How do I get better from watching myself dance back?
Watch the recording once, next to the reference if you have one, and name the single most visible difference — the arm that is late, the knee that is shallow, the turn that under-rotates. Fix only that on the next run, then record again and compare the two runs, not the run and your memory. One correction at a time is not modesty; it is the only rate at which a body can take a correction in.
Why one thing
Attention is the bottleneck. Told five things, a dancer fixes none and gets stiff. Told one, they fix it, feel it, and keep it, and the next run has a new most-visible thing. Coaches who seem to say a lot are usually saying one thing per run.
Choosing it
Look for the difference a viewer would notice first: timing before shape, big joints before small ones, the move that travels furthest from the reference. If two things look equally wrong, choose the earlier one in the phrase, because fixing it often fixes what follows.
Real improvement, or a good day
Bodies vary from run to run, and a change smaller than that variation is noise. Judge improvement across several runs, not one. If the thing you fixed stays fixed for three runs in a row, it is yours. If it comes and goes, it is not learned yet.
Questions people ask
How many times should I watch a take?
Once, with a question in mind. Repeated watching turns into self-criticism and stops being information. If you missed it, watch the reference once more, then the take once more.
What if nothing looks wrong?
Then either the phrase is learned or you are watching for the wrong thing. Compare timing against the music with the sound on, and check the frame where you and the reference are furthest apart.