Mirrors, are you kidding?

O.k, so takin' with the new teacher in the new studio with all the mirrors everywhere was very painful at first. I am not a mirror person, I don't stand in front of the mirror a lot, I am not vain, and honestly it isn't some metaphysical reason, or some emotional problem, I just don't really care. As long as I don't have toilet paper hanging off of my shoe, or spinach in my teeth, mirrors are nothing to me.
Until I had to dance in front of one.
All of my previous classes have been in community centers, high school gyms, church basements, even apartment complex social gathering rooms as big as a bathroom. But never a studio, and never with wall-to wall mirrors.
After my first class I called my best friend and had this conversation:

" well there is good news and bad news."
" o.k. good news first"
" I love the class"
"bad news?"
" I look like an epileptic sausage".

That was a month and a half ago, and now I am...ahem...getting used to it. Now when I dance at home I find myself wishing for a mirror. What happened?
Well for starters I found out that dancing in front of a mirror gets you used to seeing the WHOLE picture. You aren't just focusing on your Omi's or your shimmies, you get to see the whole package. The expression on your face, the way your earrings swoosh with the movement, your energy. In a word mirrors force you to confront yourself, all of yourself. and if you are dancing in front of a mirror you confront yourself as a dancer. I don't think that I had a clear picture of what kind of dancer I was. I had what I THOUGHT I was, but in watching it week after week, I see what is really there. Invaluable information. ( if you are interested, I am a lot more chill dancer than I thought,and my dancing is a lot more influenced by my traditional Egyptian Cab former teacher than I thought. Smaller movements, kind of a half -holding back of energy)
At first this was terrible for me and I tried not to look at myself, but as I get used to it I find that I look forward to it.
So go to crap-mart, and get a mirror. Dance in front of it. Makes a big difference.