Should you Watch Videos of yourself in between Comp Rounds

[FancyFeet]

Hells no. Even advice needs to be carefully doled out, from only a trusted source or two that knows how I compete... I get in my head way too easily, and my comp confidence, sadly, is still sometimes a fragile thing.

 

[Standarddancer]

Between rounds, no, too rush. If your next round or next event is next day (such as you danced pre-champ on Friday eve and Champ is Sat) then yes.

 

[llamasarefuzzy]

I have in the past, but do have to be really careful to focus on small things that can be changed (oh, my leg isn't straightening enough/at all, I need to think about keeping my center tight, or I need to "perform" it up a bit more)

 

[Dancing Irishman]

Would all the people who give say "heck no" also reject advice between rounds from a coach who has been watching you?

Depends on the coach, and on the advice. Not all coaches are equally skilled at day of comp advice, and generally I go with the assumption that new ideas are hard to incorporate and polish the same day as a performance (reminders about something like energy at a certain point in a routine or making sure to breathe are both in the very small list of useful day of reminders). I've seen people get really screwed up by well-intentioned comments between rounds, and my bias would be to make a mental note for next practice unless there was a compelling reason to do otherwise.

 

[bluslu]

No to the video, yes (and have utilized it) to the coaches advise. A coach is usually pretty good at giving you advise for something easily applied, like straighten your legs, look left, stop looking like you want to murder your partner, don't forget about connection in Latin/rhythm, those kinds of things that are a quick fix that will make it a better performance.

Not only a no to watching it, I don't think I would really ever have time to watch it between rounds. Because not only would I need the time to watch it, I would also need the time to process it, figure out what was wrong, and figure out how to fix it... probably not gonna happen in the 3-5 minutes there may be between rounds, if I'm lucky enough to come off the floor between rounds. I'm too analytical, I want time to process everything.

 

[stash]

I have been given light advice during competitions by my coaches at the time if they were there. And it has been useful, but never more of frame up here, breath, smile, perform. But nothing more than that. Anything else would have been too much. But with most things, practice makes progress, and dance is a journey. You can only fix so much before a competition, and you will have more things fixed for the next comp.

I wouldn't worry so much during the comp about what needs to be fixed, but really just focusing what you know, what your strengths are, and just doing your best.

 

[TakeTwo]

Reading the subject of this thread, my gut reaction was "no flipping way." However, as some have offered, if I had hours/a day in between events (single dances versus scholarship, maybe?), perhaps I'd consider it to keep an eye out for small things I could address. The risk would still be figuring out what looks bad and still not knowing what I need to fix that.

As for advice from a coach, my pro knows what kind and how much feedback to give me in between a set of dances - definitely a benefit to pro-am. I imagine I'd listen to third-party feedback as well, so long as it didn't sound overwhelming.

 

[5678dance]

I think you just gotta know YOU. I remember back in my high school days I did Mock Trial, and one girl on my team was able to make brilliant changes between rounds in the way she spoke, held herself, precisely what she said for her statements, etc. She clearly had the gift of adaptability on a moment's notice. For other people, I know attempting to implement changes last minute would only give them anxiety.

If you know that watching a video won't wig you out in between rounds, they I certainly don't see why you shouldn't.