Rebecca Arnold, Critique Video 10/29

The video of my critique on October 29th was pretty painful to watch, but I'm sure others feel the same way about watching theirs. Seeing yourself standing in front of peers is scary, even though you know what's going to happen next. I have a pretty terrible time speaking in front of people, but if you asked me to dance, sing or act I'd be happy to. I have to have my information scripted, or I'll start shaking and stumbling over words. I don't know what causes my terrible public speaking fright, but all I know is I need to work on it.

I was definitely conscious of the way I was holding myself, as I usually am. I am critical of posture after doing ballet for 14 years. I do fidget often, sometimes crossing my legs while standing (that sounds weird...) just out of sheer nervousness/I'm very clumsy and I might have been doing this to hold my balance.

Overall I know I need to slow down and let it come naturally. I focus on what's written so much that it starts to sound mechanical, and no ones interested in listening to that.

My critique went pretty well, actually. As much as I need to work on my public speaking, I at least did not: cry, fall over, curse or throw up while trying to explain my work. The feedback was mostly positive so that always helps my confidence - as I can see in my video when I smile and laugh nervously when I receive comments.

As much as I hate watching myself in this video, it also helps quite a lot. I know what I need to work on AND it proved well for review of my next steps - I scribbled lots of notes during the critique but they are scattered and chicken scratch-y since I was shaking. The notes I take rarely make sense after about 10 minutes of writing them. So it was great in that way! This is not to say that I'm going to be filming myself from now on - but it was a pretty good experience. It needed to happen! Thanks, Tom!