Improving Your Performance Skills

Preparing for a performance can get very stressful, all of the hard work that has to go into practicing. To be a successful dancer you need to be willing to work hard and set goals to become the best out on the stage. When it is competition day, you want to be ready and fully prepared to do your best. Performing is extremely important, you never want the dance to seem boring to the audience.

Nichelle Strzepek wrote a blog called, 7 Secrets of Super Performers (Improving your Performance Skills.) She talks about some major key points to remember while performing in front of an audience. She says that you never want to forget the crowd, always make eye contact with the audience and/or the judges. Also that facial expressions are really important as well and you just do not want a simple smile plastered on your face.

Strzepek also claims that dancing to the musicality and fully understanding the music, will help the dancer understand why the movements the choreographer gave you is important and why that movement is the inspiration for that movement given. She goes on and talks about that, dancers must be able to hear and feel the music while dancing. Also that one of the most important factor that you need is confidence. The confidence in yourself to perform on stage; without confidence you are more likely to lead to stage fright.

I agree with all of Strzepek’s post has to say. A dancer on stage has to be able to perform to the crowd and show all the emotions. You never want the audience to dislike your piece or to not be able to understand what is going on; therefore, it is the performer’s job to show the audience what the piece is trying to say. You never want the dance to seem boring, so practicing your facial expressions in class is a good way to get even more confident before you take the stage. When I am practicing at my studio, I always practice my facial expressions in the mirror. You want to get on stage and do your best and look good. Also it is fun to look at someone through the mirror and bust out a silly face, just to make him or her laugh, while dancing.

Confidence is a main key factor in performing on stage. Confidence is trusting in yourself and the situation you are in, not centered on yourself, as in believing that you can succeed at doing well on stage, instead of attitude. As much practice and effort you put into your dances helps you with how much confidence you have. If you do not spend hours practicing for a dance and it is time for your first competition, more than likely, you will not have the confidence you need; therefore, you will not do so good. Which will lead to stage fright, and you will forget the dance, and look silly onstage. Which then leads to embarrassment.

When Strezpek talks about making eye contact with the audience and the judges, she mentions what she tells her students what to do that will help them with performing, “As you perform, engage the muscles in the face by slightly lifting the eyebrows - not to a comical extreme, but in a way that is comfortable and easy to maintain. It is the same expression most humans use when making eye contact and really listening to a friend or speaking excitedly in conversation.” I think that eye-to-eye contact with someone in the crowd or the judges can help bring confidence too. When I am performing on stage, I always try to make eye contact with someone in the audience. If I am performing at a competition, I always make sure I look at the judges several times.

Facial expressions are crucial in competitions. You have to know and be able to “work the crowd” as mentioned in the post. I think that nobody really wants to watch a performance that all he/she does is have a smile plastered on his or her face. Change it up a little by adding cute little expressions. Having fun is the main purpose here! Keep an “open” expression with the face. Sometimes you see dancers try to do these certain expressions and they just turn out wrong. Like, it looks like they are thinking to hard about the steps, counting the music, eating air (as we call it at my studio) or they got the wrong look for the song, for example if the song is sad and someone is smiling, it just ruins the whole dance.

Dancing to the musicality is extremely important. A dancer never wants to be to slow or to fast while dancing. Understanding the music you are moving to is also very important. Strzepek says“ Enjoyable performers also utilize dynamics in their performance. Resisting “sameness,” as they dance, they incorporate crescendo and decrescendo, sudden or gradual changes in the quality of the movement, that often reflect or work within the accompanying music or score.” It is more enjoyable to watch someone perform who can feel the music and dance to it, then someone who can’t.

In the middle of her post, Strzepek found a quote that reads, “The audiences ears hear the music, and their eyes see you being that music. Dance is the music made visible. You are the music!”- Morocco. When I first red that quote she found, I really liked it because it is so significant to the dancer’s world. It is what dancers are, basically. We are the music, by expressing it through our movements.

I agree with everything Strzepek has to say in her post, if you want to have a successful performance you need all that was mentioned earlier. In order to have an amazing performance you must be able to be able to have musicality, can work a crowd, facial expressions, be willing to practice hard, and the main point, confidence.

Blogging!

Blogging is something I never thought I would do. To be honest, I never like the whole idea of having my personal stuff on the Internet for everyone to see. When the professor told everyone that for the English class, we would have to keep a blog, shocked was not the word. I remember thinking what kind of class is this? (No offense to my professor!) After hearing about what we would be doing with the blogs, it sounded better then being stuck with other assignments, that everyone will not be pleased to do. At least we could write about something we have a passion for! So, I thought just to make the best out of it!

Blogging is something that can help someone express his or her feelings towards a certain subject. It is so easy to get on a computer, sit back, and write about things that are important to you. Blogging is easy and can be less intimidating to a person. You can hide yourself from the world. As one can write a blog about something and write freely about whatever it is, no one knows truly who you are, as in a stranger, and no one has to know whom you look like, unless you put up a picture. In My Best Friend, Heather blog, the author said that she feels that,”blogging is used as a communication tool.” This is true, her statement helps show that blogging is something that helps express our emotions. The comments that are left are the opinions of others, and what they have to say about the issue. Blogs are made to show total strangers how you feel about something. It gives you a chance to talk about things without someone stopping you, because they do not agree with you or vice versa.

