Forums > Social Chat > Stage fright tips

Posted: 10th Mar 2003
For one, I see the fire flying at my head trying to KILL me, it doesn't give me much room to think about the audience

What works best I think is putting myself in the audience's shoes. When I first saw fire dancing (Santana and Jedi White) I was amazed... and the second time I saw them... I was still amazed. I saw them drop a staff here and there, or have a poi go sailing in the wrong direction and have to recover, but I realized that what they were doing had room for error (takes practice!) and I didn't see any fault in the minor mistakes they made here and there.

Fast forward to myself today, I see an audience of a couple hundred people just like me back then. They don't pressure me to do good, they just enjoy the show

Like in the rest of life, putting yourself in the other person's shoes really helps put things in perspective!

What hits the fan is not evenly distributed.

Posted: 11th Mar 2003
Cass hello sweety
when you walk up on stage picture everyone wearing a big red clown nose that always works for me :::laughs::::::::: really what i do is say a little prayer get myself centered..Soon as my wicks light up all the fear is gone .

I have been cursed with the imagination to envision it all

Posted: 10th Mar 2003
have fun on stage, act like your talking to( or performing for ) a small group of friends ( not a crowd of however big ) ... i just go out to have a good time .. and if i have a good time the crowd will have a good time ... but then again i don't get overly nervous because i won't do something in public unless i have some ( read much) confidance in my own abilities .. bottom line .. performing is really for your own enjoyment ( if your doing it because you want to impress more than anythingelse then don't ) if you enjoy doing it the people will enjoy it .. and if they enjoy it then all is good..

( mm pretty granola crunchie for me but it's true )

for the record ...i have lectured to as many as 1500 professionals ( all in the same auditorium ) and performed fire in front of so many people i couldn't see past the crowd the only difference is volume ...

thats right i look like an albino ape that has had a bad day.. go ahead say something stupid... i dare ya !

Posted: 10th Mar 2003
I don't get stage fright. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I know that I don't judge myself on what random strangers think about me as much as I do my friends, who will accept me no matter what happens on stage.

When I was in HS doing theater I would always familiarize myself as much as possible with where I was going to perform. I remember I found a clock in the back of the auditorium that I'd gaze out into and do some of my serious monologues to (maybe because I knew the clock wouldn't make me giggle!)

For me, getting familiar with the PHYSICAL stage setting and objects around me made it easier to ignore the audience's presence and do my job.

Well, shall we go?
Yes, let's go.
[They do not move.]

Posted: 10th Mar 2003
Oh... actually I forgot. This works for me 100% of the time when I'm nervous about anything.

SMILE

Somehow simply smiling (even just to myself) relaxes me. I don't know if it's the muscles in my face or hormones or the memory of something happy. My mom is really claustrophobic and that really helped her through quite a few situations that she dreaded. If you're EVER in a really scary situation, force yourself to smile. It puts everything in perspective.

Well, shall we go?
Yes, let's go.
[They do not move.]

Posted: 10th Mar 2003
Picture the audience in their underware (somebody had to say it )

I don;t know if it works, and I have never tried it, but that's what everybody says.

Try wearing shoes too. that way your feet can't sweat on the floor.

Other than that I don't know, I guess if you are focused on your poi, you won't have time to think about being nervouse.

we eat and we drink and we smoke and we try!

Posted: 10th Mar 2003
Or picture your fellow performers in their underwear!

What hits the fan is not evenly distributed.

Posted: 11th Mar 2003
I've never realy had a problem with stage fright, but I do get a little nervous before shows. I've found that smiling (as NYC said) realy helps. Also there are times when I spin that the outside world just disappears, only my spinning exists. I try to aim for that sort of mindset when I get on stage.

The other thing that helps is experiance. Your first few are allways the worst Just go and spin for yourself. Have fun and project that through your spinning.

