Strategic Moves: Crafting and Achieving Your Dance Goals for the New Year

Are you ready to set some AMAZING dance goals for the new year? Then this post is for you!

It’s a new year which means new dance opportunities and new goals. A great way to stay motivated and accomplish new things as a dancer is to set dance goals in the new year. However, it can be tough to know where to start and how to keep going with all of your goals in your dance life. That’s why I’ve created this guide all about how to set and accomplish your dance goals for the new year.

In this post your are going to learn all about creating dance goals for the new year, short term dance goals, long-term dance goals, dance goals for 2024, and more!

After reading this post you will be ready to set and accomplish some amazing dance goals this year.

This post is all about dance goals for the new year

How to set dance goals for the new year

Part 1: Getting Started with Your Dance Goals for the New Year

First steps to creating your dance goals in 2024 is to start brainstorming. In this section of the post, I’ll take you though how to start brainstorming by reflecting, finding your aspirations, and the different types of dance goals you can set.

Reflecting on Your Dance Journey

Before you start to create new goals, it can be incredibly useful to reflect on the last year. Think about what you have accomplished and the path you might have already set for yourself over the past year.

Reflecting is a great tool to help you move forward into the next year to set new goals. Think about your previous goals. Did you achieve them? Or do you still have a ways to go?

No matter what has happened in the last year, allow yourself to reflect on your dance journey positively and learn from it so far.

Identifying Your Dance Aspirations

Now that you have looked at the last year of your dance life and dance goals, it is time to identify your personal aspirations and dreams as a dancer. Think about what you wish to accomplish in your career and life as a dancer. What are your dance dreams made of?

Not all of your dance dreams will be possible to achieve in one year but thinking of them will help you get started with some long-term, short-term, and SMART dance goals.

Types of Dance Goals

Long-term and Short-term Dance Goals

As you start to create your new year dance goals, start thinking of them in terms of long-term goals and short-term goals. Short-term dance goals are goals you want to accomplish over a shorter period of time. These goals can be goals you want to accomplish anywhere from a few days to a few months. Long-term goals take longer to complete and might take anywhere from a few months to even a few years to complete.

When looking at my own dance goals, I like to start with the long-term goals first. If you don’t know where to start then think about what you have to look forward to over the next year. This might include a variety of performances, leveling up in dance class, potential summer intensives, and other events that might be a good starting point for your long-term dance goals.

Start creating goals with these events in mind. What do you want to accomplish by the time each event comes around? What do you need to do in order to be successful? Asking yourself these questions will help you come up with both some good long-term and short-term dance goals to start out with.

Creating SMART Goals

As you start to create and dream up your dance goals, try to ensure that you are setting SMART dance goals. SMART goals are goals that are Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant and Timely.

An example of a NOT SMART dance goal would be to improve your pointe work. With that goal, there is no direction or motivation involved. A SMART version of that goal would be to improve your ankle stability for center pointe work by doing daily ankle strength exercises.

You Might Also Like: 100 Goals for Dancers in 2024

Part 2: Visualizing and Planning Out Your Dance Goals for the New Year

Now that you’ve started to brainstorm your goals and know the different types of goals you can create its time to start writing your goals down and visualizing them. It is also time start planning out and creating an action plan to accomplish your dance goals for the new year.

Writing Down Your Dance Goals

A great way to brainstorm your dance goals to to write them out in a journal or planner. This part of the goal process will keep you accountable and help you keep track of you goals.

I recommend using both a planner and a journal or getting some sort of planner where you can also write some notes inside.

Below are a journal and a planner I recommend for all of your dance goal planning this year.

Write out your goals however you work and write your goals best. This will help you as you continue to create a plan and move forward to accomplish your dance goals this year.

Create a Vision Board

One of the best ways to start reaching towards and achieving your dance goals in the new year is to create a vision board. A vision board is a great way to visualize and implement your goals into your daily life.

Making a vision board is something you should do in addition to writing down your dance goals in a planner or journal. This way you have multiple ways to visualize and plan out your goals.