Blogging at first I was hesitant; I did not want to participate in this activity. I know so many people that have Myspace, Facebook, etc. that put up so much information about themselves on the Internet. Which to me is not safe at all if you are not careful. My feelings towards keeping a blog,has changed a little bit, since I first started. Writing freely about dance, sharing my personal stories and pictures, I just ended up having way too much fun with it! It seems so much better when you can write about whatever you want then to be stuck writing about something your professor tells you to write about. When it came time to write my post for the week, I was excited to do it! Sounds silly, but I was! Forgetting that the post was basically an essay for the week!

A person who reads blogs are ones that want to learn about others and their experiences. It is interesting to see what it is like in someone else’s shoes. To see their impact and maybe even their life. People write blogs as an open expression they might want to show. I know that I would never write a blog, if it were not for this class assignment! I can not even keep a myspace; I get bored with it, which I ended up getting rid of! Some people just do not care and can put information and things on the Internet. In the blog called, Me and Gracie, she says, “ For my writing to be public, meaning “on the internet” was a little bit of a challenge for me, because I had to watch what I said and whose name I mentioned.” Same for me, I had to watch when talking about the kids I teach dance to and my dance teachers, to make sure not to say their names. It was extremely hard to try to describe, who you want to talk about then just coming out and saying,” so and so” was not practicing, for example.

My Blogger Experience!

In the recent class assignment, which was to write a post for a classmate's blog, I found it very interesting to see what others would come up with. Thinking out of the box, instead of just doing the same old routine!

I was given the blog called, Things That Piss Me Off! I am not going to lie, I had a little trouble trying to come up with a topic to talk about! I am not the typical person who get's mad at every little thing! Only if something REALLY ticks me off! So, as I was coming up with an idea, I looked over at my dad's Cincinnati Bengals scoreboard clock he has in the basement. I thought since I have been going to Bengal games ever since I was little, I know there would have to be a lot of things that I could find that piss me off! My sister always complains after we leave the stadium, that's why she hardly goes! Now, I know that I kinda made like, going to Cincinnati games are terrible, but really they are fun! I just took the negetive things that happens at the games! Which by the way, all of those I mentioned in the post happened for real!



It was really...fun, (I guess) to step out of my comfort zone and write about something different then just dance! I knew that no one would guess, that I wrote that post for him! I probably do not seem like the type who enjoys football, everyone kinda classifies me as a prima ballerina and I can't do or like anything else! Having family from Cincinnati and growing up going to the games, you were either a Bengals fan or you just didn't like football! It may seem silly, but that is what my family thinks! I feel bad if I offended anyone, about what I wrote! I just ended up having way to much fun with it! Don't cha hate that!


When I found out that someone was going to be writing a post for me, I was shocked and confused. I was trying to guess who would have something common and could have something to talk about my topic, dance! The girl who wrote mine did good and she talked about how she wishes she could dance like all the shows she has seen! There are just some people in the world who take it to heart and are more passionate about it! It is a very discipline sport, but what sport isn't?

Keep Dancin'!

Guest Blogging Experiment

Sometimes I watch this show called America’s Best Dance Crew and wish I could be a part of one of those groups because this show has always sparked my interest in dancing. When they dance I picture myself moving as they move, doing back flips and splits as they do. I just sit back and close my eyes and I am there at the show dancing my life away and worrying about nothing stressful. When I’m alone in my room this is the only time I dance and those dances aren’t even good LOL.

When I was just a kid in elementary school I went to see a couple of plays with my class and one play that stood out for me was this play Cats. This play was so amazing to see and I was just dancing right along with the dancers on the stage. After the play was over and we got back to the school, I couldn’t wait to tell my friends about the Cats dancing everywhere; I even showed them some moves they did in the play or at least tried.

My mom would tell me, “You can do anything you want if you put your mind and your all into it.” As I play this statement in my head by my mother, I am finally going to find someone to help me dance because this is really something I would love doing and it’ll be healthy; helps me stay in shape.

Point your toes... PLEASE!

Have you ever heard the phrase, practice makes perfect? Do you get annoyed when someone constantly corrects you for your mistakes? Lately my dance studio has been struggling with some issues, as in not PRACTICING!!! Falling out of pirouette turns, not pointing their toes, forgetting the dances, stopping in the middle of the dance to fix their hair, the list goes on and on! Recently everyone has been let’s just say not working as hard as they should be!

Two weeks ago, we had our first competition of the year and we got exactly five weeks from today until our next competition. Everyone has been slacking off, not giving it their all every time they step into the classroom. At the competition, all of the dances scored really well. Every dance got high golds or platinums! (The highest you could score was platinum then high gold, gold, silver, the lowest a bronze) So our studio did really great! Now with one competition over with and (how many more to go?) all the dancers including some parents are becoming very arrogant (cocky) which is hurting the team. The corrections the judges made we need to take into consideration and fix them. So when the next competition comes we can score all platinums and take home special awards, etc.

