My Tips On Stage Presence

 MUSIC + YOU =YOUR DANCE PERFORMANCE 

Golden Formulas:

·         SELF DISCIPLINE + EAGERNESS TO ‘GIVE ‘  YOUR  DANCE = GOOD STAGE PRESENCE

·         SELF ABSORPTION + OVER CONFIDENCE  = POOR PRESENTATION

·         POOR PREPARATION + LACK OF CONFIDENCE = NO STAGE PRESENCE

Golden Rules:

• ·         You have one chance to make a first impression. Make it the one you want your audience to have of you. It will take approximately 30 seconds for them to make up their minds.

• ·         Appeal to their senses, both visual and audible.

• ·         Remember you hold all the cards in your hand; they have to come to you to be entertained, so work on their expectancy and anticipation for major impact.

• ·         Always leave them wanting more, don’t bore them to death, 3 or 4 minutes is quite long enough for each dance piece, unless longer is requested. You can be a technical genius, but by the end of 8 minutes the audience may have switched off. Don’t go into overkill!!

Notes on Humility:

·         YOU are NOT the most important thing about your performance. YOUR MUSIC IS. You are only the vessel of interpretation. Without music, your steps mean nothing. Without steps, the music is still beautiful music.

·         It is important to get your performance or production right so always be open to learning from others, whether an artiste, friend or critique.

·         Finally don’t ever take yourself seriously your audience will fail to enjoy your passion and sense of fun. Love your music, feel your music and give away your dance!!!!

SELF DISCIPLINE

Dance is solely to provide a visual a counterpart to our music and therefore making the music 3 dimensional.

Nervous or inexperienced teachers and lecturers gabble or mumble their words in an effort to deliver their speech as quickly and inconspicuously as possible. It is the same for dancers that lack the self discipline to control their nerves or who are very inexperienced at performing.

Dancers will rush their music and steps and make themselves appear to shrink in front of their audience by cutting off the movements, and looking self absorbed (particularly in fast sections or when concentrating hard).

Rushing the rhythm breaks the energy and the dancer and music are no longer one work. This becomes too complex for the audience to pay attention to and they sop trying to watch. Stage fright is one of the most common causes of rushing the music and steps.                           

It is imperative that a dancer must feel the adrenaline coursing through her                            body to deliver a truly electric and enjoyable performance but this must be                             channelled from stage fright to sheer excitement. This can take practice and

a lot of self discipline. When the adrenaline is flowing it is feasible to hear

the music as slower than it is to the audience and the dancer is thinking so

fast that he/she has the ability to think of every single step they know on

every beat of the music, thus cramming the music with frantic movements and

no feeling or presentation. There are several ways to practice at combating stage fright and disciplining yourself to take control.

COMBAT STAGE FRIGHT

1                   Feel your music, understand your music, know your music. Rushing is not feeling your music. It is fine balance between over practise of a piece and under practice of a routine. I focused on difficult steps it is possible to become more interested in doing them then presenting and dancing them. The same too of over practice when the dancer becomes complacent and forgets to look fresh and animated for audience because her routine is so familiar to her. A good way to develop more feeling in your dance is to practice to a highly emotional English piece. Really focus and listen to the words and dance them. Many of that are performing Belly dance in the UK are not Middle Eastern and will therefore have difficulty in suing our steps to convey emotion to the foreign music. Feel your music, dance with it not to it.

2                   Slow your dance, practice doing each move at least times instead of moving from one step to another. Change speed half way through to only half the speed, but still give a performance level of movement whilst moving slowly. Record a 15 minute routine with long songs (no fast moves or shimmies allowed for this) and whilst dancing think ‘slow down’ you should begin to tire. Imagine your audience is full of professional dancers, very critical amateurs and your in laws this should focus your mind!!

3                   Slow your music, try using much slower music than you usually prefer. Bore yourself if necessary!! Chill, relax and slow down.

Professionalism

• Be professional at all times:

• Always use costume cover ups,  until you are in the wings ready to step on to your stage

• Never wander around front of house in your performance costume

• Do not eat or drink whilst in costume

• Never have food or water etc in the wings area of the stage it is a Health and Safety Issue

• Know how you are going to apply your stage make up and have it done in good time.

• Make sure your hair is swept of your face to apply your make up. You don’t want white tram lines and ears to each side of your face

• Style your hair next and put on your costume very carefully last of all.

• Do not sit in your costume always stand so as not to stretch or damage your fabric or appliqués etc

• Be ready for your performance at least 20 minutes before so as to mentally prepare in yourself in your role of dancer and to be able to take care of any last minute costume glitches

• Channel your adrenaline, you need it to deliver a captivating performance

• Remember you are on stage and are a performer from the moment you leave you dressing room to the moment you return.

• Adopt your persona and use it, physically lift your chin, put back your shoulder, lengthen  your torso and breath with deliberation then step onto the stage area. As soon as you finish your performance and thank your audience look at them and then leave in the same way with a huge smile of thanks.

