Personal perception

[tanya_the_dancer]

I've noticed something interesting today. My personal perception of how I dance tends to be more negative than the output, for lack of better term. For example, several times so far, I had videos which looked better than I thought they would. Now I've noticed that on my lessons, too. I will do something and I will not like how it felt, but my teacher would say it looked OK from outside perspective. And he is not a kind of person who would tell me it was OK when it was not, so I am not worried about that. I wonder what it is with my personal perception of me, though. Is it my lack of confidence, or my body is not comfortable yet with some things I am doing? Just wondering if anyone else has had similar experience.

[fascination]

in a word....yes

[Gorme]

All the time. On self-examinations, you see all the faults.

[Alice.W]

I know what are you talking about, although I usually experience the other side of the same coin - it feels good to me, but my teacher says "no!!! please don't do it again!" (well, not literally, but I'm sure that's what he means :))

[DennisBeach]

I think that is normal. We notice every little glitch and everything we do not do at the level we know we are capable of. During a night of dancing, there are only a few dances were I feel we danced really well. We just spent 7 nights doing a lot of dancing on a cruise and being very aware, that because of the ship movement, we were not dancing as well as we know we can. Sea does not realize that the man is suppose to lead and it occasionally lead both of us <g>.

[BM]

Same here. I think it's because we are going to be more aware of ourselves in the moment than any audience member (even ourselves after the fact), so we're going to pick up on every single little mistake. To an outsider, it might not be so evident that we're back-weighted, or that we started our routine over, or what have you, because it happens so quickly that we don't even have time to "show" the mistake to everyone else.

[Another Elizabeth]

During competitions, the ones where I felt the worst were always the ones where I placed the best. I think that those are the ones where you're really aware of what you're doing, so you're producing some of the best movement you're capable of, but because you're so aware, you're also more aware of where you're falling short.

[Joe]

Noticing the parts of your dancing that are already good doesn't help you improve as much as noticing the parts that aren't good.

[BM]

Noticing the parts of your dancing that are already good doesn't help you improve as much as noticing the parts that aren't good.

True (though I'd not discount admiring your strong points or that which has improved). I think that this negative self-perception is stronger with people who are very driven towards perfecting technique, showmanship, etc. The folks who only wish to learn some cool steps or wear an expensive costume may not pay as much attention to their mishaps as the former group.

[tanya_the_dancer]

I remember having it the opposite way (it felt better than it looked on video) only once. It was the last time I competed in rhythm. With smooth and standard I used to have a good sense of what was good and what was not as good. But lately I think my sense of when I am doing something right is sort of off, I don't know why.

[Laura]

Just wondering if anyone else has had similar experience.
Much of the time!

[nucat78]

I haven't comped or been videoed, but I have received a number of compliments from teachers and other dancers and I always wonder who they're talking about - it couldn't possibly be me.

It's a good feeling when I'm complimented but I think I have a long way to go before I can remotely consider myself "good".

[jjs914]

I think, too, that when you learn something new it can have a very different and even unnatural feeling. It's easy to automatically equate that with it feeling bad, even if it's the right way to do something.

[Laura]

I always say to my teachers, "if it doesn't feel different, then I'm not changing anything and I'm not going to improve."

[Me]

I've noticed something interesting today. My personal perception of how I dance tends to be more negative than the output, for lack of better term. ... I had videos which looked better than I thought they would. Now I've noticed that on my lessons, too. I will do something and I will not like how it felt, but my teacher would say it looked OK from outside perspective. ...Just wondering if anyone else has had similar experience.

Yes, all the time!

I admit I can be a difficult student. I will look at my coach and say, "This does not feel right. Fix it!" He'll say, "Looks okay to me." I'll say, "It feels wrong. Fix it!" So he'll dance me a bit and usually what ends up happening is I'm off center or I'm not engaging my center or some other sort of finer alignment issue that isn't easily noticed by the eye, but is felt by me and sometimes my partner.

[latingal]

I come from a slightly different perspective I guess. I know what the dancing should look like and where I want it to be. Looking at videos for me is excruciating. It may look good to others, but to me I see every mistake and awkward movement magnified.

