Calming the Dance Jitters
By Jake Haning
Have you experienced a situation where you were so nervous you couldn't perform as well as you would have liked? It's an experience I'm sure most of us have felt. I'll share some tools you can use to help eliminate the negative effects of being nervous.
I've written this from the perspective of someone that is getting ready to compete. Even if you are just a social dancer, you can still use all these tools to help get over being nervous. After all, going out social dancing is still a competition; it’s just a little different (you don't have a number on your back).Here are the things that have been helpful to me:
Physical Actions
Warm up - before performing I've always warmed up. I'll do sit-ups, push-ups, squats, and calf raises. It helps me feel like all my muscles are going to work and I'll be psychically prepared to do my routine.
Deep Breathing And Relaxation
This is a must for me right before I go on. Consciously and deliberately relax your body. Check your posture and make sure your shoulders are relaxed and arms down. Breathe deep. Breathe deep enough that your stomach goes out and then let the air fill up from there. It's very relaxing. I've also found it helpful to focus on counting how long each breath takes. This takes my mind off being nervous and focuses on my breath. I breathe in for 7 counts and out for 7. You can also train your body to relax quicker the more you practice relaxing. By practicing relaxing you can recall the relaxed feeling quickly when you need it. Rima Star will be teaching a class on this and other techniques for calming your dance jitters on May 3rd.I highly recommend it!
Justifications
Re-frame the situation.Most people I talk to are overly nervous because the event has achieved too much importance. It can really seem like your life might end if something goes wrong. By asking yourself questions and rationalizing you can take away much of the stress and re-frame the situation as an opportunity. It takes being rational and being willing to look at the situation from other viewpoints. I'll give you my answers to the questions, but I encourage you to come up with your own. If you are having problems with this exercise, write out your answers then look at them.
1. Is there any rational reason for such a feeling? Yes, I'm afraid I might disappoint people, I might make a mistake and then all this work will be wasted, I might let people down.
2. Could it be that I am mistaken in this belief? Um...yes. I have no way of knowing what people are thinking unless I ask them and I can't ask them all. I’ll always have all the work I put in, so it’s not a waste.
3. Would I come to the same conclusion about some other person if they were in the same/similar situation? No. I'm always hoping the other performers do well. If they make a mistake I'm always hoping that they recover quickly. If that's the case, then it makes sense that they would be feeling the same way about me.
4. Why should I continue to act and feel as if this were true if there is no good reason to believe it? I guess I shouldn't. (If you get stuck here there are additional exercises that you can do).
5. Now, how would I like to act and feel? I would like to be charismatic and inspiring.
You can hone these techniques by practicing them each week so when you do compete, they will work better for you. Do you take group classes? When the music comes on ask your partner to dance and imagine being at a club while practicing what you just learned. Do you take private lessons? When you run your routines or dance to a song, visualize being where you are going to be dancing and do your best. When you get to the competition, walk the floor and see yourself dancing in front of the crowd with the lights on you.
I hope that you find these tools helpful to stop nervousness in its tracks. Please let me know if you try them out or if you have some of your own. Feel free to ask me if you have any questions!