And now, to move forward with my plans...

Photo by talented photohgrapher Alex Wild.

Well, here we are, January 1st 2014, the first day of my year of treating my dance training like a full-time career. Of course, since I'm starting on the holiday I'm not actually working full-time today, but I have been doing a few internet things related to dance (like writing this blog post), and I plan to get a little practice in today while I'm getting ready to have my family over later.

My original thought was to start 2014 with this really well-organized schedule of exactly what I was going to do every hour of the day, but then I realized that was pretty unrealistic. I don't think I can go straight from basically unscheduled anarchy to strictly regimented full-time career mode overnight. Besides, how can I make my schedule without knowing how long things are going to take, how much time I'm really going to want to dedicate to different tasks, and for that matter, what the new year schedule is going to be at BreakOut Studios?

There are a few things I know for sure, though:

1. I need to get back to really drilling my basics.

2. I want to be in several ballet classes a week, whatever else I decide to take.

3. It is time to really put my Datura Online subscription to use.

4. ALL THE STRETCHING.

5. I will spend some time every day doing dance-related reading, whether it's a bellydance magazine or an anatomy book or going back over workshop handouts.

6. If I own a prop, I should be skilled with it.

7. I have a whole lot of costuming to get done.

8. I need to include some cardio and strength training so I can be in tip-top shape.

9. I will continue to experiment with makeup, and start doing more hair-related experiments too.

10. Sunday will be my DAY OFF. Except when I have workshops on Sunday, then I don't know what I'll do. But when I don't have workshops, it's a complete day off from dance. Maybe a little stretching, but otherwise I'm going to relax, work on jewelry instead of costumes, and make sure to get some quality time with my husband and our pets and maybe friends and family too.

And of course this blog is going to be a big part of this. It only seems right, since I originally started it to track that year where I tried (and mostly succeeded) to practice every day. I hope my readers will cheer me on and give me the occasional kick in the dance pants when my motivation is flagging.

Happy New Year and all that. Let's dance!