[BM]

I come from a slightly different perspective I guess. I know what the dancing should look like and where I want it to be. Looking at videos for me is excruciating. It may look good to others, but to me I see every mistake and awkward movement magnified.

Believe me, I see that, too. Even with pictures, I can find a million things wrong, but I still think that experiencing it makes it seem worse than it actually was from a viewer's perspective. Because you're aware of the fact that you're making a mistake, you're going to magnify it and focus on it in your mind, when in reality, it's only a small hiccup.

Okay . . . showering for real, now!!

[ThisIsNotMe]

I experience this all the time. Things often feel "wrong" or "uncomfortable" but look ok (though I insist that something's not right, so I get the teacher to watch over and over again till she sees the issue), and even the other way around. I know that if something looks wrong, I usually "feel" the problem, and often when I get corrected on something, I know what I'm about to be told - I can feel the problem, I just don't know how to fix it...

[QPO]

I leave it to others to Judge how I look on the dance floor. I agree with others saying that it can feel good and yet the teacher will say no and another time when I feel the same, it will be right. I am sure you are all exceptional dancers and enjoy the compliments from others and leave it to the teacher to judge. After all we pay them to advise us :-)

[Joe]

I always say to my teachers, "if it doesn't feel different, then I'm not changing anything and I'm not going to improve."
But if the changes are incremental, would you necessarily notice them?

[samina]

For me when it feels good it's because I'm hitting a mechanical principle right. The rest of the time (in the majority) I'm aware of how much I'm missing, and that seems to be in sync with my instructor's take on things, lol.

[K_8ie]

I had a lesson with Michael Maltowski not so long ago. The first thing he asked my partner and I is: "What is good about your dancing?" We honestly had to think really hard to say anything good about about ourselves. He said it was very important to not only know your shortcomings but your qualities as well. I think this was a great revelation of how we we think we suck, when really it's not so bad! We finally managed to snap out of it and find quite a few positive points :)

[BallandChange]

I come from a slightly different perspective I guess. I know what the dancing should look like and where I want it to be. Looking at videos for me is excruciating. It may look good to others, but to me I see every mistake and awkward movement magnified.

Agree. I think it all goes back to the saying that "Beauty is all in all in the eyes of the beholder". It is all depends on what the person that seeing when they are watching your dance. They can't see everthing and some aspects are paid attention too more than others. It is also depends on how knowledgeable the person is as well. We understand our flaws and are drawn to them when doing a self critique whereas someone else will probally be looking at other aspects in which we may be doing well. Your instructor maybe looking at the overall picture or looking for something specific that may be presented well but might feel uncomfortable to you because you and your partner may not have worked through the technique for it to be comfortable.

[Laura]

But if the changes are incremental, would you necessarily notice them?
It depends on the person. Some people are hyper-aware, which it both a blessing and a curse.

[samina]

Some people are hyper-aware, which it both a blessing and a curse.

am definitely one of those... and you're right, bless & curse.

[Peaches]

am definitely one of those... and you're right, bless & curse.I'm exactly the opposite, and it's as much of a curse. 99 times out of 100 I can't feel a difference in...anything. On the rare occasions when I'll get a comment like, "That was much better. Could you feel the difference?" the answer is always the same: No. It's annoying and frustrating as hell. Sure, things that are WAY wrong I can feel--like when I flat-out lose my balance. But anything other than that...not at all.

Although, a minor bright point is that after 2.5 years hacking away at AT I'm starting to be able to feel differences.

World's.least.self.aware.person.ever.

[Nik]

I feel like this all the time. I try to get a video at every comp so I can look at it over and over later and fix all the places that look bad, plus try to see how the places that felt bad actually look, and its usually bad.

[chocolatchica]

I know what are you talking about, although I usually experience the other side of the same coin - it feels good to me, but my teacher says "no!!! please don't do it again!" (well, not literally, but I'm sure that's what he means :))
Lol I know! Sometimes I think I'm driving my coach nuts. You can totally see the look on her face like, "Please dont do it agai........you did it again."