How nerves affect improv....how do you deal with it?

[Emma_Williams]

When I am at home or in a dance studio alone i can put on the music and dance half decent in fact sometimes i dance to a piece and think wow i wish that i had just been a performance because i really felt the music and it looked good. BUT then....I go to a workshop, a lesson, a private lesson and I cannot improvise....my body goes wooden...i appear as if i know 2 moves at maximum and I just seize up and do a stupid cheesy face instead of doing my real emotions.

Now if I have a glass of vino....I dance like I dance alone.

How do you all get over your nerves so that you can relax and improvise well??

I honestly can do it at home lol....honest hehe

 

[Nath]

I use the Carol Burnett method of relieving tension. I look at my intended audience before I go on and picture them on the toilet straining. Makes me laugh, relaxes me and reminds me none of us look good all the time.

 

[Emma_Williams]

no that doesnt work i have tried it and all i do is nearly throw up hehe. I am not phased by gross stuff or graphic ideas so that doesnt shock me or make me feel better

 

[bellyfester]

I'm in the same position as you. sigh. No help here.

 

[Marya]

there are some breathing exercises that might help, breathe in slowly counting 1 through 6, hold the breath for a count of 6, breathe out slowly to a count of 8 if you can, try and make it to at least 6. This is proven to lower blood pressure and it is very calming.

How do you do with choreographies? Can you remember them? When I perform, I practice, practice, practice, improvising as I go and eventually a loose structure appears that I can remember and although it is not really a choreography and I don't do it the same way twice, it is enough to help me feel comfortable performing, and I have enough body memory to carry me through the nervousness. Improvising doesn't mean you can't have some guidelines, ie I will shimmy here where the drums are, I will travel in a circle here where the music is faster, and I will do figure 8 here where the accordion is playing

Marya

 

[Emma_Williams]

I have done one choreography in tribal (yes i know that its meant to be improv) and i messed up at one part.
Improv makes me perform better but it is nice to have a choreography when stuck

 

[Aniseteph]

I'm much more comfortable improvising in classes and workshops these days because I have been made to do it a lot and the sky has never fallen down. I'm not saying it looks great, but I'm not hideously outside my comfort zone any more, which I think is on the right track.

I know what you mean - the minute you start to think "I feel like putting this move in somewhere OMG that went horribly wrong help should I carry on with doing this to the end of the phrase even though I HATE it or cut my losses and change to something different now even though it'll be obvious I messed up..." etc etc, you tense up and lose it. Thinking kills it for me.

To help with nerves I pretend to be someone super-confident. What would <insert name of fave dancer> do?

 

[Amulya]

I recommend a little bit of choreography as a frame to hold on to (there is a thread about that here) that would help from falling into the robotic automatic belly dancing. I used to have that with nerves, falling into the same moves and combination's all the time if I'd get to nervous.

 

[adiemus]

Honestly ask yourself - what's the worst thing that could happen?
Then ask: 'How likely is that?'
Then ask: 'Could I handle the worst anyway?' - and work out how you would!
Deep breathing prior to the performance
A framework and using 'safety movements' - I got this from Nadira Jamal!
A big scream (silent of course) to let all the tension out!
Acting 'as if' you are that fabulous dancer you know you are when you're at home!
Enjoying the music and the moment - remember why you're dancing! It's not about the people out there as much as the connection between you and the music. Once you feel that connection, it's about communicating that joy to the people watching.

I love Nadira's DVD on performance jitters - I'll be playing that this weekend to the women who are performing in Kashmir's student production May 8th - given that I'm doing a solo improv, I'll need to follow my own advice.
Believe me, the anxiety can go down over time if you remind yourself that you've prepared well, you've danced your best - and you've expressed the music. Don't go reminding yourself of past mistakes, or future horrors - just be in the moment and really FEEL that music!

 

[Daimona]

How do you all get over your nerves so that you can relax and improvise well??

Good preparation is the main key to a good improvisation.
A friend of mine studying music once told me that anyone showing up unprepared for the class in musical improvisation didn't get many credits from the teacher. The more you practice certain drills and combinations, the better you will get. Also remember to prepare your mind for the great and positive experience you will have, how great the audience will be and how beautiful you will look while on stage.

Remember, it's not a question of life or death. Have fun, enjoy the dance and communicate it to your audience.

Still nervous? Here's my last trick (in the deep breathing category):
I can't remember in which of the films in the Matrix trilogy this scene comes from, but do you remember how the room pulsates with the breath of Neo when he starts to believe?
Just before I enter the stage, I take some deep breaths while I visualize the same scene, I raise and lower my arms into position, raise my chin and torso, take on my stage persona and then I'm ready to enter (hopefully doing my best).
Somehow this makes my nerves go away while I'm on stage, but on the other side my nerves messes me up as soon as I'm finished (some sort of post-reaction I guess). Have you ever heard about other dancers with the same sort of post reaction before?

 

[Amanda (was Aziyade)]

With improv -- the only thing that helps me is practice practice practice in a live setting. Try getting a regular gig at a hospital or nursing home, and MAKE yourself dance improv to one piece.

There is something called "performance adrenaline" that makes you forget everything you know - LOL. It is lessened by repeated performances.

