What happens when someone asks for your combo footage… while dance class is still happening? What if your outfit throws you off before the first count of eight?
And what do you do when the studio starts filming everything — even your warm-up?
In this storytime-style episode, I’m sharing a few recent class moments that threw me off my game — and what they taught me about distraction, boundaries, and the power of processing.
If you’ve ever felt off in class, this one’s for you — with a few lessons along the way that might just help you find your footing faster.
Check out my Return to Dance docuseries!
Why Dances Class Combos Don't Travel Anymore (podcast ep referenced in this show)
Support my Instagram — where I post daily dance inspo, insights and fun! @backtogreat
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
What happens in dance class when someone asks you for footage from your phone that you
(00:08):
just filmed of the combo, but you're still in the middle of training and another group
is dancing while this person is talking to you and you're totally caught off guard because
you need to keep working on the combo.
And also what happens when you take a dance class and you walk in and you look in the mirror
and immediately realize that your outfit is all wrong and all of a sudden you feel
(00:34):
very uncomfortable in your look.
It doesn't comport with the style of dance you're about to do.
And also what happens when you haven't taken dance class in two and a half years and you
forgot that you don't need to be 100% in the choreography the entire time.
(00:57):
Well those three stories and more are coming up in today's podcast.
It's going to be a sort of story time.
Now that I am very excitedly back in dance class, I mentioned in a recent podcast that after
two and a half year saga, really, of injury and then a chronic pain and now inching myself
back into class, that I found a studio very outside of LA, not a competitive vibe, no filming
(01:23):
really, although there is some filming happening there that to be honest, I'm not a fan
of and I'll be sharing that as well.
So lots of story times today on my podcast, Hey, dancer, I'm your host, Miller Daurey, a former
professional teenage dancer who quit at 19 and returned three decades later for a hardcore
(01:45):
year and then was out for another two and a half years.
Anyway, I'm back now and I've got some stories and I'm excited to share.
If you're new here, it's a pleasure to have you take a moment, it just takes a moment to
subscribe or follow depending wherever you're watching or listening and like the video share
with your dance fan because my goal with this podcast in general is to always serve dancers
(02:09):
in some capacity, even in my story times today, which may show a little bit of my neuroses
and perhaps my overthinking and whatnot.
Okay, let's get to it.
Now, to be clear, all of these dance stories take place at the same studio, this place I found
outside of LA, not a competitive vibe.
General demographic from what I have seen are women of a certain age, therefore a good
(02:32):
workout.
You know, they're not dancer dancers, they're not training to be a working dancer or to
really get their technique amazing.
I'm not saying that there aren't people like that there, but generally speaking, you know,
it's a chill vibe.
And it's so good for me to be there to get my feet wet as I inch back into class because
I have a certain, and this might be ego, although I don't think that it is, but I have a certain
(02:55):
standard for myself that before I step back into the studios at the classes, the teachers
classes who I knew really well, you know, when I was training pretty hard core a couple
of years ago, I want to know at least that I have worked on choreography in person, that
my body is conditioned to a certain degree.
That my technique is a little bit back to where it was.
(03:16):
And so this is a good place for me in the classes there are like legit classes, the jazz
class full warm up across the floor, a really good combination with lots of turns and leaps,
you know, things like that.
So anyway, this first class experience was in a groove three class.
If you don't know what groove three is from my memory, it's basically a dance fitness class.
(03:36):
You have to be certified in it to teach it.
Out of dance studios, they have teachers who do this style, it's on their schedule, and it's
a great, great class because it's full on choreography.
The music is on the entire time.
Basically, you're learning counts of eight, and then you're reviewing and you're learning
more and reviewing, and it's done like really slow, it's drilled, but you're constantly moving.
(04:00):
And so by the end of class, you may have done, I don't know, eight to ten counts of eight
of this choreography.
Again, the music is on the entire time.
I see people, you know, start to film toward the latter part of class.
And when my group is an up, you know, I've said this before, it's very important to me to
always be marking on the side because I feel like the choreography just goes away if I don't.
(04:25):
Here is my dance bag.
If you're watching this on YouTube or Spotify, you will see it.
And here just proof I got my knee pads and I got some jazz shoes in here.
And I've got this fancy device.
So this here, you like, you basically put it on a mirror or a window and it goes, and it
(04:45):
sucks, it's on to it and it functions as a mount for your phone.
It's super cool for dance class.
I've had people in class be like, oh my god, what is that?
I got to get it.
So people are filming and I put my little contraption on the mirror and my phone is on it and I
hit record and then I record myself.
And then I stop recording but I keep my phone up on the mirror and then every time I dance
(05:07):
I record myself again.
So I probably filmed myself doing the combo three or four times and then I take my phone
and that contraption off the mirror and I put it in my dance bag.
So like I put it away and there's still like 10 minutes left to class.
And as the other group is performing and I'm watching and I'm still marking this person
(05:30):
walks up to me who happened to be dancing right next to me when I was, you know, filming and
she said, you know, would you mind if you sent me the footage because I would love to have
it?
And it completely caught me off guard and I was like, oh, I was like, yeah, sure.
And I'm having all these thoughts at the same time.
(05:50):
When would I do this?
I have a hard out because these classes tend to go over.
I've noticed 10 or 15 minutes and I had to leave exactly at the end time because I had a place
to be.
