There are many factors that can facilitate growth in a person's performance as well as enhance it. However, there are also factors that can inhibit a person's ability to progress and grow.
Feelings of heightened anxiety before a performance, especially in a sport like dance where most of the time you are a solo performer or in a duet; there is a lot of pressure to do your part well for yourself as well as any other performers you are with.
The good news is, there are plenty of skills like confidence, motivation, and focus that can be learned with training, and there are loads of strategies to help maximize those results to give you that competitive edge that all of us crave as performers.
So here are a few areas I would like my readers to consider.
Focus on Improving the Skill of Mental Toughness
Mental toughness is the skill of being able to produce consistently high levels of performance despite the regular challenges and adversities an athlete faces. The components that make up mental toughness are the following: control, commitment, challenge, and confidence.
Control - ownership of one's emotions and life situations
Commitment - persistence in pursuing meaningful goals despite adversities
Challenge - tendency to perceive threats as opportunities to be conquered
Confidence - belief in one's ability to perform no matter the circumstances
For those that find this area of your life to be particularly challenging, the good news is there are cognitive-behavioral therapy options that can help you. Personal trainers can introduce you to techniques like positive self-talk and reframing, but in extreme cases where there isn't enough mental toughness to go about your daily life, then consider therapy as a means of tackling these issues.
So let's break these four areas down a little bit further and give some actionable steps.
A: CONTROL
In my opinion, control is often the area where dancers struggle the most. In my sport particularly, a loss of control - like a mental block or a regression - has taken hold of many dancers thus significantly decreasing an athlete's motivation. Realizing that you are in control, and your body is not working against you, it's working for you - that's a very freeing concept. It is not aches and pains in the body telling you it hates you. In fact, your body is giving you signals because it loves you and wants you to do well. Your body is NOT your dragon to be slayed. Your body is your vessel for which you execute and attunement is what control is all about. Not controlling situations, but by listening actively and making choices towards a goal.
For example, some days your body is just not going to be up for doing something specific. Even elite athletes will begin their warmup process, and realize what areas of their body are strong and ready to train, and what areas need to be cut back to maximize their overall performance. This is real control. Knowing when it's time to train hard, and when it's time to slow down. This however does take attunement and time. Not something that a beginner understands particularly well. So consult a fitness professional to help guide you on attunement of your body and gaining control over your training destiny through active listening.
B: COMMITMENT
I think this and patience go hand in hand in the dance arena. Nothing we do is something that you can master overnight. Normally it takes years of conditioning and consistent effort to get results. Commitment however, isn't just about showing up to workout or train. It is also about choosing to go on when you don't feel like it, you have a set back, you didn't reach your goal, move for the day, etc. It is choosing to go on when you have a bad day.
I don't know a single dancer in pole sport that hasn't had a day where you were slippery. Didn't matter how much grip you had on. Your body wanted to sweat and you were not going anywhere. No, this isn't a sign you should quit. Absolutely not. It's just your body wasn't ready to dance today. And that's okay.
It's choosing to go on when you get a minor injury (and upon returning have to start over). It's choosing to not train when you're in pain so that you can continue dancing. It's choosing NOT to try an exercise one more time because, "you're so close." It's choosing to do the conditioning. It's choosing to come to practice and try something different. It's choosing to show up for yourself - even if that is the only reason.
Trainers are really good at this area of life. They are also really good at navigating how to commit to a sport properly. Because there is such a thing as over commitment.
C: CHALLENGE
This for me is an area I struggle with the most but my fiancé seems to have zero issues with. For example, he tells me all the time, "when people act like they don't think I can do it, it fuels me to want to achieve more than what they expect." And to no one's surprise, there has been no challenge he hasn't overcome.
Where I struggle is the logical side of the phrase, "use it as fuel." For me, if the odds don't look that great, I'm not going to do well. I may say something as an act of realism like "I expect to get 9th." My trainers will always tell me, "you should consider your valuation a little bit higher."
They are right. I take a list of competitors and then I decide where I stack up and my odds of placement. I give myself my own rating. Maybe it then becomes a self-fulling prophecy. So if I took the challenge of a large division, and instead say to myself, "I'm going to get out there and show people how I like to dance, and she's pretty great." I think that will translate directly into my performance and scores.
I encourage all athletes to turn a negative into a goal or a positive. Many people in your bracket? Many more people you can impress. Many more people you can smile at and give a hug backstage. Many more people that will know who you are after today. Many people you can get inspiration from - find their strengths and develop it for yourself. That is not selfish. That is called competitive sports. And you can do all of this with positivity and a smile.
D: CONFIDENCE
The thing dancers are really good at faking but the body keeps score. Being able to believe in one's abilities regardless of the circumstances - this is something you can see in others but we hardly ever look inwards and see it in ourselves.
We think of confidence a lot in the dance world. We think about it in terms of aesthetic beauty and ability, but we forget that confidence on stage comes down to technique, training, and being prepared for the performance. Someone can be beautiful and talented, but then get on stage and have a hiccup because they only ran their routine once a month ago and didn't consider their foot getting caught in a certain position and they didn't plan an exit. Being prepared is going through all the aspects of your routine and saying to yourself, "what's the plan if X happens?" Because then if by chance that happens on stage, you are ready for plan B and it will look and feel intentional.
This is what builds confidence as a dancer - versatility.
When I have a lot of options on how to get into the moves I have lined up for me, it takes the pressure off of me in terms of having to get the combo perfectly in a certain way. It frees me up to feel it out in the moment and choose my own adventure. I'm prepared for every scenario. I also like to run my routine in different conditions, and go through all the moves slowly so that I know what it feels like to be in a position correctly and what it is supposed to feel like to transition between them safely. That's what builds confidence in dance.
Also training both sides. Knowing you can do the move on either side so you are prepared just in case. When you execute moves you know how to do really well, then it shows on stage. It shows by the energy and flair you bring into your performance. That's what makes it enjoyable for the viewer to watch.
2. Focus on After Performance Care
What they don't tell you is what to do after you perform. Here's what you don't do... think about everything you did wrong. Do NOT count the number of mistakes you made. Everything you did on stage was not a mistake - it was meant to be. You did a variation of your routine. Version 29. There isn't THE VERSION, there is just A VERSION of your routine. And as soon as a dancer squares with that, the sooner you will no longer be in a perpetual stage of unrest.
It's also not going to look the way you pictured in your head. GET OVER IT. What matters is whether or not what you wanted to say in your routine came across? Wanted to show frustration and the feedback was, "I really saw the energy of anger in that." Then YOU WON.
Performances are about communicating ideas and messages to someone else. It is a synergistic relationship between you and the audience. When we think too inwardly about how WE WANTED THE ROUTINE TO GO, we aren't thinking about the most important person - the person watching you perform. Allow them into your world. Allow them to experience who you are, imperfections and all. They probably won't even notice. Most don't. If the audience is so caught up in what you are presenting, I guarantee you, they aren't going to notice the technical things wrong with it. I promise.
Take yourself out for a dip in a hot tub. Get a good nap. Have a healthy meal afterwards. Hug your parents if you have them. Take the time to enjoy a sense of accomplishment. You did something hard. You put yourself out there and expressed yourself. Now go relax and get ready for next season. Take everything in around you and enjoy the moment.
Good luck out there and keep dancing!
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