Try this affirmation Sara:
"I am an Olympian God(dess), and you (the audience) are privileged to come and worship me as I dance."
Once I figured this one out, years ago, I've never had stage fright since.
I really like that one, I've never heard it before - but it does make me think about performing in a different (but good) way.
Now that I think about it, from what I remember in my studies, my real name (Chloe) is just another name for the goddess Demeter. Here's something I snagged from Wikipedia:
"Chloe ("the green shoot", Pausanias 1.22.3, for her powers of fertility and eternal youth)".
*brandishes fist*
Huzzah! I am a Goddess!
Hi Sara
Something that I have found enormously helpful is to go out dancing with my troupe outside of the belly dance realm. We go out to the night clubs every once in a while and just have fun feeling the music move us. It has made us very responsive to each other and it also tends to become another place to practice moves learned in belly dance. I get a huge kick out of taking a piece of choreography I'm learning in class and trying to 'sneak' it into pop music dancing. We even put one of our pieces to some country western music as a line dance :lol: The more you dance with other people around- whatever the style- the more comfortable that atmosphere will feel for you. Also, zilling before hand has been a marvelous way for me to burn off jitters Lots of racket and energy.
I just don't have any confidence in myself as a dancer the way I do as a knitter, a spinner, a guitar player, or a paramedic. I chose a dance name hoping to separate my 'dance persona' from my regular persona so I could go out there and be that confident person, but it simply hasn't worked...I need to integrate that person into the whole of me, not separate her.
Sara, you made me laugh out loud! That's exactly how I am...anywhere I'm NOT supposed to be dancing, I can do it well with a wicked grin on my face. Put me on a stage in front of people who actually know the stuff and I don't have a costume large enough to hide behind!
I purchased Saqra's Stage Fright self hypnosis program (it also includes 'homework' and aromatherapy) and I will let you know how it goes. I've also gotten in contact with a local hypnotherapist who used to work with the athletes at Michigan State University. One way or another I'm going to get over this!!!
Funny, but I'm OK with small intimate settings; I feel like I can actually interact with people (although dancing amongst tables while people are trying to serve food is kind of a pain).