And now remember my phone was in my dance bag and I go to it and now I'm thinking, oh my
god, I'm not marking the choreography.
You know, I'm still like wanting to work on it.
(06:11):
But let me see if I can help her out and she was very nice.
I want to make this very clear.
This person was very sweet.
Okay, very, very nice.
So I'm going through my dance bag and for some reason I can't find my phone which makes
no sense because it's a tiny dance bag.
I'm like, is it hiding under a knee pad?
What's going on here?
I'm like, let me see if I can get my phone.
Should I air drop it to you?
I can text it to you.
(06:32):
And now it's our turn to dance.
I'm like, oh, and the teacher was talking also and saying something over the music.
I didn't hear the teacher because this dancer was talking to me and I'm trying to like
help her out in some way.
But then I realized in rate the teacher was talking, that's just respectful.
And now here's the thing.
Five, six, you know, it's we're about to dance.
And I had been acing the choreography.
At least not like I was crushing it like I was doing so amazing.
(06:54):
But I wasn't forgetting the choreography is my point.
And honestly, I was doing pretty good.
And I totally went blank for the first time and do you want to know why?
If you haven't figured it out, I was very distracted.
I realized because we were a couple of counts in and I start thinking, wait a minute, does
she want to post this?
Is she going to post it?
I don't want her to post this.
(07:16):
You know, this is my footage.
I'm front and center and I'm really particular right now about not having me on social
media dancing.
I want to be in control of it if I can.
Obviously you cannot in today's time.
Even at this studio, you know, a lot of people are filming.
I do my best to get away from the cameras, but it's just the way it is these days.
(07:36):
And I'm going to be on somebody's social media inevitably.
It's just again, how it is.
But if I have control over it, if it's my footage, like I don't want her posting this, is she
going to do that?
Now, this is what I'm thinking as I'm dancing, I get distracted and I forget the choreo.
And I'm like, oh, come on.
So now we're finished dancing and then she follows me back to my dance bag and I get my,
(08:01):
find my phone and then I say, okay, I could text it to you.
Should I air drop it to you?
Again, this is all happening in class now when I would prefer to be watching, you know,
the other group dancing so that I could mark.
And I know what you're thinking and I'll get to what I should have done and what I think
is proper etiquette, you know, when the story is over.
But there's a point to this ultimately, hopefully.
(08:22):
So I give her my phone, she puts in her number, text herself through my phone and then I tell
her straight up, look, I don't want you sharing this on social media.
I'm like, really kind of picky about that.
And she said, oh, no, no, no, no, no.
It's actually so my husband could, you know, can see me dancing because, you know, I just
want them to show him that I was really here.
Like it was cute.
And she said she hadn't been in class in like three months because of some kind of injury
(08:45):
thing.
I didn't say anything about myself, but I was thinking, well, I get it.
It's been two and a half years for me due to injury, whatever.
I told her I had to leave immediately when class was over, but that I would text her the footage
later on in the day.
And she was again, she was really appreciative and she was very, very nice.
And then on the drive home, I was trying to figure out why it got to me a little bit.
(09:06):
Now, I wasn't even going to share the story because I thought, is it relatable?
Am I just an overthinker?
Am I a little bit crazy sometimes in dance class?
But I was talking to a friend of mine who's a respected dancer who's been in the business
for decades.
And she told her the story and she was nodding the entire time and she was like, oh my God,
yes.
And totally understood and related to the distraction part of it that anything that happens,
(09:32):
that kind of gets your brain out of the choreography, the combo, all the counts of it and everything,
is a real thing.
It's palpable.
It can take you out.
And I am just starting class again.
And I don't have the habit, I guess, yet in the experience yet to kind of shake those things
off and get focused immediately.
(09:52):
I need to be focused the entire class.
And when I am distracted and taken out of it and now I'm doing the combo and I'm thinking
about the thing and oh my God, was I nice enough?
Did I act awkward?
Of course, I want to give her the footage.
It's not a problem at all.
But oh my God, is she going to somehow post it?
And all these things are happening now as I'm dancing and poof, the choreography goes
(10:12):
away.
And that's a real thing.
Also, she addressed me while we are still training.
You should not do that dancer.
Just say, hey, if you wouldn't mind, I saw that you were filming and I would love to grab
that footage, but let's talk after class.
You know, so maybe you're thinking, I don't want to forget.
And hey, I got to be honest.
In full disclosure, I have asked dancers at least a couple of times for footage when I saw
(10:35):
that they filmed and that I might have been in the frame, I have asked for footage, but
only after class.
I would never interrupt somebody during training because it's like a sacred place.
So I guess if there's a lesson here, I know now to say, hey, let's talk after class.
And if I have a hard out and she can't catch me after class, ultimately, that's not my problem.
(10:58):
And dancers realize the class environment.
You know, the class is still going on.
You don't know how somebody trains.
They may prefer, I mean, I was clearly even marking on the side and she interrupted that.
That wasn't super cool.
And also, as I mentioned earlier, the teacher was talking and I wasn't hearing it.
So just be gracious, be respectful and understand that class isn't just about you and your
(11:22):
needs, that it's almost a ripple effect.
You know, you ask a dancer for a favor, but maybe now you're doing them a bit of a disservice
because you're taking them out of the experience that they want to have.
Does that make sense?
Let me know your thoughts on this.
