy so included in this is pretty much all of the above resolutions Also, I want to work on looking happier in class – I love class but often get told I look very serious when doing combinations or at the barre. So I’m going to try to work on smiling more in class