With every new year comes the desire to better ourselves and make strides in the areas that we feel we need to improve upon. For me, the new year has always made me consider new ways that I can challenge myself so that I am always moving forward. Not gonna lie, 2018 has started a bit sluggish for me, as I have had some personal challenges that have caused me to lose a little bit of my drive- nevertheless, I am determined to not be deterred.
With that being said, I have created a list of goals that I want to accomplish in 2018 and am going to focus on making sure that I try to tackle each one.
Goal #1: Conditioning.
I absolutely hate it, but as I try to move up in my pole levels, I see where a lot of the issues I have with hitting certain skills (like my outside leg hang, grrrrrrr) are due to me needed to put a concerted effort into conditioning my body. So this year, I am going to look for fun ways to train and develop my muscles and core so that I can hit my desired tricks. For me, that means ALOT of cross training. One of the challenges will be trying to fit it all in with my current work and pole schedule, but if you truly want to get better at something, you will make time for it right?
One of my skill goals is to hit this inside leg hang to superman combo...I'm getting there...lol.
Goal #2: Improving Flow/Grace and POINTED TOES.
As someone who has been dancing off and on for the majority of her life, I value clean lines and effortless flow. These things were drilled into my head from the beginning of my dance lessons and I sometimes feel that I don't take the time to work on maintaining the technique that I have learned over the years. That changes now. I am going to make a concerted effort to make sure that when I pole, I flow like a prima ballerina so that I can take my performances to the next level. In the words of the great Natalie Portman in Black Swan, "I wanna be perrrrfect."
Goal #3: Choreography
I live for a great routine. I want to create great routines. There's just something special about creating a routine that looks great when performed...like a sense of pride that you started from the bottom now you are here. I'm always listening to songs and I have this amazing pole playlist full of songs that I want to choreograph for, but I sometimes feel like I get stuck putting the same moves in my routine because I get scared of doing something different. This year I am going to challenge myself to think of new ways to move my body and get from point A to point B in routines. Last year, when I was working on my routine for competition, I took a minute and mapped out all the skills that I had in my tool belt and used that to create my routine. This year, I have a few more tricks, so I will do the same, and try to incorporate different styles of dance and transitions to make beautiful pieces. If anyone wants to be my test person, please let me know! lol.
The hardest part of all of this, and my fourth goal is to stay the course and actually follow through with all this. I have a horrible track record of not holding myself accountable, so this time I'm going to put maximum effort into making sure that I get everything checked off my list for this year. NO EXCUSES! Lol. The grind starts now!
Do you have any 2018 goals? How do you plan on tackling them?
xoxo, Vicky O.