What happens when you Perform?

[Angelofdance]

This may seem like an odd topic, but what happens to you when you perform?

Personally..... I feel like I just shut off the world (perhaps this is the anxiety working on my brain), where I no longer pay attention to distractions. I come into my own world where my vision blurrs, and the music pounds with my heart. I stay on a high for a while after (perhaps my endorphins?) where I vibrate and become modest.

So what happens to you when you dance? Do you transform? Become an alter ego? get so nervous you can't move?

Iris/aod

 

[Alaya]

Hi Angelofdance. I am realy nervus while my performences. If I am not focus I can easy forget my choreo. I love to perform but it can be realy stresful especialy if I want to be perfect. I love to show whot i can do and whot I am good at. It makes me fell wonderfull. Love, Alaya

 

[Ya_Assal]

Hi Angelofdance,

Me I turn into a ham. Beforehand, I get the sweats, panick then always say to myself "what is wrong with you? you can't do this!!!!" then I get on stage and MILK IT.

When I was in dance school, when we would do our recitals, I used to love hearing the dancers complain about the audience. Usually it was filled with family and friends who only had energy when the person they knew would perform (which is to be expected). I used to love this because I looked at it as a challenge and the closer my turn came the more pumped I would be about getting everyone in the room to wake up.

So suddenly I would ignore choereography, improvise something and just ham it up until I saw smiling faces in the audience and made the entire room clap along with the music.

Although my teacher would get frustrated that I didn't follow her choreography, she was still proud and it just made all the months of work so worth it.

To this day when I perform I do one thing, I keep serious eye contact with as many people in the audience as is possible, because even if you mess up, I've noticed over the years people still enjoy the performance because they became a part of it.

The the funniest thing, is when I get offstage, I have to sit because I have a serious case of the shakes.

Odd what tools dancers use to enhance their performance.

Assal

 

[miss_shimmy]

hi angelofdance

well,for me,performing,its where I feel the most comfortable.I know what you mean by shutting off,your heart pounding,I am about to do my first solo,I realy am looking forward to feeling that,its been a little while!

have you had alott of performing experiance ?thats aimed at any of you reading this message

smiles and shimmies

Amanda
xxxxxxxxxxxx


​

 

[Mouse]

Things tend to feel a bit surreal when I perform. Like I'm there but I'm also kinda not. Before going on I shake.. like bad trembling shakes and have the hugest desire to just run for the hills, but once the music starts and I start dancing I'm ok. Although the trembles come back after.

My first solo was a bit different though, the trembles didn't stop and I felt very stiff. I'm sure the next one will be easier though.

 

[Norma]

Let's see...I've performed with a group once, and I've performed by myself on seven occasions. (I've only been performing since February.)

I have to say the group dance was the most nerve-wracking, because I was so worried about making sure we were all doing the same thing. I only remember bits and pieces of it and I'm sorry about that because if I wasn't so nervous I might have really enjoyed it.

I was so nervous when I did my first solo that I forgot everything! lol Major case of stage fright, for sure. (Which ended up being kind of good, because it totally changed the way I choreograph.)

The last few times I've performed, I've felt totally fine until the exact moment I've walked out on the floor. My stomach drops, I get that cold feeling, etc. But then when the music starts, I'm into it. I have surreal moments off and on during the whole performance--like every once in awhile I suddenly realize what I'm doing and really think about it--then I'm back in dancing la la land.

Oh yeah...and afterwards, I'm usually on kind of a high. I feel exhilerated and I'm sorry it's over and I want to go back and do it again.

 

[Moon]

I only did one group performance and it was very nice. None of us was extremely nervous, only a little so we had to laugh at almost anything before going on stage.
During the performance I felt rather good. I only had the idea my smile looked very fake and I felt my lips tremble, but that got less and less during performing. I couldn't see the audience because of the lighting, so I had to smile towards a big black space
I never did a solo yet, but I guess I would be far more nervous when I had to do a solo.

 

[Ya_Assal]

well,for me,performing,its where I feel the most comfortable.I know what you mean by shutting off,your heart pounding,I am about to do my first solo,I realy am looking forward to feeling that,its been a little while!

have you had alott of performing experiance ?thats aimed at any of you reading this message

smiles and shimmies

Amanda
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Amanda,

I have been performing professionally for 2 years (weddings and special events) but have been doing shows for the past 9.5 years. They were mostly recitals and group performances. I was part of a dance troup for only 3 months then when my teacher became ill, well the ladies of the troup each felt they should take over so I left all that I knew and started my own classes.

