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VIDEO, Video, Video!!
I just wanted to say to any other 'newbies' or others to whom it may apply:
IF you're not videotaping – DO IT!!!
I was talked into it by several ladies on here, and I have to say.. (aside from posting the cellulite!) that it is the BEST!
I am able to SEE where I'm screwing up and it makes all the difference between Doing a move and NOT doing a move! (Not that I really HAVE any, yet.. lol) But, man.. It's AWESOME. :):)
Okay.. sermon over.
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18 Replies
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You've convinced me 😉
I haven't yet managed to get round to buying a mirror, so have absolutely no idea how the stuff I do is looking, and besides, I'm sure you're not always going to be in a position to look in a mirror as you do stuff anyway.
I was of the opinion that my moves were probably jerky and awkward, but then a friend came over last night and we tried out a few beginners lessons together, and since hers looked pretty despite her claim of lack of coordination, I'm wondering if maybe mine aren't as bad as I feared.
Next time I pole: camera will be rolling. You may or may not get to see the results… Hehe.
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OMG I COULDN"T AGREE MORE! i wrote exactly this in a blog entry a while back. i truly cannot emphasize this enough, it's absolutely the fastest way to improve your lines and form.
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I'm another one all for video – I'm so not a natural dancer and when I used a mirror I needed it all the time to gauge if I was moving well. I stopped using it and use video only to improve. This helps me focus more on how my body should feel when I'm doing something right. Also, like LoneStar said I can see where I'm screwing up and fix it. Video is definitely a HUGE help!
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I need a mirror lol i love to be infront of both. ;o) I think that's the stylist in me- but either way you're right video taping the session will show you what you are doing and NOT. Have funa dn can't wait to see your videos.. and cellulite is okay. I've got some too.. A slim friend has it.. it's just what it is. :o) Love you anyway…
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lol meant to say love yourself anyway… :o)
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Hehe, I’m sure we all love you too Nikkay.
I have cellulite, I reckon cellulite is sexy, the only time I haven’t had it was when I was unhealthiy underweight. It’s more fun to be a strong sexy woman (or man) with cellulite then make yourself ill trying to get rid of it?
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Cellulite..!
I hate it, I never had it til I gave up smoking and put on a stone and a half… I have it now!! And I do not like it.. will it go?
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Alright, I don't want to say that I don't agree, because I don't. However…I don't video tape myself, because it's always so depressing! I hate looking at myself on tape, I hate seeing all the problems, and I hate comparing myself to all the beautiful, graceful women I see here on this site, and youtube.
In particular, however, I don't really know how to troubleshoot from video. All I really know is "Something's off" and the best I can do is keep jerking away at it, and hope that it eventually looks nice.
So, what do you guys think? How can I tell if I'm doing a split grip right? Or how to become more graceful or fluid, or whatever?
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* small edit: When I said "I wont say I don't agree, because I don't" I meant that I DO agree that video taping is useful. It is, totally. It was a double negative, and I just realized I probably worded that wrong >_>
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I can see how having video footage of yourself on the computer and then the internet full of beautiful graceful people to compare to is not great for confidence, but you have to remember that even if you can't avoid thinking that way, that you're being particularly unfair if you look at what's on your practice session's raw footage and then compare it directly to someone's polished performance, or their edited practice footage showing only the highlights, and not the bit where they unceremoniously dumped themselves on the floor… 😉
I've spent my entire life until just recently hiding from cameras and hating all photos of me. Then I let a talented photographer friend of mine do a "photoshoot" with me, with him picking out what he wanted to show me. I gained a lot of self esteem from that, coming away from it feeling like yes, I can actually look nice in a photo (it's not so hard when you stop pulling the "I hate photos!" face, lol).
Perhaps you would benefit from letting someone else edit you a video Runemist?
As for specifics about a grip, I suppose taking a short clip of it and posting it with a question, people around here seem like they'd be more than happy to help 🙂
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Miraine: Thank you for the quick response! I know it's not really fair of me to compare myself to people who have been dancing for a long time, or have edited their work, or are a much higher level than me…it's just…lol, difficult! I sound so whiny, but it's true! I look at people with great bodies and sexy moves and beautiful hair and clothes and stuff, and it's hard not to go "I'll never be like that!"
I used to hide from cameras, too, but generally I'm okay with it now. I've learned a lot more about myself and how I like myself to look (and how to dress!) so I don't hate what I look like quite so much. I've even had a couple of photoshoots with friends or whatever!
