Disappointed after watching video of myself doing a routine

V

VronskyWasSoVain

Active Member
I did my first swing dance routine in front of my dance studio a few weeks ago. I asked one of my classmates to record it using my phone.

It's my first "performance" ever since I started dancing five months ago. I worked pretty hard at it as I found it very hard to remember the steps that made up the routine.

Doing it in front of the mirror, I thought I looked pretty good. I got a pretty high score for my performance too although my dance studio won't give out really low scores like 40-50% at the risk of discouraging the students. But I got a 92% on my routine.

I felt that I made a huge stride as a dancer.

Then I watched the video and I wasn't impressed at all with myself. My movements seem kinda slow and deliberate. Not smooth and sharp and full of purpose. Seems like I'm more timid than confident and that I'm fearing of making a mistake.

I mean, I didn't screw up or miss any steps. But the whole thing just lacked smoothness, sharpness and above all, lack of energy probably due to a mixture of nervousness and fear of missing steps.

Has anyone ever felt like this? Do things improve if I just keep moving forward?
 
SmoothAsian said:
I did my first swing dance routine in front of my dance studio a few weeks ago. I asked one of my classmates to record it using my phone.

It's my first "performance" ever since I started dancing five months ago. I worked pretty hard at it as I found it very hard to remember the steps that made up the routine.

Doing it in front of the mirror, I thought I looked pretty good. I got a pretty high score for my performance too although my dance studio won't give out really low scores like 40-50% at the risk of discouraging the students. But I got a 92% on my routine.

I felt that I made a huge stride as a dancer.

Then I watched the video and I wasn't impressed at all with myself. My movements seem kinda slow and deliberate. Not smooth and sharp and full of purpose. Seems like I'm more timid than confident and that I'm fearing of making a mistake.

I mean, I didn't screw up or miss any steps. But the whole thing just lacked smoothness, sharpness and above all, lack of energy probably due to a mixture of nervousness and fear of missing steps.

Has anyone ever felt like this? Do things improve if I just keep moving forward?
Click to expand...

Every new video feels like cruel reality crashing all the illusions I've been living in. I might have become a little used to that already... To be fair, I do see improvement, but only when comparing a videos taken, for example, a year ago. My goal is to reach the point where I'm ok with watching a video of my dancing. Hasn't happened yet.
 
Same here. Yes the video of my performances looks boring compared to how I imagined and yes each one looks a bit less dull, though, like Lai Lai, progress is slow for me. It hurt more the first few times. Now I expect it.

I admire and respect how honestly you have evaluated your performance video. Those like you who are willing to really look, and see, and not fool themselves will get better.
 
Lai Lai said:
Every new video feels like cruel reality crashing all the illusions I've been living in. I might have become a little used to that already... To be fair, I do see improvement, but only when comparing a videos taken, for example, a year ago. My goal is to reach the point where I'm ok with watching a video of my dancing. Hasn't happened yet.
Click to expand...

Yeah I hope I improve. I hope it's like muscle memory just like everything else. I remember when I had trouble fingering certain chords on the guitar and now it's just like automatic.

I think the main thing wrong with my routine is lack of confidence and that was because a part of me was afraid I'd be missing steps and so there was this hesitation or timidity in my performance.


flying_backwards said:
Same here. Yes the video of my performances looks boring compared to how I imagined and yes each one looks a bit less dull, though, like Lai Lai, progress is slow for me. It hurt more the first few times. Now I expect it.

I admire and respect how honestly you have evaluated your performance video. Those like you who are willing to really look, and see, and not fool themselves will get better.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
 
Oh god, yes. I still watch my videos with a fortifying drink in hand or peeking through my fingers... and often need to watch them several times in private to get desensitized before I'll show them to anyone else.

The videos and the dancing in them have gotten better over the years, but my love of watching them... not so much.
 
A Blackpool finalist, world-renowned coach and teacher, highly respected judge, big mojo Ballroom friend (lucky me to know such people) once said to me that she never got video.

I took the advice and never get video any more, not since my first couple of competitions. They are not an effective learning tool, for me, b/c what happened is past, and can't be changed. They are not an effective teaching tool for Teach, b/c he KNOWS what went well and what needs fixing. All they do is make me feel terrible. Never again.
 
j_alexandra said:
A Blackpool finalist, world-renowned coach and teacher, highly respected judge, big mojo Ballroom friend (lucky me to know such people) once said to me that she never got video.

I took the advice and never get video any more, not since my first couple of competitions. They are not an effective learning tool, for me, b/c what happened is past, and can't be changed. They are not an effective teaching tool for Teach, b/c he KNOWS what went well and what needs fixing. All they do is make me feel terrible. Never again.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. Are you saying that sometimes what we're seeing is worse than it actually is?

Or did it really look that bad in real life?
 
Video is a bitter pill, good medicine in small doses. Being able to see what needs fixing is only the first step. I wish just knowing what I need to do meant I could do it!

The next step is to take one small piece, a single action, and learn what it feels like to do that right, with the help of my teacher. The feedback needs to be instant, not instant-replay. One small action at a time I try to build the vision of movement I would want to see in a video.

I can see progress clearly if I look at videos from a year ago. But it is so unfair that as I improve, I see even more wrong that I could not even see before. So I limit video feedback. It has a nasty side effect of making me feel like quitting.
 
I watch a few seconds, cringe, look away, watch a few more, cringe, look away...

After desensitization, I can usually watch without cringing and actually appreciate some things. (Spellcheck wanted to change that to "thongs", which can also make me cringe or appreciate the view...)
 
A relative dancing newbie gave me lots of of compliments on my dancing this weekend and said she had taken some video she wanted to send to me. I suggested she give it to a teacher we share and he would get it to me. I have ZERO intention of watching that video. Teacher can, however, and use what he learns in it for our lesson. ;)
 
I feel like watching videos of myself dancing is like hearing recordings of me talking. It just doesn't sound good to me. I think this is true for many people though. You're just being extremely harsh on yourself.
 
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