---
title: "How to film your dance practice"
description: "How to film your dance practice beside the lesson: side by side, a ghost over the picture, and a take that stays on your phone."
canonical_url: "https://dancermirror.com/guides/how-to-film-your-dance-practice"
md_url: "https://dancermirror.com/guides/how-to-film-your-dance-practice.md"
last_updated: "2026-10-01"
status: published
---

# How to film your dance practice

Film your dance practice when you cannot tell what your body did. Watching the teacher shows the step. It does not show whether you did it. A front-camera take, played next to the clip, is the missing half.

**Takeaway.** The recording is you. It is not a capture of someone else's app. Set the phone, dance the loop, and watch the take once before you record another.

## Side by side

Side by side puts the lesson on one half of the screen and your camera on the other. Use it when you want a blunt comparison: same count, two bodies. Give the lesson enough width that the feet are still visible.

Stand far enough back that your head and feet both fit. A take of your shoulders teaches you nothing about a foot phrase. Prop the phone at chest height if the floor is the subject, and at hip height if the arms are.

## A ghost over the video

A ghost lays your camera image over the lesson, with a slider for how strong you appear. It is useful when the shape should occupy the same space as the teacher: a line of the arm, a tilt of the head. It is messy when both of you travel a lot.

Lower the opacity until you can see the teacher's outline through yourself. If you cannot tell whose arm is whose, the ghost is too strong and you are guessing.

## What gets recorded

The take is the front camera, while the practice clip plays. You can keep the clip's sound, your room's sound, or silence. The file stays on the device. Exporting a take is something you do on purpose, from those takes, not from a live mirror of another app.

That boundary is the product. A practice video of you is yours. A recording of someone else's player is not a feature, and it is not a workaround we describe.

## Watch the take once

Record, then watch at the same speed you danced. Note one correction. Record again. A folder of ten unwatched takes is a delay, not a practice. Compare the take to the lesson on the counts you marked, not on a feeling that it 'looked off'.

If the phone is in the way of the dancing, you are too close to it. The point of filming is a view you can study after you have left the spot, not a mirror you stare at while moving.

## After you stop

Watch the take at the speed you danced, once, with the lesson beside it. Pause on the count you suspected. If you cannot name the difference, you are not ready to record another take. Name it, then record.

Delete the takes you will not watch. A camera roll of abandoned attempts makes the next session feel heavier than it is. Keep the one that shows the correction, and the one you might send a teacher who asked for it.

Stop while the correction still has a name. Write the count that broke, the side you chose, and the speed you could actually dance. Put that note on the clip itself so you do not trust your memory in the morning. Read it once before you press play. The next session starts there. A fresh video, a new song, or another half hour of watching is how that note gets lost. The phone will still have the clip tomorrow. You do not need a longer session. You need the same bars, slightly cleaner than today. Do that before you close the app.

Practise the side you see. Download from the stores linked on the download page.