I'd love to hear in the comments if you're watching on YouTube or Spotify or shoot me a DM
(11:43):
on Instagram at back to great.
I respond to everything.
How would you have handled the situation?
And I want to say also, and I'll get into this with a story I have coming up to today.
And that is it's really easy to say how you would be in class in X, Y and Z situation,
but until you're in the situation, you don't know for sure how you're going to be.
(12:04):
You just don't.
You don't think of myself as somebody who processes things and wants to know why my energy
may be a little bit off and get to the root of it, which is what happened on the drive
home.
And I realized because to be honest, I didn't understand why I forgot the choreography
that time right after she had approached me the first time and it wasn't until the drive
(12:27):
home that, you know, I put two and two together that I was thinking so much about her request
and about the whole social media thing that it took me out of it.
All we can do is try and be self-aware and work on ourselves and that is story number one.
So next story.
So I actually put up a poll on my Instagram if you're not following me there.
(12:48):
What are you doing?
Because I post every day a poll or a quiz on my stories that is dance related.
And this one, as they often are, was directly related to my own dance class experience.
And I asked in the poll, have you ever taken a dance class and hated your outfit like it
laid on you all wrong and it affected your performance/work?
(13:10):
97% said yes.
Over 3,000 people voted and said yes so the vast majority I can't say unanimously because
3% said no.
But yeah, most people have had this experience.
I don't know if there's anything here to learn from this because you really have to, I think,
take class and understand what works for you.
(13:33):
And this is something that I thought I knew really well but now that I'm again inching
back into class, I had this experience.
It was a hip-hop class and you know hip-hop, at least for me, you want to feel really grounded.
There was a lot of, you know, knees or bending action.
The first mistake I realized when I was there were my shoes.
(13:54):
I had these adidas on and they weren't flat.
You know they weren't, I didn't feel low to the ground.
They had a little bit of a lift to them.
They were a little narrow in the sole part of the shoe.
I'll show you.
These are the shoes, if you're watching you will see them.
So they kind of go in over here.
So they felt a little narrow and you can see the height, there's a lot of lift in the
(14:15):
shoe and I don't know.
When I was walking in them on the studio floor, I felt like, not like I was in heels,
because obviously, you know, it's a tennis shoe.
But they didn't have that low grounding feeling where I would have felt, I guess more,
I don't know grounded in a hip-hop class.
Also my shirt wasn't baggy enough.
I mean, I think, you know, a great dancer perhaps can wear pretty much anything and kill it.
(14:41):
But I do feel like the outfit informs the style of dance.
I mean you're not going to want to wear like super banging clothes for, you know, a jazz
technique class.
You know, you want to have your lines like shown to be seen and same thing for hip-hop, you
know?
Generally speaking, just kind of, it's laying on you, it's kind of flowing, it's bigger.
(15:03):
And my shirt was tighter, I realized looking in the mirror than I thought that it was and
the pants that I wore were just really not becoming.
I don't know, they just looked so off to me.
They weren't baggy, they weren't cool.
I just felt like, "Oh, when I saw myself and I thought no matter how great I dance today,
(15:23):
it's like as an actor, your costume, if you will, really informs the character.
A lot of actors work from the outside in.
You know, get how the character looks first and then it informs you.
And the same thing for dance, it's a real thing.
Your clothes will inform, you know, how you feel dancing.
And if you are dancing in a certain style and the clothes don't seem to align with that
(15:47):
style on your body, it just feels off."
And then somehow, that energy is carried through class, does that make sense?
I just did not love watching myself dance in that class that time and I think my outfit
played a role in that.
And can I also say that so much of what I own to wear that may have worked in that class
(16:14):
was in the laundry.
So to be fair to myself, I was kind of scratching my pants.
I was scrambling around, but now I know no, this is a more serious matter and I can't just
you know, scrounge around for clothes.
Like I better make sure my outfit is darn good for class because hey, that's like your
base, you know, that's your starting point.
Maybe I won't catch all the counts of eight, maybe my technique will be off, but at least
(16:37):
all look good, right?
I mean, it's the thing.
It matters, it all matters.
Okay, third story, and I'm not sure if it's even, you know, a story per se, but I just want
to say that you only really can improve as a dancer by taking class.
And you can only remember things that you need to work on as a dancer from taking class.
(17:01):
You can watch all the YouTube's, listened to all the podcasts, check out all the social
media posts about tips and tricks and even do some training from home, of course, and that
can be a great thing.
Of course, it can be huge, but in-person classes, seeing yourself in the mirror, learning choreography,
having a teacher's eyes on you, seeing what other students are doing right, doing wrong,
(17:23):
is really where it's at to improve.
That may be Captain Obvious, but it just reminded me being in class now how many things
I had already, and I got to give myself some grace.
It's been two and a half years since I've been in class.
So yeah, the fact that I'm aware and remembering these things already so quickly, just a couple
classes in, I think is to my credit, that said, I'm like, "Oh my God, the epiphanies every
(17:45):
time I take a class, I'll give you one example."
In one of the groove three classes, I took, I was feeling really good in there.
I caught all the choreography and I filmed it.
By the way, I'm not showing the dance footage yet because that'll be from my return to dance
docuseries.
So if you're not following that, the link is below.
So I take that groove three class, I filmed a little bit of it, and then I watch it after
(18:09):
class, and then I was reminded of something that I had forgotten.