Preparation – The key to confidence on stage

Preparation is one of the best cures for stage fright and is also the best thing for the confidence you will need to add that extra sparkle to your performance.

There are many top tips to preparation and list is endless so here a just a few of my most used ones.

Know your stuff!

If you are to be doing a group choreography think through the choreo as you listen to the music. You don’t always have to be dancing it to be practising. Imagine yourself doing the movements and you can sit or stand and do this in situations where it would be impossible to actually get up and practice.

If you are doing an improvised solo imagine yourself dancing as you listen to your music. Pick out a small selection of movements that work well in that piece of music. Use them as default moves if you become stuck and introduce one or two small series of steps to key pieces in your music. Know you music listen to it 50 times if you have to, make sure you sick of hearing it and know every last phrase that way when you are in front of your audience your subconscious can take over.

Costume Preparation

As soon as you know you are going to perform get started on your costume. If you’re making your own get suitable fabric for the choreo you have in mind, the right trims and get all your sewing done. Allow plenty of time in advance, a minimum of 10-14 days before your performance.

Wear the whole of your costume for practice or dress rehearsal, jewellery, hair, veils, cymbals, shoes etc. This will enable you to make sure your lovely hair piece doesn’t catch in your veil, your rhinestone bracelet doesn’t rip your skirt and your shoes don’t cripple your feet or twist your ankle for you.

Know your stage area

Visit your stage ahead of time, find out where the audience will sit and where their main focus will be when watching you. Note the size of the stage and find out what the backstage area and facilities look like. Will you need a mirror, water etc etc.

Prepare a checklist eg:-

Pack the night before everything on your checklist. Anything you can’t pack write a note to yourself on the top of your bag or case.

Backstage

Excitement. Adrenaline. You’re the next dancer so here goes

·         Deep breaths

·         Channel your adrenaline into ‘sparkle’ and ‘energy’

·         Listen to the music being played on stage, improvise to it

·         Adopt your persona or attitude ‘feel good about you, your music and like your audience’ (They are here to see you!)

·         As the dancer ahead leaves the stage remember: head up, shoulders back, long torso and breath! Top Tip drop your jaw and relax your mouth if you don’t want to force a smile!

 Onstage

Enjoy what you are doing

Smile at friendly faces remember they are here to watch you!

Listen to your music

If dancing in a group keep one eye on the person next to you, to keep in time, but the other on the audience

If you go wrong, don’t panic, smile and improvise until you catch up. Half the audience won’t notice and the other half won’t be sure if you were supposed to do that, if you do it with a smile and confidence.

FINISH WITH PANACHE IT’S LAST THING THEY WILL REMEMBER OF YOU AS YOU LEAVE. MAKE IT FABULOUS!!

Performance Make Up

• Red nail polish will show up on stage as black…don’t use dark nail colours.
• Bright red lipstick is good; other colours will get washed out. Red glitter on your lips looks great as well.
• Eyes need to be widened and enlarged. The use of false eyelashes is a good way to bring them out; use on top and bottom as needed.
• Spray glitter can be used on hair; it comes out as shine on the stage.
• Follow the exact instructions of your choreographer when applying your own makeup. What looks like too much up close, is sometimes not enough for the stage.
• Makeup needs to be worn to dress rehearsal for lighting and distance review…and for simple practice!

Dancers usually carry quite a makeup kit to performances. It is a good idea to buy all the emergency and preparation items beforehand, Some items to include are:
Bobbie pins/hair accessories
Makeup
Glitter for hair and body
Hairspray
Petroleum jelly for teeth (makes them shine)
Hair curlers and/or hot iron
Safety pins and sewing kit
Double stick tape/glue
Band-Aids and ointment
Copy of the edited stage music for practice
 

Assembling Your Makeup Kit It’s not necessary to buy a ton of professional-quality makeup and tools, but do buy the best quality makeup you can afford. Cake foundation is the most common type used in theatre because it covers well and blends easily, but you can also use street liquid foundation. More expensive foundations and powders do cover and last better than cheap brands; on the other hand, you can probably get away with cheap eye shadows and lipsticks. Keep an assortment of brown eye shadows and different shades of blush on hand, as well as brown and black eyeliner pencils and mascara. If you’re good at mixing colours, a theatrical quality “colour wheel”, which is a single disc with red, blue, yellow, black, and white crèmes, can save you a lot of money in the long run on eye shadow, eyeliner, and blush. You will also need a cosmetic pencil sharpener, cotton balls, and your favourite type of makeup remover.

A few good tools can drastically improve your makeup application. Sponges are necessary for applying foundation and blending. You’ll need several small brushes, especially if you’re going to use crèmes for eye shadow or eyeliner. Q-tips can work in a pinch and are also indispensable for touching up smears and smudges. You’ll also need several large brushes for powder and blush. If you’re going to share the makeup kit, you’ll want to purchase disposable brushes, sponges, mascara wands, and mixing palettes. Finally, a toolbox or tackle box will keep all of your makeup and tools organised.

To Learn more about Performance Make Up and Application why not book me for workshop and demonstration.