I competed in Derby City Swing 2025's Newcomer Jack and Jill competition. I didn't make finals, but I had fun anyway, and thanks to a friend I got good videos of my dances to review with my teachers so I can work on whatever needs work in my West Coast Swing. But I don't expect my teachers to do all the work, so I want to review the videos myself and see what I can pick out in advance of reviewing with them.

To make sure I don't drive myself mad with the revelation of how I actually dance, though, I want to make sure I have a sane framework to engage with the videos. I could easily get self-conscious if I just launched into it to nitpick myself and that wouldn't do me or my dancing any good.

That means reminding myself why I want to review the videos and what is/isn't worthwhile in doing so. It means outlining how I'll review the videos. Lastly, it means reminding myself of what my goals were.

Reminders

Because I need them:

1. It is worth checking if I succeeded at my competition goals.
2. Inasmuch as I missed my targets, it could be valuable to ask what's getting in the way.
3. I may feel disappointed because I realize I did not manage what I meant to do — that some significant part of my time, I didn't achieve my competition goals.
4. I will feel better after I learn from my mistakes — when I find out what could be improved and make plans to work on it.
5. I will feel more confident if I can look my mistakes in the eye without flinching — or despite flinching. I can feel proud of that.
   1. Be like cool guy and great dancer Korinthian Gaines. Kory watched his videos between prelims and semis, and between semis and finals. He engaged right away and not a day later. That's commitment to seeing yourself as you are and not as you wish to be, and I respect that.
6. It is not worth beating myself up if I didn't succeed at my goals as well as I thought I did or as well as I hoped to do.
7. It is not worth beating myself up for having shitty technique or accidentally creating awkward positions at times.
8. It is worth looking at my expression and body language. I may read differently from the outside than I mean.
9. It is not worth beating myself if I expressed myself poorly — made funny faces, stopped smiling, or whatever.
10. I am not going to develop a fixation on my arm. I am intentionally doing nothing with my off arm. For now I like it that way. In the distant future of 2030 I may be good enough to worry about that, but now isn't the time to worry.

And a reminder I don't need, because it's so obvious to me, but I want to note it because it's important: I don't blame my partners. It's my job to work with them, not to control them. Any notes I make on the videos will be about my dancing and what I can adjust to do better.

Process

It is worth considering in separate passes:

1. No notes, simple watch.
   1. Optionally note any overall video qualities — mentally or actually. For example:
      1. Can you clearly see both me and my partner in this video? If not, who or what's missing?
   2. I've completed this one as of writing and it went great.
      1. I'm glad I did this pass first.
      2. This pass gave me some important basic information to work with in reviewing the videos with my teachers: Which videos have the clearest footage? 2 of 5 are obscured by a couple or a judge — necessary because for those dances my partner and I were on a part of the floor with nowhere really good to film from.
      3. This pass was also a great icebreaker — I felt nervous about reviewing the video and seeing only mistakes, so reviewing without a critical eye helped me feel better about watching the videos in general.
      4. Actually I wonder how far one can get from just watching a video over and over again in this mode. That is: Without a critical eye, simply paying closer attention to what's going on. That might be worth experimenting with, although maybe I'll try the critical eye first — we shall see.
2. Competition goals, one by one.
3. General "how does the dancing look" passes?
   1. Separate passes for: Timing, foot positions, lead/follow, frame, connection, styling?
      1. Tentative. This is one framework for looking at "how does the dancing look."
   2. WCS technique.
      1. Connection and frame — compression, tension, "up back down"
      2. Timing — rolling count?
      3. Rolling through the feet?
4. (Optional?) Expression, interaction, visual connection.
   1. What do my face/eyes/body say?
   2. Where am I looking, when?

Competition goals

1. Smile.
2. Do the kindness rituals/scripts Abby and Andrew suggested for meeting and parting with each dance partner in their Competitor Hour class at Bluegrass Ballroom.
3. When I prep, get the follow's arm pointing up from her shoulder so that she knows I'm asking for an underarm turn vs. a shoulder catch.
4. Make the 1 of every pattern big. Pass my standing foot.