The world is not out to get you but if you fight it you will be eaten alive

Posted: 11th Mar 2003
Well done Cass for overcoming your nerves. Think the longer you perform the nervousness is converted into adrenalin!

Personally I am a big coward and I get embarrassed when people watch me dancing /singing etc! What do I do when faced with stage fright?

Run away.. run away..

I have had to perform in Japan in front of 600 people. I only got through the shame and humiliation by reminding myself that even if I messed up nobody would have a clue as they had never seen either poi or Irish dance before (I used the two in a performance!) I can look back now and laugh

Come faeries, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame.

- W B Yeats

Posted: 11th Mar 2003
when i oerform...we usually cant see the crowd as we have huge spotlights blinding the shit out of us...whicih helps a lto as we both usually totally forget about them

Posted: 11th Mar 2003
DIO? I am going to pretend I didn't hear that.

we eat and we drink and we smoke and we try!

Posted: 11th Mar 2003
I am like NYC. It has never occurred to me to have stagefright.

Anyways, if there is someone who you know in the audience, just look at them and smile whenever you get nervous.

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura

Posted: 11th Mar 2003
Hey Cass, stage fright can be scary, but can be worked on.

Practice and familiarity with the location of the performance are the two keys for overcoming stage fright of any kind. As is having a bit of time before on your own to get your breathing together, to get centred and focused and to visualise the performance in your mind.

Now this might sound daggy , but I do a lot of presentations and public speaking for work, and have never had a problem with getting up and talking in front of a bunch of people about anything for any period of time - I love it. I credit this ability in part to a public speaking organisation called Toastmasters. They provided me with the opportunity to develop my basic presentation skills that I then built on over the years.

Check them out, they're excellent.

The best public speaker/presenter I have ever seen is the Dali Lama - for the sole reason that he made eye contact with each an every person in the room (about 400 of us). I think we all left feeling as though we'd had a private audience with him. So yeah, ditto what Mike and NYC have suggested.

Posted: 13th Mar 2003
Ahhhh, a topic near and dear to my heart!

Stage fright can be quite horrible, and in some cases paralyzing and sickening.

Toastmasters is also really good for self-confidence. Teaching and public speaking are actually a bit different that performing. Less can go wrong. I do both on a steady basis, and I don't get stage fright (anymore) with speech making/teaching.

I do still have stage fright after 12 years as a performer.
Breathing exercises help. They help to calm a pounding heart and breathing out of control. They also help to give focus.
I find the creative visualizations (people in underwear) don't help at all, they destract the mind completely away from the job at hand when you should be focussed.
Smiling, as NYC mentioned, is always good. If you look uptight, your audience will be uptight.
Knowing your floorspace and area is good but can't always happen. More importantly, know what you are going to do. Freestyling can actually add more tension. I am not saying to choreograph every minute but have a pattern. (In dance we follow a geometric shapes as a floor pattern...I know I will shimmy left on this beat, do something in that corner for 8 counts and travel back for four, etc.) I have come to do the same with poi. It looks more refined than simply standing up and spinning. This gives a strong sense of comfort and spacial awareness.
Do only what you are comfortable doing. Hoping and praying that new trick will work in a show when it only goes well 1/4 of the time in practice does not help to quell the nerves.


Have a character seperate from yourself, and something that you wear that is affiliated with that character. For public speaking I would always wear the same jewelry. When I put the rings on I thought of grounding and focussing things (this is where I breath). When I put on my earrings I thought of what I was doing, honing in areas that I am most nervous about. When I put on my neck gear I focussed on strength and power. Each of these helped my presentation in the end.

The same with physical performing. We wear costumes. The further detached from your street clothes these costumes can be, the more of an alternate "more confident" personality you can have.

Reaffirmations. One of my peers does this. She has this little "I am great. I love this." kind of chant that she closes her eyes and sings to herself. When she is done, only a few seconds later, she has this fire, this light in her eyes that you can see from a mile away.
(I need to make one of these for myself)

Anyway, I hope this helps. These are things I have discovered do help as my time in the performance arena progresses.
If I find more solutions I will post them.
I hope this helps in some small way.

