Thread: Temporary Insanity??/

Why is it, that I can rock a choreography in class, but always mess up when performing? Is this something that gets better with time and practice, or just a lapse of temporary insanity, that some may never overcome? This is going on year 3 for me in dance, and is still a big problem for me, and some other gals in my class. Does this happen out there to you much?

Dreadful at choreographies for over a decade. Now, I'm awful during practice and totally rock it on stage (when it counts). It would be nice to have both, but that's all right.

Keep practicing, someday there will be a break through and that successful moment is worth all the frustration.

I still mess up the simplest of choreographies after I think 8? 9? years of dancing. At this stage I've given up on getting them perfect & have come up with a new philosophy - if you're doing it wrong and doing it confidently, the audience will think you're doing it right. ESPECIALLY if you're the only one doing something different (the wrong way, different move, different hands, etc) in a group. It looks deliberate if you do it with confidence. So never underestimate yourself, follow your feet, relax & know that if you just convince yourself that you meant to do it, your audience will believe you.

Ironically, this attitude has made it easier for me to get it right because it takes SO MUCH of the pressure off when I'm performing!

and believe me, we all experience such things, no matter how long we have been taking lessons, or learning choreographies...

what has helped me somehow, is to create my own system for remembering choreographies, mine, or those made by others. maybe you need to explore yourself, how you learn and what you need to have as a "reminding tool" for the choreographies you are going to perform.

And please, accusing yourself of a condition never helps with such things...

It's called performance anxiety and adrenaline.

It also causes:
- perfectly pointed feet in class to hang limply off the ankle during performance.
- a similar effect with hands
- the variety of emotions seen on the face during rehearsal to turn into a plastered-on grin that looks fake.
and many other ills.

The only cure? Practicing while your heart rate is up and under the adrenaline rush. The only way to do that is to find some way of practicing under an audience's eye. Which is hard. Some people do nursing home gigs for this, others grab friends of the family -- but the more performance experience you get, the more you are able to work through the adrenaline and anxiety.

It's also part of the learning process. Most of the time I make a mistake somewhere and that's when your training kicks in and you improv somehow. Sort of literally thinking on your feet. It happens to the best of the professionals too. In fact, one professional dancer was telling a class how he and his partner forgot their choreo at the same time and just fudged it as they went along until someone remembered what to do. So if he had this happen, and he's been dancing most of his life, I don't feel so bad.

There's no pressure and no audience in class, so it's much easier. When you are able to relax on stage it's more likely to go away, but of course there's no guarantee.

When you are learning the choreo, are you counting or singing the song? When I started to dance, the moves and the music were foreign to me. The only thing I could do was count, and it did work for me most of the time. The problem was that when I drew a blank it was hard pick it back up. At some point I began singing the music while I learned, and it made a big difference. I didn't make a conscious effort to do this; it just happened. I can't say for certain when, but I'm sure it was when I was comfortable with the movements and ME rhythms.

If the choreo meshes with the music, it will be easy to associate a set of moves with it. When it's not your choreo it's a bit more difficult, because everyone hears the music differently (some not at all ) and interprets it accordingly.

Originally Posted by lilith71

Why is it, that I can rock a choreography in class, but always mess up when performing? Is this something that gets better with time and practice, or just a lapse of temporary insanity, that some may never overcome? This is going on year 3 for me in dance, and is still a big problem for me, and some other gals in my class. Does this happen out there to you much?

Oh do I hear you on this one!

I get these little blackouts, only they aren't really a blackout more like a brainfade and it is like i don't know where I am.

It doesn't matter if I know the dance backwards, or how much I practiced, or how confident I feel, I just do stupid things on stage

I get really angry at myself for it but i love performing and can't let it stop me from going on.

Darshiva's advice is excellent. I will be putting that into practice from now on.

Originally Posted by Aziyade

It's called performance anxiety and adrenaline.

It also causes:
- perfectly pointed feet in class to hang limply off the ankle during performance.
- a similar effect with hands
- the variety of emotions seen on the face during rehearsal to turn into a plastered-on grin that looks fake.
and many other ills.

The only cure? Practicing while your heart rate is up and under the adrenaline rush. The only way to do that is to find some way of practicing under an audience's eye. Which is hard. Some people do nursing home gigs for this, others grab friends of the family -- but the more performance experience you get, the more you are able to work through the adrenaline and anxiety.

Yes,Yes,Yes! This is how I feel and actl!My heart sometimes beats so fast, I feel its going to pop! I like the Nursing home idea, and will now start forcing my teenage daughters to watch me perform ahead of time.

Originally Posted by Darshiva

I still mess up the simplest of choreographies after I think 8? 9? years of dancing. At this stage I've given up on getting them perfect & have come up with a new philosophy - if you're doing it wrong and doing it confidently, the audience will think you're doing it right. ESPECIALLY if you're the only one doing something different (the wrong way, different move, different hands, etc) in a group. It looks deliberate if you do it with confidence. So never underestimate yourself, follow your feet, relax & know that if you just convince yourself that you meant to do it, your audience will believe you.

Ironically, this attitude has made it easier for me to get it right because it takes SO MUCH of the pressure off when I'm performing!

This is similar to what my teacher mentioned,the other day, after we both messed up. She mentioned keeping a look on your face, like it's deliberate, what you did. I on the other hand, was laughing hysterically through the performance and everyone knew, I did a booboo!