I carried out a short survey to get an idea of how dancers experience feedback, confidence, and injury during training. It was only a small group (5 responses), but it gave a really useful starting point and helped highlight some clear patterns that informed the direction of my project.
One of the first things that stood out was that every single participant had experienced a dance-related injury. Even with such a small sample, this feels significant and shows how common injury is within dance. It made it clear early on that this project shouldn’t just focus on improving technique, but also on helping dancers train more safely.
Feedback in class also came up as quite inconsistent. Most people said they only sometimes receive personalised feedback, and some even said rarely. This suggests that dancers can’t always rely on class to fully understand or correct their technique, especially in group settings where teachers can’t give constant individual attention.
Another interesting point was around remembering corrections. Most participants said they only often remember and apply feedback after class, rather than always. So even when corrections are given, they don’t necessarily carry through into independent practice, which can slow down progress.
Confidence levels seemed to reflect this as well. The majority of people described themselves as only somewhat confident in their technique. This suggests there’s a level of uncertainty in how movements are being performed, which again links back to limited feedback.
This is backed up by the fact that a lot of dancers said they only sometimes realise when they’re doing something incorrectly. Without someone there to point it out, it can be difficult to self-correct, which highlights a clear gap when practicing alone.
What was really strong though was the response to potential solutions. Everyone said that real-time visual feedback would help them understand mistakes better, and all participants also said they would find value in reviewing corrections after class. This really supports the idea behind the mirror and shows there’s a genuine need for something like it.