Army of Teachers

I have an army of teachers on my shoulders that are constantly correcting me. It dawned on me when Jessica said that she was going to step back and let us correct ourselves instead of her constantly reminding us to pull up and turn out and use our hamstrings. It is our job to do that on our own and if we don't we will never improve. I realized if I really want to improve than I must be aware of everything that my body is and isn't doing, and fix it. Obviously I don't know everything about ballet or dance in general. So to be aware of everything and correct myself I need to remember every correction that any of my teachers have ever given me. By putting those teachers on my shoulders throughout class it helps me to remember not only the corrections that I have received since I have arrived at OSU but also those that I received back home. That is what it takes for me to remember everything that I need to be thinking about at barre, during center work and across the floor. It also helps me to go over what I am going to work on in a specific combination while the combination is being given so that I can fix the problem before it occurs. I realize that some corrections are going to take longer to fix than others because habits are developed at young ages. I also realized that information that I have received throughout my dancing years from my different teachers sometimes contradict each other. I know that different teachers have different styles of ballet and different training and teaching methods. To help my self I try to focus on the technique that works the best for me and when I am in a class I perform the movement the way that they like to see it, though that might be different from way I was taught and what others may say is right. But is there really a right and wrong? There is so many different styles, techniques and backgrounds that I don't believe in only training in one; a dancer must be versatile, observant and take corrections to be able to work.