And that is this.
So I'm from the, you know, late 80s, early 90s school of hip hop where you just go all out,
100% high energy, and your movement is big.
And to be fair, back in the day, the movement was bigger, and it also utilized the whole body
(18:30):
and the floor.
You're always traveling now.
I've mentioned before, the movement is often micro, it's small, you don't travel as
much.
There's a podcast on that, I'll link to that below if you're watching a YouTube.
There's a card right here, you can click on, and a lot of the reason why the movement doesn't
move as much anymore is because it's filmed, you know, for your device, because it's got
to be like in a certain vertical frame.
(18:52):
I'm just used to dancing, you know, bigger.
That's the school I come from, and I forgot that dancing like that does not serve so much
of the choreography today.
And I'm watching myself and I thought, oh my god, I'm too big.
Which isn't just by the way in my movement, but also having 100% energy the whole way through.
(19:14):
And I needed to pull back more and I didn't.
And this may sound defeating almost, but marking the choreography or looking like you're marking
it in parts actually serves the choreo better.
It gives it layer, it gives it textures.
And also I don't have to push that hard all the time.
(19:36):
Now the trick is also you might be giving 100% energy and giving your full soul into it,
which is a beautiful thing.
And that is I think perhaps how it should usually be, but you want to look like you're not
giving 100% like outwardly, visibly.
It shouldn't be just big high energy all the time.
(19:58):
The smaller movements, again, the layers really benefit the choreography.
And I had forgotten that and I remember driving home thinking again, me processing after
watching the video and I thought, okay, Miller, you forgot that and now you know all over
again.
It's wise in hip hop especially in most classes to pull back or look like you're pulling
(20:23):
back.
Your energy may still be high, but look like you're pulling back.
And then the next class I took, I was going big and then I remembered immediately, no, no,
no, pull back Miller.
You don't have to like fight so hard here.
You know, give it some texture.
Oh my God, I'm marking it right now and you know what?
It looks better.
(20:43):
It serves the choreography in this class.
That's the operative thing, not all the time, not all the classes, not all the styles of
dance, but in this style, this hip hop class in this particular choreo.
It did look better when I was just kind of chill more.
That has been a great thing for me being back in class is remembering the things that I
(21:05):
learned in my return to dance journey that I'm now learning all over again.
But now, and this is the cool thing about growth, I'm remembering what I learned and it's
happening at a much more rapid pace, you know?
And the last thing I'll say is, I just need to let go and this is my reminder for all
of you to let go about something that you may not want to let go about.
(21:28):
And that is just the filming in the class because it is the way of it today, even at tiny
mom and pop kind of dance studios like this one.
So I mentioned to you how the studio doesn't have, you know, videographers, class shutting down
and the lights and all that stuff.
No, that's not what I want right now.
But they are a business and they do want to have exposure on social media and have noticed
(21:50):
that somebody who works the front desk, I don't know if it's, you know, the studio director,
owner, whatever, this person will film a lot of the classes.
Even the jazz class I took just yesterday, the warm up, the across the floor, working
on technique, pirouettes, they're filming it and then the combination, rehearsing it and
(22:12):
then performing it, all of it being filmed.
And I admit there's a part of me that's inside like no, and kind of, I don't want to say screaming
but definitely resisting it.
And then I'm working on letting go.
I keep thinking this is a place of training and that this shouldn't be happening but who
(22:32):
might to say what should be happening?
It's their business.
And I guess that there's a lesson here, Dancer, is that you got to let go.
It's just the way of it these days and you got to find studios that are right for you.
This place is right for me.
This is, you know, if there were a pros and cons list, you know, this would be the one con,
is that they are filming through class and they do postings on social media.
(22:57):
It's funny because we did this one pirouette combination thing across the floor.
Again, I haven't danced in two and a half years but even so we have our good turn days,
our bad turn days and our member, I fell out of a turn.
And then we finished the across the floor and then the teacher, you know, turned off the
music and I turned to the person who was filming and I said, make sure you don't post that
(23:19):
and everybody laughed because we all kind of struggled.
So I made like a joke out of it.
I can't be in control of whatever is put out there.
And if I wind up on this page's social media as I'm training and learning all over again,
you know, I got to just embrace it.
I got to let go.
I got a surrender.
The bottom line is if there is a takeaway, no studio is going to be perfect ever.
(23:41):
You may not be able to answer to control the lens, the filming, the camera, all that stuff
but you can control your focus, your growth, your surrendering to the moment.
Also you're in control of what makes you feel comfortable.
And if for you, the environment of filming in any capacity doesn't work for you, then
you just find another studio.
(24:03):
And at the end of the day, I realized for me, I was comfortable enough with this experience.
I need to challenge myself by being on camera.
Yeah, do I love you know having myself filmed going across the floor and working on technique?
No.
But I'm also at a place where I know that I have to let go that this studio features so
(24:25):
much gold for me that I'm not going to let this one hiccup deter me from studying at
a place that has against so many more pros than cons and ultimately really behooves my training
at this time in my starting over journey.
That's all I got.
I hope you enjoyed the podcast.
(24:46):
If you did, if you found some of the stories relatable, share them with your dance fam because
you know they're going to find them relatable too and make sure you subscribe or that you're
following so you never miss an episode.
Oh my God.
