1. Muscle memory. You've always done it this way, from the beginning, and you've never corrected it. For example: closing tendu with a bent knee, cranking in Pique turns, not spotting on a turn. The young lady below danced for a year and was never corrected on her arm.

How to fix it - drill the correct way. Remember my video on Stars and Minus signs? You need to drill the correct way until you have overwhelmed the incorrect way out of your system. For example, lift the leg from a tendu to in arabesque, making sure it's lengthened and straight 50 times, every day for 2 weeks. You won't have to think about it after a few weeks, because you will have made it a habit. 

2. Lack of strength. You are not strong enough to do something correctly; for example your left foot is always sickles in passé, or your arm drops in chaines. In the picture below, the dancer's foot is not strong enough to get all the way up onto her relevé.

How to fix it - identify what muscle you use for that thing, and strengthen it. Usually there is a muscle weakness causing the problem. Is it an alignment issue? Usually alignment issues are a result of not activating the correct muscle. Talk to your teacher and ask for conditioning exercises to help strengthen the weakness.


3. Visualization. You are perfectly capable of doing a double pirouette, but you keep falling out of it. You know your leg has to be straight when you do a leap, but it keeps bending.

Do you know what muscle is your strongest? Your brain! You probably imagine yourself doing it wrong in your mind. Many dancers use visualization to help improve their technique.

How to fix it - Do it in your head. Imagine it. Feel it. Don't open your eyes until you can see it correctly. Get on YouTube, watch videos of the step being done correctly. Pretend it's you. Dream about it. Refuse to let yourself mess it up. See what you want. 

Next time you get a correction from your teacher, see if you can identify which category it goes in! This will help you learn how to improve it.