how/when will you know you're good?

It's all relative. When non dancers ask me if I'm good, I usually reply OK: not as good as I want to be, rubbish compared to top dancers!
When I started, I became a big fish in a small pond quite quickly, the tiddlers thought I was good. I'm now a small fish in an ocean, the comparisons are harsher and I certainly wouldn't consider myself good next to this lot!
 
for some reason, when i see 'good dancer', i think of people with raw talents. you know those who naturally have great sense of rhythm, body coordination and showmanship. when i look at the competition floor, i see 'well trained' dancers. i don't know if this has anything to do with standard dancers are in a very restricted form.
 
Well, I'm not good. I suck. Badly. I'll:

Never be as good as the proprietress, because I have the wrong build (Yeah- ouch, size twelve dress now, and ouch)

I wear the wrong shoes

I spin too much (I hated spinning, so I incorporated four spins into a cha-cha routine that NOBODY SEES, that we PRACTICE in PRIVATE- when nobody's around the studio- just to get over my FEAR and DISCOMFORT of spinning)

I have learned too much in too short a time

I don't own the studio

I wasn't twelfth in the nation

She's just better because she's done it more, and nobody can GET better than she is, because "it's not behooving to the studio to have students better than teachers"

Everyone else at the studio showboats. She doesn't. She's the owner. She doesn't have to.

So, this cute little sand castle we'd built just got smashed by a size 3.5 Supadance slim heel Latin with gold flecks.

I'm wondering when I ever woke up, went to pee, and while I was sitting there, thought fuzzily "You know? I think I"m going to go to that studio today, kick her out, take it over, and be the best with my two-hundred-pound pale knat that still can't do an underarm in a foxtrot promenade, much less isolate the basic in rumba."

No. I'm not good. I wasn't good last year, I'm obviously not any better this year. I didn't THINK I was good- I thought we were doing BETTER than we had been, but ... wel... what do I know. "I just pay to dance and that's really it,"

January. I'll have that damn albino oceanic mammal in January or not, either way, then I can rest.
 
I'll probably lose all kind of points for saying this, but....

a) I agree, it's all relative. For those of you who say "I'm not good and never will be," you're better than the lady next door who hasn't stepped a foot on the dance floor.

b) If you look at everything negatively and leave no hope that you'll improve, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think you stink at something, you won't even bother trying to improve.

I realize I'm not the best out there, but I have seen improvement from when I started, and I know that over time, I'll improve some more. I have what I believe are realistic expectations. I'm not looking to be number 10 in the country.

I used to go into some lessons (and come out) in a total funk. Now, I go into my lessons with the mindset that I'm going to learn something. I may not absorb everything right then and there, but with practice, patience and time, it'll come (well, excpet for those lousy plates in samba which I'm going to expel from the dance totally).

I dunno. I wouldn't waste my time and money on something if I thought I had no hope to do it reasonably well. I guess it's all in what you're expecting of yourself.
 
I recently went from being totally intimidated. There's of course things I won't be able to do just due to my own physical limitations. I'm not a 20 year old gymnast after all. But when I see what I consider to be "good" dancing (and I'll judge it good sometimes on technique, sometimes on, that was horrible but fun to watch, sometimes on that magic you get an occasional glimpse of.) But anyway, when I see good dancing, I no longer think, "I could never do that." I think, "It will take a while, but I'm going to learn to do that!!"
And it wasn't so much something that just happened, it's a choice I have to force myself to make in the right direction.
I think a lot of people are confusing "good" with "better." Good is attainable. Good gives you the confidence to keep going. Then start attaining "better." Better is what should remain unattainable.
 
mamboqueen said:
I'll probably lose all kind of points for saying this, but....

a) I agree, it's all relative. For those of you who say "I'm not good and never will be," you're better than the lady next door who hasn't stepped a foot on the dance floor.

b) If you look at everything negatively and leave no hope that you'll improve, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think you stink at something, you won't even bother trying to improve.

I realize I'm not the best out there, but I have seen improvement from when I started, and I know that over time, I'll improve some more. I have what I believe are realistic expectations. I'm not looking to be number 10 in the country.

I used to go into some lessons (and come out) in a total funk. Now, I go into my lessons with the mindset that I'm going to learn something. I may not absorb everything right then and there, but with practice, patience and time, it'll come (well, excpet for those lousy plates in samba which I'm going to expel from the dance totally).