I had some things I wanted to announce some exciting updates with my podcast, but I think
I'll wait until until next week.
There has been a lot of exciting things happening with my podcast on both Apple and YouTube.
(25:11):
So I will share that next week.
I'm going to make a note to do that because I'll probably forget.
All right.
Until next time.
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music)
(gentle music)
(gentle music)
What happens in dance class when someone asks you for footage from your phone that you
(00:08):
just filmed of the combo, but you're still in the middle of training and another group
is dancing while this person is talking to you and you're totally caught off guard because
you need to keep working on the combo.
And also what happens when you take a dance class and you walk in and you look in the mirror
and immediately realize that your outfit is all wrong and all of a sudden you feel
(00:34):
very uncomfortable in your look.
It doesn't comport with the style of dance you're about to do.
And also what happens when you haven't taken dance class in two and a half years and you
forgot that you don't need to be 100% in the choreography the entire time.
(00:57):
Well those three stories and more are coming up in today's podcast.
It's going to be a sort of story time.
Now that I am very excitedly back in dance class, I mentioned in a recent podcast that after
two and a half year saga, really, of injury and then a chronic pain and now inching myself
back into class, that I found a studio very outside of LA, not a competitive vibe, no filming
(01:23):
really, although there is some filming happening there that to be honest, I'm not a fan
of and I'll be sharing that as well.
So lots of story times today on my podcast, Hey, dancer, I'm your host, Miller Daurey, a former
professional teenage dancer who quit at 19 and returned three decades later for a hardcore
(01:45):
year and then was out for another two and a half years.
Anyway, I'm back now and I've got some stories and I'm excited to share.
If you're new here, it's a pleasure to have you take a moment, it just takes a moment to
subscribe or follow depending wherever you're watching or listening and like the video share
with your dance fan because my goal with this podcast in general is to always serve dancers
(02:09):
in some capacity, even in my story times today, which may show a little bit of my neuroses
and perhaps my overthinking and whatnot.
Okay, let's get to it.
Now, to be clear, all of these dance stories take place at the same studio, this place I found
outside of LA, not a competitive vibe.
General demographic from what I have seen are women of a certain age, therefore a good
(02:32):
workout.
You know, they're not dancer dancers, they're not training to be a working dancer or to
really get their technique amazing.
I'm not saying that there aren't people like that there, but generally speaking, you know,
it's a chill vibe.
And it's so good for me to be there to get my feet wet as I inch back into class because
I have a certain, and this might be ego, although I don't think that it is, but I have a certain
(02:55):
standard for myself that before I step back into the studios at the classes, the teachers
classes who I knew really well, you know, when I was training pretty hard core a couple
of years ago, I want to know at least that I have worked on choreography in person, that
my body is conditioned to a certain degree.
That my technique is a little bit back to where it was.
(03:16):
And so this is a good place for me in the classes there are like legit classes, the jazz
class full warm up across the floor, a really good combination with lots of turns and leaps,
you know, things like that.
So anyway, this first class experience was in a groove three class.
If you don't know what groove three is from my memory, it's basically a dance fitness class.
(03:36):
You have to be certified in it to teach it.
Out of dance studios, they have teachers who do this style, it's on their schedule, and it's
a great, great class because it's full on choreography.
The music is on the entire time.
Basically, you're learning counts of eight, and then you're reviewing and you're learning
more and reviewing, and it's done like really slow, it's drilled, but you're constantly moving.
(04:00):
And so by the end of class, you may have done, I don't know, eight to ten counts of eight
of this choreography.
Again, the music is on the entire time.
I see people, you know, start to film toward the latter part of class.
And when my group is an up, you know, I've said this before, it's very important to me to
always be marking on the side because I feel like the choreography just goes away if I don't.
(04:25):
Here is my dance bag.
If you're watching this on YouTube or Spotify, you will see it.
And here just proof I got my knee pads and I got some jazz shoes in here.
And I've got this fancy device.
So this here, you like, you basically put it on a mirror or a window and it goes, and it
(04:45):
sucks, it's on to it and it functions as a mount for your phone.
It's super cool for dance class.
I've had people in class be like, oh my god, what is that?
I got to get it.
So people are filming and I put my little contraption on the mirror and my phone is on it and I
hit record and then I record myself.
And then I stop recording but I keep my phone up on the mirror and then every time I dance
(05:07):
I record myself again.
So I probably filmed myself doing the combo three or four times and then I take my phone
and that contraption off the mirror and I put it in my dance bag.
So like I put it away and there's still like 10 minutes left to class.
And as the other group is performing and I'm watching and I'm still marking this person
(05:30):
walks up to me who happened to be dancing right next to me when I was, you know, filming and
she said, you know, would you mind if you sent me the footage because I would love to have
it?
And it completely caught me off guard and I was like, oh, I was like, yeah, sure.
And I'm having all these thoughts at the same time.
(05:50):
When would I do this?
I have a hard out because these classes tend to go over.
I've noticed 10 or 15 minutes and I had to leave exactly at the end time because I had a place
to be.
And now remember my phone was in my dance bag and I go to it and now I'm thinking, oh my
god, I'm not marking the choreography.
You know, I'm still like wanting to work on it.
(06:11):
But let me see if I can help her out and she was very nice.
I want to make this very clear.
This person was very sweet.
Okay, very, very nice.
