Beginning of dancing life means different for everyone. You might be lucky to be athletic. But most people start out with unfit shape, little rhythmical sense, stiff body, etc.
It is natural to feel embarrassing to practice in front of people.
Every time people walk by, you might stop practicing, and make a pretender to watch movies.
If you gain experience performing at the events, you might have gained confidence. Stage performance is always beneficial to your dance progress as I wrote down in the previous article "Street dancing | difference between contest and showcase".
But, there are also people who have been attending dance classes for years, yet they still feel shy dancing in front of people. What a shame when the regular crowd generally enjoy watching people dancing regardless of your level. You must have seen people dancing on a street. It simply lifts up your mood.
Therefore, this time for those who think dancing is a little embarrassing to be seen by other people, I will introduce the method to overcome from 2 perspectives.
How to overcome embarrassment from dancing?
The reason it feels embarrassing when you are seen practicing is caused by thinking somewhere that "I do not want to show my incompetence" or "I want to look as awesome as possible". Your muscle becomes tense, and you cannot exercise in power.
I imagine you can concentrate in an every day practice. If you can dance properly, it is the most effective method to tackle the situation by turning the private practice into a new norm outside your comfort zone.
Practice at a place that is visible to the surroundings
The purpose here is to draw out 100% of your power instantly even when dancing in public. Let's simulate that situation step by step.
By practicing being exposed as much as possible, the fact that you are seen by people becomes the default. Impatience and tension gradually fade away little by little.
By being watched, the training also creates a light pressure and improves the quality of practice.
It is quite effective.
Make a big move by default
Since you are worried about showing off an awkward move or making a mistake in steps, the movement tends to become small unconsciously. But, it is reverse effect. It will look conspicuously bad.
Worse, your awkwardness attracts unwanted attention, and it will be even more embarrassing because the part that cannot be executed well stands out.
Even if you can give 100% in practice, in public it is reasonable to say that you will be able to only extract 70 to 80% power from nervousness.
So, you should bring your 100% or even 120% in the daily practice. By turning that into your default, your movement will be less likely to become smaller.
Dress up your appearance
Of all the methods that give you confidence, improving your appearance gives an instant boost with high impact. More specifically, by imitating the hairstyle, clothes, shoes, etc. by the dancer, you will raise up your own dancer self image in the mirror.
It is not shallow or anything. As long as it boosts your confidence, you should use it to your advantage. It is especially important for a beginners when they still are not sure if they can call themselves good dancers.
When you get yourself handsome or beautiful, it will noticeably have a positive impact on the movement.
Raise your eyes
It might feel embarrassing when the face of the person looking at you comes into your sight.
But, lowering the line of sight means your head will fall as well. That in turn lowers the center of gravity. The form of choreography will change drastically.
If there are friends who are dancing together, it will be the cause of dissonance. Let's get into the habit of raising your eyes from the usual practice.
When dancing in public, you can reduce embarrassment by looking at the most distant wall by raising your eyes.
Improve your base level
It is the most straightforward way to acquire confidence. By raising your performance level to the point, you do not feel embarrassed anymore. As long as you can see that other people are impressed with your move, there is no need to feel shy.
If you think in your head that you cannot dance well already, going into public makes it feel only worse. Only to reach the certain level, practicing at home might work for you until you gain minimum confidence.
So, leveling up is the absolute and sure way!
Overcome your social embarrassment
The advice so far is mostly for the people who are dancing now and are showcase and contest oriented. It was how to overcome embarrassment at those events.
From now on, I will change my point of view. It will take up the spotlight on how to surpass embarrassed mind before starting out to dance.
Shh, don't tell anybody I am dancing
You have been having this longing for dancing, but you do want to hide it from your friends as long as possible. It sounds contradictory, but there are actually quite a lot of people with similar problems.
After all, announcing that you are dancing is the sure way to get you into trouble. "Show us your move!" is the first thing your friends tell you. And it happens anywhere in the large party, street, bar, etc. Humans are ruthless.
Such person should start off at home without any eyes. Making new friends who are also starting out is another. We all understand how nerve racking dancing can be especially for beginners.
Beyond embarrassment, dancing will be fun
People feel embarrassed to dance in public because they lack the confidence in themselves and do not want others to see that vulnerable side of you.
The experienced dancer who looks amazing now on a stage is cool, but everyone feels the same at the beginning with no exception.
If you keep these techniques in mind while practicing, your confidence will gradually build up. You will eventually join a group of dancers elites full of strong confidence in their faces.