I dunno. I wouldn't waste my time and money on something if I thought I had no hope to do it reasonably well. I guess it's all in what you're expecting of yourself.
Click to expand...
why would you lose points?
 
PasoDancer said:
Well, I'm not good. I suck. Badly. I'll:

Never be as good as the proprietress, because I have the wrong build (Yeah- ouch, size twelve dress now, and ouch)

I wear the wrong shoes

I spin too much (I hated spinning, so I incorporated four spins into a cha-cha routine that NOBODY SEES, that we PRACTICE in PRIVATE- when nobody's around the studio- just to get over my FEAR and DISCOMFORT of spinning)

I have learned too much in too short a time

I don't own the studio

I wasn't twelfth in the nation

She's just better because she's done it more, and nobody can GET better than she is, because "it's not behooving to the studio to have students better than teachers"

Everyone else at the studio showboats. She doesn't. She's the owner. She doesn't have to.

So, this cute little sand castle we'd built just got smashed by a size 3.5 Supadance slim heel Latin with gold flecks.

I'm wondering when I ever woke up, went to pee, and while I was sitting there, thought fuzzily "You know? I think I"m going to go to that studio today, kick her out, take it over, and be the best with my two-hundred-pound pale knat that still can't do an underarm in a foxtrot promenade, much less isolate the basic in rumba."

No. I'm not good. I wasn't good last year, I'm obviously not any better this year. I didn't THINK I was good- I thought we were doing BETTER than we had been, but ... wel... what do I know. "I just pay to dance and that's really it,"

January. I'll have that damn albino oceanic mammal in January or not, either way, then I can rest.
Click to expand...
yikes...and...regarding a mammal in january???I am afraid to ask
 
you are never good, you will just think you might get good but you still suck.


You will feel a moment come where you can look in the mirror and be COMPLETLY 100% satisfied with your dancing. And even then, you won't be good everyday, but sometimes you'll catch a glance in the mirror and be like wow, I looked pretty good doing that.
 
wooh said:
.
I think a lot of people are confusing "good" with "better." Good is attainable. Good gives you the confidence to keep going. Then start attaining "better." Better is what should remain unattainable.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I disagree.
"Better" is what you should be getting all the time, or most of the time.
Good is a relative term. We're ALL good. Maybe we aren't great, or excellent, or fabulous, except for rare moments. Or maybe you are! Give yourselves some credit, people!!
 
This is a subject near and dear to my heart, and one I haven't quite figured out yet....

First of all, why is it important to come to a point where we know we are "good"? For me the interesting thing is, achieving this hard to define target we know as "good" is the beginnings of self confidence in your own dancing. Self confidence in your own dancing, at least for me, opens up a new stage in development as a dancer.

When I am confident that my technique is good enough, I relax more when I am dancing, I concentrate more on the performance aspect and my partner, and begin experimenting with my own style and character. Heaven knows my technique is not where I'd like it to be, but enough is in my body memory that I feel I can let go a bit without losing the basic movement and look of the dances.

So when will you hit this point? I guess when you can confirm that what you look like compares to whatever your internal standard of good dancing is?

If this is true, different people will hit "good" at different skill levels. You can have a very confident person with very little skill (as judged by external means)...I would guess perhaps these are the people that may not look the best on the floor but do look like their having the time of their lives out there.

So perhaps there is an important difference when defining how/when will you know you're good....there could be an internal and external confirmation of being good.

Not sure all my thoughts are in good order here, but thought I'd toss them out there to see what other people thoughts on the subject are....
 
I wasn't concerned with becoming "the best". I just wanted to become proficient, enough so that I could enjoy dancing. I don't know if that would constitute "good" or not. But lately... it's all kind of a blur. One hellish blur.
 
PasoDancer said:
I wasn't concerned with becoming "the best". I just wanted to become proficient, enough so that I could enjoy dancing. I don't know if that would constitute "good" or not. But lately... it's all kind of a blur. One hellish blur.
Click to expand...

You want help killing the evil "The Devil wears Supadance" owner? I know some guys who know some guys who used to play stunts in Kung Fu movies.

T_E
 
oh rather than high jack this thread I must post something in the lessons thread RIGHT NOW...thanks for reminding me, TE
 
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