Thread: Need A Pep Talk

This is the week! My first belly dance recital is Friday evening, the dress rehersal is Tuesday night. Am I scared? You bet I am! I'm still going with it though.

My mom and dad have cancelled out of attending and so have most my relatives. They'll just wait for the video. ( Gee! Thanks! ) But some of my co-workers are still coming. I have to get them directions because there is a big detour that GPS doesn't know about. I scoped out the school we're performing in and its HUGE! I went to a tiny Catholic high school with 200 kids in the whole school. This school makes my high school look like a one room, log cabin shack! So yeah! No pressure!

But the worse thing I have to worry about is my own body image. I still need a lot of work there! I will be showing my belly to the whole world Tuesday and Friday night and I am not exactly a twiggy nor do I think I will ever get there shy of getting thrown into a third world prison! I'm still very self conscious about that even though I know I just need to get over it. Its one thing sitting here alone in my own home typing on the computer but its totally another thing when I'm in the spotlight myself. ( So yes, I'm a hypocrite! ) I felt like a beached whale when we showed up for pictures in our recital outfits in spite of the compliments I got from the 8 yr old phenom in the kid's class. I'm still not happy with what I see in the mirror. I need to get my mind off of this and concentrate on the dance.

So please help!

Indigo S.

If you're on stage to be honest the lights are going to be so bright up there you're not going to be able to see faces clearly.

Just relax and enjoy the music. The audience is going to remember that you had fun & looked like you were enjoying yourself more than whether or not you got the choreo right, so if you make a wrong move, commit to it until you find the right moment to get back on track with the choreo.

The fact that your family aren't going to be there will probably make things a little easier on you.

The last bit of advice I am going to give you is that even the most seasoned dancers experience nerves before a performance. It's normal to feel nervous, just be aware that if you are more active when you're nervous to direct it into a warmup rather than giving in to the urge to flail or you may run out of energy on stage.

Grab a pen, draw a smiley face on your belly, then go to the mirror and make it move! Make it jiggle, make it wiggle, make it twist and frown.

Trust me, you will be feeling a lot better about it by the time you wash it off (only make sure you do before the performance. No sharpie!)

Best wishes to you, indigo, bust a shimmy!

Sorry I canst do better, but I'm supposed to be sleeping---early day tomorrow.

I survived!

I had to get in my costume at home and we haven't turned on the a.c. yet and the weather we have had lately has been very tropical. It was raining on and off yesterday and very steamy! Anyone dancing that night had to run a gaunlet with periodic cloudbursts. ( Make sure your costume isn't dry clean only! ) By the time I got dressed, I felt like a steamed lobster! I was so glad to get inside and in the air conditioning!

Funny thing was I wasn't all that nervous. (Maybe that will come when I dance my first solo. ) You're right! I couldn't see any body's faces in the audience. Now first of all, this is a showcase for the dance studio I'm learning from so there was a huge mix of dancers of all types and ages running around. ( Of course the belly dancers got everyone's heads to turn because of our jingling outfits! You could hear us coming a mile off! )We had to do our routine AND dance the finale! The finale is NOT belly dance! Which I totally screwed up BIG TIME! I'm sorry, you do not do jumping jacks in a coin bra! ( Luckily nobody I knew who was in the audience had any idea I was back there! I guess the 5yr old kids in mouse suits at the front of the stage took everyone's attention! )

So we went on to dance our routine under the bright lights and I thought I screwed everything up in some small way. However I had a friend film it and when I watched it, I was surprised how good we all looked. I had a problem in practice with either leading or following everyone else's moves by a few seconds. But it actually looked pretty in sync on video. ( I'll see when I get it, if I can post it here.) Hubby was in the crowd and he had not really ever seen me dance. He was pretty impressed. ( Okay, he said I wasn't the worst one there! ) And my belly fear? I forgot all about it while I was there------until I saw the video!

But still-----I think I like the stage!

Indigo S.

P.S. Is there a rule that while standing back stage waiting to go on, if your teacher starts doing belly rolls, the rest of the class has to do it too? Because that's what happened!

The belly rolls were probably your teacher's way of dealing with her nerves, and didn't it work a treat in dealing with yours?!

I'm glad you had such a good time and I'm looking forward to seeing your video.

Funny. I asked her if she ever got nervous and she said, "NAH! I've done 37 of these things. I never get nervous. Put me on a stage in front of other belly dancers---THAT'S when I get nervous!"


Indigo S.