What do you notice about your dancing, ballet friend ?

Sometimes when a step or enchaînment goes fine, it’s easy to tick it off your mental list and move onto the next item that could use some work. Dancers at any level can get stuck in correction mode, and miss the bigger picture.

Teachers aren’t immune to this either! In an effort to make sure our students have the technical skills to get through an exam or the stamina for a hard performance piece, we sometimes miss the chance to celebrate everything they're achieving.

Finding the balance between building skills and confidence through level-appropriate challenges and corrections, and creating a space for you to bask in your ballet joy is something I've worked really hard on, and I'll keep fine tuning it for years to come.

I've written before about how getting a feel for the style and intention of ballet steps is as much a part of technique as organizing your body from an anatomical perspective. Focusing on those elements is also a great tool for teaching multi-level classes — I love seeing newer and highly experienced dancers making dynamic choices in ways that suit their level and their unique bodies.

BUT — you still might be leaving group classes without knowing where you're excelling or how to make your biggest improvements.