I do admit that I love to perform but I really enjoy doing choreography and have begun to shift my direction. This is not my day job, but as teaching picks up, I am hoping to devote more time to it.

Assal

 

[Maria_Aya]

I feel ALIVE and a different person, its like an out of body experiense.
Damn
I need my bellyshrink ASAP !!!

Maria Aya

 

[Safran]

I have had a number of performances over the past two years, and what Ifeel out there depends very much on the performance. If it is on stage and to a larger audience, I indeed concentrate on dancing so much, that I barely notice anything... I usually don't get nervous before the performance (too much preoccupied with make-up, probably ), butI have to admit - the moment I step out, my first though is "I wish it was over already" But it passes more or less the moment I actually start dancing.

With smaller audience I try to pay a lot of attention to audience members. Immediately after the performance I usually feel great!!! But sometimes, especially with bigger things, I fall into a post-performance slump. A good sleep usually helps, in that case, and the next morning I am up to going out on that stage again

 

[Jessenia]

I've done 15 presentations more or less between last year and this one with a group and I don't get tired of doing them! It's a wonderfull feeling you have when performing in theaters. I also performed in a restaurant once and they are so different things that the fellings are also really different, both great!!

I always pass through different phases when having to perform in a theather, first you arrive there and you feel that time is out and you have to make up yourselve and dress in a few minutes although perhaps there is more than one hour missing for the presentation
Then you get eager to be on stage!! you cannot wait a single minute!.. But when the moment arrive and you are about to do the presentation I tend to fell really nervous!:S but it finishes when I go out there and perform where I fell to be in another world!
After the presentation it's like you are still in that other world and you don't want to go back down here . It's sooooooo wonderful!

 

[Recnadocir]

At this point I can pretty much sleep walk through a performance. In fact in England last summer I was dozing in my dressing room a half hour before the show. The producer's assistant looked in and asked if I was nervous. Right. Do I look nervous?

The only time I'm nervous is when I'm sitting in the house watching others dance my choreography. Probably because I have absolutely no control over the situation at that point.

But I understand that some other performers get nervous, even seasoned ones. One can try affirmations, such as: "the audience are my friends," or "the audience is here for me, they want me to succeed, etc.," or my personal favorite, "I am an Olympian God, and you (the audience) are my pathetic slaves. Regardless, I shall now deign to allow you to worship me."

 

[Mouse]

One can try affirmations, such as: "the audience are my friends," or "the audience is here for me, they want me to succeed, etc.," or my personal favorite, "I am an Olympian God, and you (the audience) are my pathetic slaves. Regardless, I shall now deign to allow you to worship me."

Love it!! LMAO!

 

[Hadassah]

If only I had a glimmer of your confidence, Rcnodocir!
A friend and I were talking about this a couple weeks ago. I call it the "Zen Bubble"
I get really nervous just like five minutes before I go on. And then, it's like a curtain drops in my spirit. As soon as my music starts, I'm in this altered state and I feel like I'm alone, dancing through space, and totally engulfed in the music.

The nerves go. The concentration goes, the moves just "happen". It's all at once the strangest, most beautiful thing I've ever experienced. I would say it's transcendence.

The only problem is, that I am not connected to the audience, and that needs to change. According to my teacher, I look nervous. I really don't "feel" nervous, believe it or not, but I forget to smile, make eye contact, etc, which comes off as nerves.

I think I need to have an alter ego, like Beyonce< (heard her talking about this on Oprah, cause she's shy like me, too), and that really helps her become this larger than life persona who can handle the stage fright and channel the adrenaline. I want to be that performer who people can't take their eyes off of. I have seen this - with Jillina, with my friends Yasmine, and Haneen, and with a dancer names Zaheea. It's pretty rare. I don;t know if it's that their choreography is so tight, or their attitude. But I need it!

 

[Miss_Winnii]

I perform Ballet since I was six, And my father is a musican and a fakir, so I'm kind of grown up with it, so I feel great when i perform