So I'm going through my dance bag and for some reason I can't find my phone which makes
no sense because it's a tiny dance bag.
I'm like, is it hiding under a knee pad?
What's going on here?
I'm like, let me see if I can get my phone.
Should I air drop it to you?
I can text it to you.
(06:32):
And now it's our turn to dance.
I'm like, oh, and the teacher was talking also and saying something over the music.
I didn't hear the teacher because this dancer was talking to me and I'm trying to like
help her out in some way.
But then I realized in rate the teacher was talking, that's just respectful.
And now here's the thing.
Five, six, you know, it's we're about to dance.
And I had been acing the choreography.
At least not like I was crushing it like I was doing so amazing.
(06:54):
But I wasn't forgetting the choreography is my point.
And honestly, I was doing pretty good.
And I totally went blank for the first time and do you want to know why?
If you haven't figured it out, I was very distracted.
I realized because we were a couple of counts in and I start thinking, wait a minute, does
she want to post this?
Is she going to post it?
I don't want her to post this.
(07:16):
You know, this is my footage.
I'm front and center and I'm really particular right now about not having me on social
media dancing.
I want to be in control of it if I can.
Obviously you cannot in today's time.
Even at this studio, you know, a lot of people are filming.
I do my best to get away from the cameras, but it's just the way it is these days.
(07:36):
And I'm going to be on somebody's social media inevitably.
It's just again, how it is.
But if I have control over it, if it's my footage, like I don't want her posting this, is she
going to do that?
Now, this is what I'm thinking as I'm dancing, I get distracted and I forget the choreo.
And I'm like, oh, come on.
So now we're finished dancing and then she follows me back to my dance bag and I get my,
(08:01):
find my phone and then I say, okay, I could text it to you.
Should I air drop it to you?
Again, this is all happening in class now when I would prefer to be watching, you know,
the other group dancing so that I could mark.
And I know what you're thinking and I'll get to what I should have done and what I think
is proper etiquette, you know, when the story is over.
But there's a point to this ultimately, hopefully.
(08:22):
So I give her my phone, she puts in her number, text herself through my phone and then I tell
her straight up, look, I don't want you sharing this on social media.
I'm like, really kind of picky about that.
And she said, oh, no, no, no, no, no.
It's actually so my husband could, you know, can see me dancing because, you know, I just
want them to show him that I was really here.
Like it was cute.
And she said she hadn't been in class in like three months because of some kind of injury
(08:45):
thing.
I didn't say anything about myself, but I was thinking, well, I get it.
It's been two and a half years for me due to injury, whatever.
I told her I had to leave immediately when class was over, but that I would text her the footage
later on in the day.
And she was again, she was really appreciative and she was very, very nice.
And then on the drive home, I was trying to figure out why it got to me a little bit.
(09:06):
Now, I wasn't even going to share the story because I thought, is it relatable?
Am I just an overthinker?
Am I a little bit crazy sometimes in dance class?
But I was talking to a friend of mine who's a respected dancer who's been in the business
for decades.
And she told her the story and she was nodding the entire time and she was like, oh my God,
yes.
And totally understood and related to the distraction part of it that anything that happens,
(09:32):
that kind of gets your brain out of the choreography, the combo, all the counts of it and everything,
is a real thing.
It's palpable.
It can take you out.
And I am just starting class again.
And I don't have the habit, I guess, yet in the experience yet to kind of shake those things
off and get focused immediately.
(09:52):
I need to be focused the entire class.
And when I am distracted and taken out of it and now I'm doing the combo and I'm thinking
about the thing and oh my God, was I nice enough?
Did I act awkward?
Of course, I want to give her the footage.
It's not a problem at all.
But oh my God, is she going to somehow post it?
And all these things are happening now as I'm dancing and poof, the choreography goes
(10:12):
away.
And that's a real thing.
Also, she addressed me while we are still training.
You should not do that dancer.
Just say, hey, if you wouldn't mind, I saw that you were filming and I would love to grab
that footage, but let's talk after class.
You know, so maybe you're thinking, I don't want to forget.
And hey, I got to be honest.
In full disclosure, I have asked dancers at least a couple of times for footage when I saw
(10:35):
that they filmed and that I might have been in the frame, I have asked for footage, but
only after class.
I would never interrupt somebody during training because it's like a sacred place.
So I guess if there's a lesson here, I know now to say, hey, let's talk after class.
And if I have a hard out and she can't catch me after class, ultimately, that's not my problem.
(10:58):
And dancers realize the class environment.
You know, the class is still going on.
You don't know how somebody trains.
They may prefer, I mean, I was clearly even marking on the side and she interrupted that.
That wasn't super cool.
And also, as I mentioned earlier, the teacher was talking and I wasn't hearing it.
So just be gracious, be respectful and understand that class isn't just about you and your
(11:22):
needs, that it's almost a ripple effect.
You know, you ask a dancer for a favor, but maybe now you're doing them a bit of a disservice
because you're taking them out of the experience that they want to have.
Does that make sense?
Let me know your thoughts on this.
I'd love to hear in the comments if you're watching on YouTube or Spotify or shoot me a DM
(11:43):
on Instagram at back to great.
I respond to everything.
How would you have handled the situation?
And I want to say also, and I'll get into this with a story I have coming up to today.