 

[Makeda Maysa]

I agree with many of the points here. What I've found helps is to really know my music inside and out until I could dance it in my sleep. I drill, drill, drill. Listen to on my iPod during the work day. Play it in the car. I become friends with it.:lol: When it's time to put it onstage, I love the music so much and know it so well that it's like my body dances to it without me having to think about it.

As for performance jitters, I shimmy away excess nervous energy while I wait backstage. I pray. I drink a glass of wine. And then I let Makeda take over. Toya can be scared and timid sometimes, but Makeda never is.

 

[gisela]

What is kind of working for me is doing it anyway and making myself perform improvisation in appropriate settings, such as haflas etc. And... accepting that the first few times it might not be brilliant but it is a step on the way towards better performances.
I am far from having achieved brilliantness but I am doing loads better than before.

Another important aspect is using your charm. The last time I improv-performed I knew that I wasn't well prepared so I concentrated on being expressive and charming on stage... and to my surprise it worked

 

[Yshka]

To help with nerves I pretend to be someone super-confident. What would <insert name of fave dancer> do?

*stands in the middle of the floor with a big smile on her face, staring down at her shimmying hips"

Sorry lol, I inserted "fifi" for a moment and drifted off into my fave Fifi-moment... She has the cutest way of 'looking' at her shimmies :lol:

Anyhoo, regarding the subject. Controlled breathing exercises make me more wound up and stressed, don't know why. The toilet-approach I think would only cause me to die laughing in the dressing room before I should go on. I'd never heard that one but it sounds so funny!!!

Mo Geddawi once said to make yourself as grand and tall as you can be and stand with confidence because people want someone they can relate or look up to. I think I use his concept of "growing" into a sort of greater persona (i.e. opening chest, arms, breathing in while stretching up and out if that makes sence). When taking lessons with him he was talking constantly about taking space with your body and presence. This works best for me. I try to feel this before I go on and it makes me feel so much more confident and able to maintain calm during the show. It might sound plug'ish but getting his DVD at the festival in Amsterdam last dcember has really proven to be a great help in remembering this concept.

Also what Gisela says, accepting that it might not be perfect immediately makes it easier on me.

 

[Shasta]

I'm writing an article on this and would love some quotes

These are some really awesome tips and ones I can put to good use as I am developing my first solo (yikes!) I am actually writing an article on how belly dancers at all levels from beginner to advanced handle performance anxiety. I would love to get a few quotes from some of the dancers on this forum that I can use (with their permission and with appropriate attribution) in my article.

If anyone here would like to share their advice on this topic for my article, please send me a private message or email me at kendaisymccarty@yahoo.com by 5/18/2010 with the following information:

• One or two short tips you personally use for reducing performance anxiety
  
• Your general location (state or country is all I need)
  
• Your experience level (rate yourself beginner to advanced or tell how many years you have been performing)
  
• How you would like to be attributed in the article (by your real name, performance name, troupe name, business name, etc.)

If anyone would like to see samples of my previous articles on belly dance to feel more comfortable with participating, I'd be happy to share some examples privately - I just don't want to "advertise" them by linking to them here in case that's considered spamming

I look forward to hearing from you!

Respectfully,

Shasta Daisy McCarty

 

[Jane]

I did my first improv solo as a dancer of three months. At a banquet. In front of lots of people.

How did I get through? Not recommended, but one word-

Vodka.

 

[RaggioDiLuce]

This may or may not be an entirely serious reply because I haven't done improv enough to know what works every time, but I will relay the advice my dancer friend gave me when I had to fill in the role my teacher (teacher!) had but was sick for: pretend to be a drag queen. I got up there and channeled everyone who had ever been on RuPaul's Drag Race and girl, I was set! :lol:

Silliness aside, it probably depends on the role you're playing too. I had to be a zombie brat who taunts the rest of the dancers onstage, and they eventually re-kill me at the end of the song (it was Halloween). I think for that reason it worked...

 

[PracticalDancer]

There are a lot of good points and methods here. Emma, my advice is painfully simple, and pulls from a bit of each of them:

1. Just do it. Over and over again. Make your self do it. It will get easier, but only with experience.
2. Control your destiny. Pick short music that YOU know that YOU like and that makes YOU feel confident. I could expand on this bit for hours!
3. Control them. The audience has no idea what you intend to do. Tell them how to feel with your expression, guide their attention to what YOU want them to see. (If you have one fabulous right hip that is cooperating that night, keep them looking at that fabulous right hip!). Again, I could go on for hours, but the dirty little secret is that your audience is so intimidated by the fact that YOU are up there and they are not and that YOU have their full attention and that YOU can make them look where YOU want and feel what YOU want that they will only think what you tell them to. Really, it's true. Find that power and then use it wisely.

Oh, and have fun!

Regards,

Anala

 

[Shanazel]

I did my first improv solo as a dancer of three months. At a banquet. In front of lots of people.

How did I get through? Not recommended, but one word-

Vodka.

That would've only worked for me had I been intent on doing an entire program of floor work. Crawl on, crawl around, crawl off.

 

[Jane]

That would've only worked for me had I been intent on doing an entire program of floor work. Crawl on, crawl around, crawl off.

I just left out any spinning...

Seriously. It's not called liquid courage for nothin' :lol:

I did have an interesting experience watching a drunk dancer at a show once. Not so good. Flying zills were involved. :naghty: One shot of vodka kept my legs from shaking so badly that first time. YMMV.