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.