And that is it's really easy to say how you would be in class in X, Y and Z situation,
but until you're in the situation, you don't know for sure how you're going to be.
(12:04):
You just don't.
You don't think of myself as somebody who processes things and wants to know why my energy
may be a little bit off and get to the root of it, which is what happened on the drive
home.
And I realized because to be honest, I didn't understand why I forgot the choreography
that time right after she had approached me the first time and it wasn't until the drive
(12:27):
home that, you know, I put two and two together that I was thinking so much about her request
and about the whole social media thing that it took me out of it.
All we can do is try and be self-aware and work on ourselves and that is story number one.
So next story.
So I actually put up a poll on my Instagram if you're not following me there.
(12:48):
What are you doing?
Because I post every day a poll or a quiz on my stories that is dance related.
And this one, as they often are, was directly related to my own dance class experience.
And I asked in the poll, have you ever taken a dance class and hated your outfit like it
laid on you all wrong and it affected your performance/work?
(13:10):
97% said yes.
Over 3,000 people voted and said yes so the vast majority I can't say unanimously because
3% said no.
But yeah, most people have had this experience.
I don't know if there's anything here to learn from this because you really have to, I think,
take class and understand what works for you.
(13:33):
And this is something that I thought I knew really well but now that I'm again inching
back into class, I had this experience.
It was a hip-hop class and you know hip-hop, at least for me, you want to feel really grounded.
There was a lot of, you know, knees or bending action.
The first mistake I realized when I was there were my shoes.
(13:54):
I had these adidas on and they weren't flat.
You know they weren't, I didn't feel low to the ground.
They had a little bit of a lift to them.
They were a little narrow in the sole part of the shoe.
I'll show you.
These are the shoes, if you're watching you will see them.
So they kind of go in over here.
So they felt a little narrow and you can see the height, there's a lot of lift in the
(14:15):
shoe and I don't know.
When I was walking in them on the studio floor, I felt like, not like I was in heels,
because obviously, you know, it's a tennis shoe.
But they didn't have that low grounding feeling where I would have felt, I guess more,
I don't know grounded in a hip-hop class.
Also my shirt wasn't baggy enough.
I mean, I think, you know, a great dancer perhaps can wear pretty much anything and kill it.
(14:41):
But I do feel like the outfit informs the style of dance.
I mean you're not going to want to wear like super banging clothes for, you know, a jazz
technique class.
You know, you want to have your lines like shown to be seen and same thing for hip-hop, you
know?
Generally speaking, just kind of, it's laying on you, it's kind of flowing, it's bigger.
(15:03):
And my shirt was tighter, I realized looking in the mirror than I thought that it was and
the pants that I wore were just really not becoming.
I don't know, they just looked so off to me.
They weren't baggy, they weren't cool.
I just felt like, "Oh, when I saw myself and I thought no matter how great I dance today,
(15:23):
it's like as an actor, your costume, if you will, really informs the character.
A lot of actors work from the outside in.
You know, get how the character looks first and then it informs you.
And the same thing for dance, it's a real thing.
Your clothes will inform, you know, how you feel dancing.
And if you are dancing in a certain style and the clothes don't seem to align with that
(15:47):
style on your body, it just feels off."
And then somehow, that energy is carried through class, does that make sense?
I just did not love watching myself dance in that class that time and I think my outfit
played a role in that.
And can I also say that so much of what I own to wear that may have worked in that class
(16:14):
was in the laundry.
So to be fair to myself, I was kind of scratching my pants.
I was scrambling around, but now I know no, this is a more serious matter and I can't just
you know, scrounge around for clothes.
Like I better make sure my outfit is darn good for class because hey, that's like your
base, you know, that's your starting point.
Maybe I won't catch all the counts of eight, maybe my technique will be off, but at least
(16:37):
all look good, right?
I mean, it's the thing.
It matters, it all matters.
Okay, third story, and I'm not sure if it's even, you know, a story per se, but I just want
to say that you only really can improve as a dancer by taking class.
And you can only remember things that you need to work on as a dancer from taking class.
(17:01):
You can watch all the YouTube's, listened to all the podcasts, check out all the social
media posts about tips and tricks and even do some training from home, of course, and that
can be a great thing.
Of course, it can be huge, but in-person classes, seeing yourself in the mirror, learning choreography,
having a teacher's eyes on you, seeing what other students are doing right, doing wrong,
(17:23):
is really where it's at to improve.
That may be Captain Obvious, but it just reminded me being in class now how many things
I had already, and I got to give myself some grace.
It's been two and a half years since I've been in class.
So yeah, the fact that I'm aware and remembering these things already so quickly, just a couple
classes in, I think is to my credit, that said, I'm like, "Oh my God, the epiphanies every
(17:45):
time I take a class, I'll give you one example."
In one of the groove three classes, I took, I was feeling really good in there.
I caught all the choreography and I filmed it.
By the way, I'm not showing the dance footage yet because that'll be from my return to dance
docuseries.
So if you're not following that, the link is below.
So I take that groove three class, I filmed a little bit of it, and then I watch it after
(18:09):
class, and then I was reminded of something that I had forgotten.
And that is this.
So I'm from the, you know, late 80s, early 90s school of hip hop where you just go all out,
100% high energy, and your movement is big.
And to be fair, back in the day, the movement was bigger, and it also utilized the whole body
(18:30):
and the floor.