Letting someone else do the editing might be interesting, though!
And, lastly, the grip issue is sort of an example of a larger issue…I would love to be able to troubleshoot myself, but when I look at a video of me, I just tend to go "Oh, no, that's too slow," or "That doesn't look right," without any ability to figure out what's going on. The example is the grip thing…if I do any spin with split grip, it's super slow, and I've tried everything I could think of to fix it!
But, oh well. Perhaps these things will get better with time and exposure.
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Runemist, I had the same problem when I first started filming and I still know I'm not as smooth or fluid or strong or sexy as so many people here. I still cringe when I see myself going into weird wrist-flicky gymnastics hands. But anyway, these are a few things that help me.
1. Don't worry about the camera for new moves because they'll look awkward, and it's important for you to learn the feel of them. Filming is best for moves you're confident with to improve your lines and smoothness. So film stuff you can already do confidently.
2. Start by filming a short combo, watch it back, and then delete it. Try to find one thing to improve for the next time. For me this is usually the aforementioned wrist flicking, but it could be pointed toes, more/less hip turnout, not pulling a face, etc. Then film the combo again, see if you improved that thing and delete. You can keep deleting until you get something you're happy with.
3. That said, if you can stand to keep a few early attempts they can be useful to look back on and see how far you've come. If you keep filming you can really notice your improvement.
4. Every time you film, find at least one thing that you think you did well, or better than last time. Say what it was out loud, even if there's no-one around to hear.
5. This is a bit of a mean one, so keep it to yourself! When you look at other videos, look for the mistakes or flaws in them. If you look hard enough they're always there because nobody is perfect. I've even spotted Felix slip a little. But even though that person made a mistake their video is still awesome, right? And yours is too. It's just that when you look at yourself you're looking at the flaws only. So remember that flaws don't stop you from being awesome.
With the trouble-shooting, it's understandable that you can't always figure out what you're doing wrong because it takes years of experience. It's probably better to ask someone more experienced.
Plus, it makes perfect sense from a motor learning perspective to go "That looks too slow, let's do it faster" and then just try to be faster without worrying about the specifics of how.
If it helps, my split grip is super slow too. I think the only thing I can do is get enough strength to do it on spinny.
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Wow, Cinara, you're quite thorough! 😉
Thank you for the help. Often, I find what most people are trying to tell me is to be more balanced in the way I think of myself, especially when compared to others…and, ironically, I thought I had learned that lesson when I was fighting the depression! I suppose it's something one learns over and over again, though. So, thank you!
I will take your advice on making up some little routines to see if I can improve upon what I want to get going, and delete the ones I don't like. My husband always gets mad when I write something and then delete it, but I always end up writing the same thing over again! Hehe. So, I'm okay with deleting stuff. I actually have a camera that allows me to play stuff back, so I could do that relatively easily, too.
I will take your advice, and be careful about how I think about things! 🙂
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It took me months to gather the courage to videotape myself, the thought of someone find/stole it was too scary, but I was having trouble with progress so one day I did it… and I cryed, actually cried my eyes out, it was like all the repressed insecurities and self image issues came back at once. I'd made my peace with the mirror a long time ago… but always hated cameras.. its like they always catch me at bad moments and video was worse… I hated the way I looked.. the way I walked and move, all the tricks seemed wrong… and yet it was the best thing I ever did since I started poling!
yes, some moves were off, I could see that now and make them better. yes, I was clumsy and I'm learning how to move a little bit more graceful, yes my body was out of shape and as i recorded my progress I could see it getting better. so now I tape almost every workout. I still sometimes want to get inside a hole in the ground when I see myself doing something stupid but the moments were I go: "hey.. that was pretty good!" are getting more frequent and my confidence had increased a lot. Not enought to post anything yet… cough.. but i will soon. I manage to post some photos.. so.. babysteps.
Its not easy to change years if not a whole existence of low self esteem and self perception issues but do it, if nothing else, do it for the sake of improving your progress because it does help a lot. I now have more trust in the video then the mirror and Im sorry I didnt start recording everything from the start….
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Regardless of whether or not you post your vids, you will learn something from them. I had never posted anything till a few weeks ago, it helped me see that I am better than I thought I was. There are still things that I need to work on but doing vids helped to identify those things. You are probably better than you think, just give yourself a chance to be great.
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