Being a teacher, you want to watch your dancers you have taught, to be successful on the stage. It is SO frustrating when you put so much time and effort into the dances you choreographed and all they give you back is…nothing! My sis and I have been teaching dance for a couple of years now, we know by now all the little “tricks” kids will try to pull on you. It just shows pure laziness. We know the ones who practice and who don’t. If you want to succeed at something, whether it may be dance, football, school, etc. you have to go for it and not give up! Practice may not make perfect, nobody is perfect, but practicing can get you pretty far and only make you STRONGER in doing what you love! (That is usually one of the speeches; we use to try to encourage our dancers to give it their all and to practice!)

It may seem a little "crazy" now; hopefully everyone will just get back with it! My dance teacher just told the whole studio she is pregnant and she is in the stage that everything makes her irritated, so I don’t know if that is a major factor! All I know is if I had a penny for every time I said to the dancers, “point your toes” I would be extremely rich!!!

Broadway Bound

Have you ever seen a Broadway show before? Well, not to brag but I have seen so many shows I lost count! You might be thinking, “ Who cares!” Maybe you don’t like to sit through the shows and watch performers take the stage. Personally I love them, my sister and I always go see live shows when they come to town or we take a small vacation to New York! I have been following a blog about dance and one of the post she wrote, inspired me to talk about Broadway shows. She had been talking about all the shows she has seen, so I decided to switch it up a little and instead of constantly talking about my competitions and just dance, I will talk about musicals and how fun they are to me! Maybe you love to watch the shows and you can't help but to be singing along in your head, toe-tapping to the music, dancing in your seat, or maybe your like my dad, the only thing that can keep you awake is the loud music blasting in the speaker or having to keep nudging you with my elbow to get you stop snoring!!

I have always loved going to see Broadway shows ever since I was little! I remember my first show I saw was, Cats. I know to most people, performers dressed as cats, crawling, jumping, acting as cats would do in every day life might seem silly, but really it was a well based story line! It wasn’t just about cats dancing and licking their paws for two and a half hours long on stage! The dancing was amazing! It was a great show, I don’t remember the exact year I first saw the show (I was very young!) but I saw it again a couple years ago with my sister and cousin.

I absolutely love the musical Hairspray and Movin’ Out! When Hairspray first made it’s debut in 2002, my sis and I got to see it in New York! As you might know the movie of Hairspray was released in 2007. (The stage version is better than the movie!!!) These two shows I think I could go see everyday and not be bored watching them. Being a dancer, I love to watch the famous dance scenes. I also enjoy just pretty much all of it!

I have been in a few musicals before, they are so much fun, just like dancing in front of an audience at one of my dance competitions, instead of just dancing, you get to sing and act as well. Plus, you get to dance to a live orchestra or band. Instead of music burned onto a CD. I attended a performing arts program during high school, so I got to learn all about the performing arts! So I got the opportunity to take some good parts in the musicals! I love this scene it is fun, for me! I don’t know what my future is in store for me, as in I still haven’t picked a major, I could go into all of the performing arts, but then again I still love my dancing, and I can not decide if I want to do just that! Although dancing is my life!! I still would be doing it just in a little different way!

5 Reasons

(My cousin Sarah and I, last weekend at competiton! We are in our Hip-Hop costumes! )

You know you're a Dancer when...

1. ...every handrail you see turns into a ballet barre. Can't help but when you see one it is the only thing that comes to your mind and you can't help but to bust out a couple of ballet moves.

2. ...everytime you hear Nutcracker music playing, you start to get butterflies in your tummy. At the mall at Christmas time, walking by stores, gift shopping for family and friends, enjoying the holiday decorations. Then you hear Nutcracker music and you start to get excited and can not wait for the annual performance. Whether your performing in it or going to see the show for the (how many times, I lost track!)

3. ...you can't resist doing grande jetes down an empty hallway or grocery isle. My sister and I are known for doing this!! When we were little we would go with our mom to the grocery store all the time and if no one was around... We would bust out all kinds of dance moves, Leaps, turns, tumbling. This would be the only reason we would go the store! Eventually, we got caught my some customers and completely almost took them out! Ever since then, we are not allowed to go with my mom to the store! She would get so embarrassed.

4. ...you DVR and re-watch episodes of "So You Think You can Dance," "Dancing with the Stars," "America's Best Dance Crew." Long nights after school, at the dance studio, you miss these incredible shows! At my studio we always talk about these shows during classes. We always discuss who is gonna stay, who is going home. Who do we want to win, or did you see so and so miss up? It becomes our life! If someone did something great and you want to see it again, the rewind button becomes your best friend! These shows are great inspirations for young dancers!

5. ...You stand in first position while waiting in a long line. You don't even realize you do it, until someone says something to you, or just stares at you strangely.