You're always traveling now.
I've mentioned before, the movement is often micro, it's small, you don't travel as
much.
There's a podcast on that, I'll link to that below if you're watching a YouTube.
There's a card right here, you can click on, and a lot of the reason why the movement doesn't
move as much anymore is because it's filmed, you know, for your device, because it's got
to be like in a certain vertical frame.
(18:52):
I'm just used to dancing, you know, bigger.
That's the school I come from, and I forgot that dancing like that does not serve so much
of the choreography today.
And I'm watching myself and I thought, oh my god, I'm too big.
Which isn't just by the way in my movement, but also having 100% energy the whole way through.
(19:14):
And I needed to pull back more and I didn't.
And this may sound defeating almost, but marking the choreography or looking like you're marking
it in parts actually serves the choreo better.
It gives it layer, it gives it textures.
And also I don't have to push that hard all the time.
(19:36):
Now the trick is also you might be giving 100% energy and giving your full soul into it,
which is a beautiful thing.
And that is I think perhaps how it should usually be, but you want to look like you're not
giving 100% like outwardly, visibly.
It shouldn't be just big high energy all the time.
(19:58):
The smaller movements, again, the layers really benefit the choreography.
And I had forgotten that and I remember driving home thinking again, me processing after
watching the video and I thought, okay, Miller, you forgot that and now you know all over
again.
It's wise in hip hop especially in most classes to pull back or look like you're pulling
(20:23):
back.
Your energy may still be high, but look like you're pulling back.
And then the next class I took, I was going big and then I remembered immediately, no, no,
no, pull back Miller.
You don't have to like fight so hard here.
You know, give it some texture.
Oh my God, I'm marking it right now and you know what?
It looks better.
(20:43):
It serves the choreography in this class.
That's the operative thing, not all the time, not all the classes, not all the styles of
dance, but in this style, this hip hop class in this particular choreo.
It did look better when I was just kind of chill more.
That has been a great thing for me being back in class is remembering the things that I
(21:05):
learned in my return to dance journey that I'm now learning all over again.
But now, and this is the cool thing about growth, I'm remembering what I learned and it's
happening at a much more rapid pace, you know?
And the last thing I'll say is, I just need to let go and this is my reminder for all
of you to let go about something that you may not want to let go about.
(21:28):
And that is just the filming in the class because it is the way of it today, even at tiny
mom and pop kind of dance studios like this one.
So I mentioned to you how the studio doesn't have, you know, videographers, class shutting down
and the lights and all that stuff.
No, that's not what I want right now.
But they are a business and they do want to have exposure on social media and have noticed
(21:50):
that somebody who works the front desk, I don't know if it's, you know, the studio director,
owner, whatever, this person will film a lot of the classes.
Even the jazz class I took just yesterday, the warm up, the across the floor, working
on technique, pirouettes, they're filming it and then the combination, rehearsing it and
(22:12):
then performing it, all of it being filmed.
And I admit there's a part of me that's inside like no, and kind of, I don't want to say screaming
but definitely resisting it.
And then I'm working on letting go.
I keep thinking this is a place of training and that this shouldn't be happening but who
(22:32):
might to say what should be happening?
It's their business.
And I guess that there's a lesson here, Dancer, is that you got to let go.
It's just the way of it these days and you got to find studios that are right for you.
This place is right for me.
This is, you know, if there were a pros and cons list, you know, this would be the one con,
is that they are filming through class and they do postings on social media.
(22:57):
It's funny because we did this one pirouette combination thing across the floor.
Again, I haven't danced in two and a half years but even so we have our good turn days,
our bad turn days and our member, I fell out of a turn.
And then we finished the across the floor and then the teacher, you know, turned off the
music and I turned to the person who was filming and I said, make sure you don't post that
(23:19):
and everybody laughed because we all kind of struggled.
So I made like a joke out of it.
I can't be in control of whatever is put out there.
And if I wind up on this page's social media as I'm training and learning all over again,
you know, I got to just embrace it.
I got to let go.
I got a surrender.
The bottom line is if there is a takeaway, no studio is going to be perfect ever.
(23:41):
You may not be able to answer to control the lens, the filming, the camera, all that stuff
but you can control your focus, your growth, your surrendering to the moment.
Also you're in control of what makes you feel comfortable.
And if for you, the environment of filming in any capacity doesn't work for you, then
you just find another studio.
(24:03):
And at the end of the day, I realized for me, I was comfortable enough with this experience.
I need to challenge myself by being on camera.
Yeah, do I love you know having myself filmed going across the floor and working on technique?
No.
But I'm also at a place where I know that I have to let go that this studio features so
(24:25):
much gold for me that I'm not going to let this one hiccup deter me from studying at
a place that has against so many more pros than cons and ultimately really behooves my training
at this time in my starting over journey.
That's all I got.
I hope you enjoyed the podcast.
(24:46):
If you did, if you found some of the stories relatable, share them with your dance fam because
you know they're going to find them relatable too and make sure you subscribe or that you're
following so you never miss an episode.
Oh my God.
I had some things I wanted to announce some exciting updates with my podcast, but I think
I'll wait until until next week.
There has been a lot of exciting things happening with my podcast on both Apple and YouTube.
(25:11):
So I will share that next week.
I'm going to make a note to do that because I'll probably forget.
All right.
Until next time.
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