Create a vision board that implements your specific and unique dance goals. Use images of some of the dancers you aspire to be like. Use power words that will encourage you along your dance goal journey this year.

You can learn more about how to make a dance vision board in our post all about creating one here!

Setting Priorities and Milestones

Now that you’ve started to write down and brainstorm your goals, it is important to start to prioritize and organize your goals. Start by looking at your dance goals. Which goals are most important for you to achieve right now? How will accomplishing this dance goal for the new year positively impact my work as a dancer?

As you ask yourself these questions you will begin to realize which dance goals are most important for you to prioritize. Write your goals down in order of when and how you plan to accomplish them.

Now that you have prioritized and organized your goals for when you plan to accomplish them, it is time to start setting milestones for each goal. Milestones are smaller checkpoints that you will reach along your journey to your goal.

If you have a goal that involves improving your dance performance anxiety, a milestone might be to practice relaxation techniques before an upcoming performance.

Developing an Action Plan

After brainstorming, writing, and visualizing your goals, it is now time to develop an action plan to achieve your dance goals. To create an action plan you might start by going back to the idea of SMART goals. How can you MEASURE and ATTAIN your goals in a TIMELY manner?

To develop an action plan you will want to think about the steps and timeline in which you want to accomplish your goals. Think about how you plan to be consistent and disciplined to achieve your goals in the process. This will help you as you carry out your dance goal action plan.

Check it out: 25 Inspirational Dance Quotes to Motivate Dancers of All Ages

Part 3: Moving Forward With Your Dance Goals

Now that you have brainstormed and solidified your dance goals for the new year, it is time to move forward and conquer them. This third and final section of this post will share tips and motivation to help you complete your dance goals.

Embracing Challenges and Adjusting Goals

The first thing you need to remember as you move forward with your goals is that you need to embrace challenges and prepare to adjust your goals as life changes.

As challenges come your way that might affect your goal journey try and embrace them. This will also give you the chance to reevaluate and refocus your goals based on what has happened. No matter what you should be flexible and willing to shift your goals as challenges come into your life.

Seeking Support

As you work towards you dance goals this year it also might be helpful to seek support and accountability from your fellow dancers and even dance teachers. Share your goals with the other dancers around you and ask for advice. Chances are that someone else has a similar goal or has experience with your goal timeline. You can also keep each other accountable and work together to achieve your dance goals in the new year.

Keeping Track of Your Dance Goals

Moving towards your goals, you will want a useful way to keep track of them and keep yourself accountable. To do this, there are a variety of apps and platforms that you can use to keep track of your progress.

The number one platform I recommend is Notion. Notion is a FREE tool that you can use to keep track of tasks, take notes, and set goals. I have been using it for just a few months and wish I had started using it sooner. You can even customize all of your notes to fit your own personal aesthetic! Notion also has a variety of templates you can use to organize your notes in unique ways.

You can also explore the App Store and online for more apps and platforms to help keep track of your personal goals this year.

Celebrating Achievements Along the Way

It is important as you grow to achieve your goals that you celebrate the little accomplishments along the way. This will help you stay motivated and continue to reach towards you goals even when it gets harder.

You can also find ways to reward yourself for your hard work along the way. This could be a little treat for being consistent with your action plan or goal routine for a certain amount to time. Whatever motivates and moves you forward will be the best reward after each milestone.

Staying Motivated Throughout the Year

As you move through the year and keep reaching towards your goals, it can sometimes get harder to maintain your motivation. The important thing is to keep going and keep a positive mindset through it all.

One way that you can stay motivated when life and moving towards your dance goals gets harder is using positive affirmations. Affirmations will help encourage you to keep going and help you reach your goals.

Check out this post all about some amazing positive affirmations just for dancers!

Before you go:

I hope you are ready to start setting and accomplishing your dance goals for the new year after reading this post. Make sure to share these tips and tricks to accomplish dance goals for the new year with your dance friends.

Share your dance goals for the new year in the comments below and subscribe!

This post was all about dance goals for the new year