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Self Assessment and Goal Planning
Before getting started on creating your home program, it is a good idea to get a friend or family member to film you going through a set of simple, technical basics based on your style of dance. I recommend saving these to a special folder on your phone, so that you can reference them when it is time to reassess your progress. This will allow you to anaylse your form in detail, and have a starting point for reassessing your progress.
If you practice Classical Ballet, then I recommed starting with the following:
- A photo of your bare feet, standing in both first and fifth position
- A video, both front on and side on, of you performing two demi plié and one grande plié, not holding onto the barre
- A video of three slow rises in first position, with bare feet, arms in first position, or in fifth for advanced dancers
- A video of three slow tendu en croix, closing in 3rd or 5th, in bare feet
- A video of a slow retiré passé with each leg
- A video from the front of a développé devant and a la secondé
- A video of a slow degagé derrière, then slowly lift the leg into an arabesque, from the side
- A slow motion video of a single pirouette, pausing on rise at the end, before closing in 5th
- A slow motion video of four sauté in bare feet, close up from the front
- A video of at least eight changement, from the side, full body view
Carefully analyse your technique in these photos and videos, looking specifically for:
- Twisting of the toes
- Rolling in of the feet
- The alignment of the legs and pelvis
- Standing leg turnout control
- The control of the pelvis through movement
- The articulation of the foot
- Any clawing of the toes
- The placement and control of the spine
Make notes in the downloadable PDF with anything you notice that needs to be worked on. If you have difficulty understanding what you are looking at, ask your teacher if you can send the videos and photos to them for assessment.
Make at least 2 very specific goals that you will focus on for the first two-week training period. Try to make your goals Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time Based.
For example: "I will learn to articulate the toes through a tendu a la second and keep them long by the 30th of March"
Click the NEXT button to move on to the next article on how to design your own daily program.
English PDF
Spanish PDF
