It would be great if we could all just dance like the professionals and be “ON” for every single performance but we’re not on that level. At least I’m not. So here are my personal tricks for putting myself into the best mindset for performances or competition.
DISCLAIMER: I don’t guarantee these tips will actually help you.
1. Down-cycle one week before
This might sound like the craziest thing but that’s exactly what I do. I try to “down-cycle” (meaning to dance bad) one week before my performances. If I’m having a great night, I hold back a little bit and try to dance reserved. Why this tactic? I think our dance cycles through periods of UPS and DOWNS. Sometimes we feel great, super connected, and everything is effortless. Other times we feel like utter crap, everything takes so much effort and never feels connected.
And so to guarantee that I’m up-cycling during my performance, I try to down-cycle one week before. The more I dance like crap the week before, the most confident I feel coming into the performance. You know what my greatest is? Dancing amazing the weekend before. Hahahaha, and you know why!!! It’s because your performance will never be as good and you’ll want to kick yourself for not being able to dance like you did “the other day”. I used to think it was great if you feel amazing days leading up to your performance, and now I don’t.
2. Celebrate bad luck
Kinda like the first tip but now referring to the karmic cycles of the universe. Like tango, life is a mix of ups and downs. Some good and some bad. Well again, I like cherish and collect absolutely all the bad luck I can get before a performance…because I honestly think the universe will balance it out for me during the moment of truth! I used to get angry at the world and feel like it was a bad omen when my day would go wrong before performances. And now I don’t.
- Woke up with a dead car battery? – AWESOME!
- Got spaghetti sauce on your outfit? – YES! YES! YES!
- Can’t find your lucky underwear? – JUST PERFECT!
- Lost your dance shoes before the performance? – BEST THING EVER!
Like I said…the more bad luck before my performance, the better!
3. Warm up with basic stuff
I used to be that guy trying to unload the my entire arsenal of moves and musicality tricks before the performance. I’d practice it the day before, and then probably again right before the performance. And then during the performance, I’d forget everything and kick myself afterwards. NO MORE TO THAT! I’ve found it works a hell of a lot better to dance only using the most basic stuff. If anything, for yourself to dance without emotion, without feeling, without being unique. Force yourself to dance “inside the box” so that your spirit is building up tension and dying to burst!
And then you let it burst during the performance and have the best dance that ever happened!
4. Fix your face
I don’t know why this works but it does. I’ve found it’s impossible to fix your posture, lines, technique, connection during the dance. Once you’re out there and the music is on, whatever happens happens. And should you find yourself in a place of desperation (which is normal, btw), there is nothing to fear! Just because you can’t have all those qualities doesn’t mean you still can’t have an amazing time. Just fix your face. Focus on your expression and that’s it!
You don’t need to have amazing moves or musicality. You only need to have expression and stay in the moment! That’s it! Have expression and your performance will come out quite alright. Quite often, we all look better than we feel. And as I like to say…we may invite all our friends to the party and they say they’re going to come, but if they don’t show up on the day of the party, you throw the party anyway. The party is YOU! You are the life of the party. You decide to have a good time no matter. Have great expressions no matter what. Feel great no matter what.
5. Improve afterwards
One of the best ways to overcome disappointing performances is to improve. Getting 3 times better than your bad performance gives all the confidence that it’ll never happen again. If anything, I’ve noticed the better I get, the more I can look at my old performances. And not only look at them, but also enjoy them! I can laugh to myself and go, “Hahaha, look at how I screwed up this step here and it forced me to do this weird thing.” It’s hilarious; my friends and I share our bad performances with each other even re-enacting the mistakes. There’s also a sweet sadness too because the better we get, the less we dance with this innocence of a beginner. We make less mistakes and we dance less the areas of the unknown.