Besides lovely one...you are a star...nothing to worry about because no matter what you do or who you do it for, you simply shine!

[ 13. March 2003, 14:20: Message edited by: Pele ]

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 13th Mar 2003
MANY MANY THANKS to all of you for all the tips...

Will think about it and of course complete;y forget next time a stage fright embraces me with its called arms

But it is all right and I like teh challenge and I was still smiling big time on stage... only I ran away at the end talking only half a bow I am such a Knucklehead

shine on
cass

"I want brown bread... no, that is diesel oil..."
"So I was raised in Europe, where History comes from ..."
"NON !!! La Plume de mon oncle n est pas Bingibangibungi !!!"

Posted: 14th Mar 2003
thinking more about theatrical or dance performances:

closing eyes,
breathing,
thinking about where the nervous energy is, focusing it all into my centre, then allowing this energy to gradually seep into my limbs gives a fantastic feeling,
smiling for certain
for my dance performances i do all this at the same time as stretching & i've adopted this for theatre too
also hugging every person i am going to be on stage with - something that has put me in a few strange situations, but its become a habit

for some reason i haven't managed to control my nervous energy before speaking - i need some kind of character - an interview is hell...

warp children still smile the same

"when i left the mine i realised that the world was changing. or was it us who were changing?"

Posted: 3rd Mar 2007
*bump*
it's warming up, so performances will be starting, and it seemed a pertinent bump
check out the performance area, maybe do some blocking
i've presented my forensics pieces in front of 1000 or so, but mostly small to medium groups, but when i was in a play, i found the lights "removed" the audience, being as bright as they were
sometimes, i didn't wear my contacts so i couldn't see faces just a blur
right before i go on to any presentations, like fairy said, deep breath and feel the nervous energy moving through my body, giving me energy and such

Faith
Nay, whatever comes one hour was sunlit and the most high gods may not make boast of any better thing than to have watched that hour as it passed

Posted: 3rd Mar 2007
i find going through exactly what you're going to do and invisioning it in your head is good because even if you know your routine like the back of your hand, the act of doing it and going through that preparation reassures you - used for more of a visual pep talk/confidence booster than the actual need to go through it cause you don't know it.

or if you're improvising without a routine, i find just going for it and concentrating on what you're doing means you stop being as aware of the audience staring at you. hope that helps

Thoughts arrive like butterflies...

Posted: 3rd Mar 2007
Imagine the audience naked, and try not to leer too much...

TBH, the worst bit is the waiting beforehand for the show to happen, but once you're actually up there and getting into it's a great feeling: I usually find my nerves last about as long as it takes to get a cheer from the crowd!

I go with the breathing advice Em gave, I find that helps a lot: sometimes it's like I'm half asleep before I go on stage from all the focussing, but then you get this big shot of adrenaline when you go out, and that just sharpens you up a bit.

Remember, so long as you go out there, entertain the crowd (whether it be through drops or a flawless routine) you've been successful!

Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant

Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.

'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi

Posted: 3rd Mar 2007

 Written by: Doc Lightning


I am like NYC.

That sentence is so much scarier three years later.

I'm glad I stopped myself from writing exactly what I wrote above. I totally forgot I wrote it three years ago.

Well, shall we go?
Yes, let's go.
[They do not move.]

Posted: 17th Jun 2007
I need some advice
Whenever I spin for people I don't really know I end up forgetting my routine at about the beginning and just kind of repeat myself through out the spin, I think Im spinning at a coffee shop for a monthly festival next month and it would really help if I could over this by then. Please pm me with any advice. thanks a lot!

Stan Fox: Damn these glasses.
Navin R. Johnson: Yes, sir.
[to the glasses]
Navin R. Johnson: I damn thee.