Performance Anxiety (or How I Learned to Let Go and Laugh!) by Holly Lloyd

Guest post by Holly Lloyd, a member of World In Motion's Sunanda Tribe, our newest staff member, and person extraordinaire!

I’ve been a student of belly dance for ten years now. I’ve performed more times than I can remember and I’ve been a happy audience member for more performances than I can remember. It has just been in the past few months that I’ve felt a feeling of peacefulness when I perform.

That doesn’t mean I don’t get nervous.  I’ve just learned to tolerate the nervousness and trust that no matter what could possibly go wrong, I will live through it and probably laugh about it later.

Here’s a small list of things I’ve experienced as a performer:

• My veil landed in someone’s (full) tea cup.  I spent the last minute of the song unaware that I was slinging droplets of a stranger’s tea all over the rest of the audience in the first row.
• I somehow ended up with my veil wrapped completely around my head. Of course someone got a photo of the exact moment when I looked like a really fancy and completely confused beekeeper.
• I fell on my behind in the middle of a performance.
• I got my right toe caught in the left leg of my harem pants in the beginning of a spin sequence. This resulting in my harem pants ending up around my ankles with 2 minutes left in the song to which we were performing.
• I’ve had the pleasure of seeing lipstick on my teeth in every photo of a performance.
• I’ve stepped on my skirt while coming off the floor from doing floor work which caused me to stagger around ungracefully for the first few seconds of my big solo.
• I’ve completely and totally blanked on an entire choreography as the music started for a duet performance. (Not a lot of room for faking your way through it in a duet.)
• I’ve experienced having a finger cymbal go flying off my thumb and making a loud “thunk” sound as it hit the stage during literally the only quiet moment in the song.
• I’ve missed cues, turned the wrong way, started a spin too late, started a spin too early and smacked my hand into the person next to me during performances more times than I can count.

Each one of these incidents are pretty traumatizing on their own much less as a collection.

I continue to perform because the benefits outweigh the risks.

I don’t perform because I particularly enjoy attention. As an introvert, I prefer to blend in and not be noticed most of the time.

What I enjoy about performing is the opportunity to wear my costumes and I love the sense of community, accomplishment and giddiness I feel after I perform. I wish everyone knew that particular kind of happiness.

And you can get there too if you give a class a try. 

You have to have some chutzpah to try something out of your comfort zone with as an adult.  There is the risk of frustration and feeling foolish. Performing adds another layer of risk of looking foolish in front of other people along with the fear of letting down your dance partners if you make a mistake. No wonder you’re nervous about taking a class at all, much less performing in front of people!

I was terrified walking into my first ever belly dance class. I didn’t know what to expect. Would the teacher be nice? Would the other students be nice? Did I have any rhythm? Would I be able to physically do whatever it was we were going to be asked to do? Would it be fun? Would I have to do anything in front of the class by myself and look like a fool?

The answers to those questions are: Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes and No.

Okay, I did resemble a drunken moose on roller skates for a long time. (Sometimes I still do.) And some really embarrassing things have happened to me during performances.

But I’m really glad I stuck with it.  And I’m especially glad that World In Motion came to be.

Through World In Motion classes, performances and social events, I’ve met some of the kindest, most hilarious and most supportive women I’ve ever known. I’ve come out of my shell and tried new things. I’ve seen some amazing performances. I’ve been surprised at how loud the audience can be cheering for the dancers after a performance.

It’s okay to be scared.  It’s okay to not be perfect. You will be okay. You might even laugh about it.

The point is, don’t let fear of the unknown or uncontrollable hold you back if you’re interested in dance.

World In Motion is a great place to start.  I can personally attest that the instructors are kind and encouraging.

Check out our schedule at World In Motion and give one of our classes a try.  

All you need to bring to your first class is a sense of humor :-)