Feedback Thoughts

Image: WikiMedia Commons

Most of my experience receiving criticism comes from my time as a ballet dancer. In ballet, dancers generally crave constructive criticism from their teachers, choreographers, ballet masters, and peers because it is very difficult even with mirrors or video recordings to know what you look like while you're dancing. Since constant criticism is so imperative to a dancer's development they are taught from a very young age to appreciate the feedback, and as a dancer you learn very quickly that criticism is much more valuable than praise. As William Treseder says in "Using Harsh Feedback to Fuel Your Career," criticism is an investment in your continued improvement. No one is going to take the time to give constructive criticism to someone they don't think can improve, so as a dancer when someone would take the time to give me a personalized correction part of me took it as a vote of confidence from them (the other parts of me got upset that I wasn't perfect). It was always tough balancing the pain of being told something I worked so hard on wasn't good enough with the neccessity of hearing it so that I could continue to improve. That pain was especially sharp because as Megan Bruneau said in "5 Tips For Taking Feedback Like a Champ" dancers like perfectionists "tend to attach [their] self-worth to performance." Criticism is never easy to hear, but my experience in ballet has taught me that it is definitely true that constructive criticism is a vital part of growth.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hi I'm Ryan and this is my Introduction

Image
Hi I’m Ryan, and I’m a computer science major. I guess you could say I’m in school to prepare for my second career. My first career was as a ballet dancer, and it was my dream job. I wanted to dance before I could walk, so about as soon as I could talk I started trying to convince my parents to sign me up for dance lessons. They finally agreed when I was eight years old, and after that I never stopped taking classes until I gave my last performance as a professional ballet dancer nearly two and a half years ago. Dance and ballet in particular has been one of the most important forces that has shaped my life, so I decided to share some of the story of my career in ballet. Image Source:  pxhere From when I started taking ballet class at eight through middle school, I took class for fun and didn’t take it very seriously or consider pursuing professional career in dance until I started high school. In high school I started to have class and rehearsal six days a week, and the level
Read more

Week 10 Story: The Hickory Lane Terror

Image
This story has been added to my portfolio project. Read the most up to date version here . Josh was walking home from school with his older brother Jacob on a beautiful, breezy spring day. It was one of those perfect days. The sun was shining, the temperature was lovely, and Josh was starting to feel excited for his tenth birthday which, as of today, was exactly one month away. The brothers turned the corner onto Hickory Lane and walked one block. At the intersection of Hickory Lane and 4th Avenue they crossed the street to walk on the north side of the road to 6th Avenue. All the children in their small town walked on the north side and never on the south side of Hickory between 4th and 6th Avenues to avoid The Hickory Lane Terror. Image Source: pxhear On the corner of Hickory and 5th there was an old dilapidated house. The decades old white paint that hadn't already peeled off was gray with age and the windows were so dusty someone on the street could barely tell if an
Read more