Initially, when I started teaching for the Meridian Parks and Rec Department, and thinking about adding an intermediate class, I tried to figure out how to make portable, full-length mirrors to take with me, since there have been mirrors in almost every dance class I’ve ever taken, from ballet to Belly, and I usually don’t teach in an area with mirrors.  However, after having my vision of myself as a beautiful dancer shattered a few times while taking lessons myself, partially due to an outfit that is not flattering on me (with narrow hips but not equally narrow tummy), and partially because we’re all so critical of ourselves, I started considering bucking the dance mirror tradition in the name of preserving mine and other women’s visions of ourselves as the beauties we are when we dance. 

The image we portray is decided at least half by our stage presence, and, if we’re not feeling beautiful, we won’t dance beautifully or smile beautifully.  Think of all the actors and rock stars who are not particularly good looking.  In fact, if you were to meet someone who looked like them on the street, you might even say some were quite homely, even ugly.  However, they have PRESENCE, and, because of that, they come across as handsome and desirable.  Women swoon and throw underwear at them.

I read an article several years ago in Prevention Magazine about a study which determined that, in aerobics classes, women do not exercise as hard when there are mirrors.  I know first-hand why that is:  When I’m taking a kick-boxing class (the only aerobics class I like, other than dance), if I see myself in a mirror, my image of myself as a female Jackie Chan kicking and punching two guys senseless (I like to work between two bags) is shattered.  Instead, I see a pasty White girl in less- than- Jackie Chan -shape, and my workout reflects that.  Therefore, I’ve taken to standing behind a pillar, rather than in front of the mirror.

The combination of my kick-boxing experiences and my experience of dancing in front of numerous mirrors during my dance career has resulted in my decision that mirrors are harmful to our image, and, therefore, our dancing. What are the reasons dance teachers use mirrors?  First, mirrors are used so students can determine if they are doing dance moves correctly.  Second, as I discovered a few months ago, it helps dancers know if a costume is not flattering on them.  Because my instruction style is such that I dance around correcting students individually who are not doing a move correctly, I do not need a mirror for the first reason.  Since I make my students the promise to be brutally honest with them about their costumes, I don’t need a mirror for the second reason.  Therefore, the only thing a mirror would do is shatter my students’ image of themselves as beautiful when they dance, since most people are overly critical of themselves when they see themselves in mirrors or pictures.  Therefore, I am breaking from tradition and never going to use mirrors, even if I later have a studio of my own.