How to be a More Confident Dancer – new & unconventional method

Do you get butterflies in your stomach before performance? 😨

I think most dancers do, even experienced people too. Some people may get a little nervous, but other people may get sweaty hands, shaky legs ….or even start to panic before getting on stage!

Don’t worry, you’re not the only one.

So today’s post is a little different than my usual costuming ones, but the other day I learned this interesting way of building confidence, and I thought this may help performing dancers become more confident and shine on stage. So let’s get started!

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What quality do all confident people have in common?

So I was watching this video by a Japanese author, Daigo. It’s in Japanese, so here’s a point he made.

He basically says that if you’re having a bad day, it’s easy to think that your current situation was caused by other people or your environment.

For example, I used to think that I was never good at sports or dancing, because my mother was never good at physical activities either… so I, her daughter, shouldn’t be or can’t be good at physical activities.

…Sounds silly, but I used to believe this, and I was not confident enough to learn to dance until later in my life 🙁

But Daigo says, people who are confident in themselves have this feeling that they can control their future. They have power to influence what’s going to happen in the future. 

And to train yourself to feel this way, you need to create an experience where you can easily SEE that you can change your future.

The example he used was bodybuilding.

He was never good at sports, but he decided to work on his self-confidence by working out and actually seeing that his action changed his appearance. He successfully built more muscles and became fit.

And because he was able to see that he did change his future by working out, he felt more confident and his self-confidence has helped him accomplish a lot more things in his life.

So how does this apply to dancers?

The “You Need to Gain More Experience” Myth

For dancers, people often say that you need to keep gaining performance experience in order to overcome stage fright or feel less nervous before performance.

But I’ve always wondered how true or how effective this is.

…Because I keep on hearing that even experienced dancers have stage fright!

But they have so much experience!

And I think that one of the reasons for this is because every stage has different risks – different choreography, different venue, different audience etc.

And if there’s a risk, there’s a chance of making mistakes or messing up the performance, and this causes you to worry and get nervous.

Plus the effect of each performance on your self-confidence is very vague and hard to see. You may feel good after a performance, but often it’s because of an adrenaline rush…. and the feeling of accomplishment eventually fades away…

And by next performance, you may feel just as scared as you were at your last performance. Unless you perform on a daily basis, it’s unlikely that the act of performing in front of people becomes easy quickly.

That’s why I think building confidence by simply gaining experience as a dancer takes a long, long time.

For beginner or amatuer dancers who have limited access to performance opportunities, it’s even harder, and it takes much longer.

But they are the ones who usually need most help with confidence on stage.

So what can you do?

How to Be a More Confident Dancer – a new approach

To reiterate, the Japanese author I mentioned earlier said, to build confidence, you need to create an experience where you can easily see that you can change your future.

So you need a method that gives you a clear result which you can SEE and visually reminds you of that sense of accomplishment in the future.

For this, costume making is perfect for dancers. 🙂

You don’t even have to make a complete costume. Just start from making an armband to wear with a costume you have. Or a simple bra top.

What this does is, you can visually see the starting point – fabric. You can visually see the end result – a costume.

You can visually see your power, which is, that you turned a piece of fabric into a wearable costume. You can SEE that you changed your future with your own hands.

Of course, you may make mistakes along the way, or your project may not turn out the way you envisioned at first – but you’ll learn what to do and what not to do from the experience, and you’ll see that your project evolves as you work on it.

Key is to just do it and keep doing it – no matter if you think your first project is a huge success or a complete failure. If your first project is a complete failure, do another one. And another one. Start with an easy hip scarf or an accessory if you’re new.

And with each project, you’ll clearly SEE your progress.

And in no time you’ll realize you’re slowly gaining confidence in costume making, and it’ll have a ripple effect on your dancing, your career, your life.

How do I know this?

I know this because I went through it myself.

When I started making costumes, I had already had several years of dance experience under my belt, but I never felt confident enough to make my own choreography – let alone perform it in front of people. All I did was follow my teacher’s directions.

But after creating my first belly dance bra and belt, I started to feel something different. It took months and a few revisions and help from other people, but once I wore them, received compliments from other dancers, and performed in what I created, I felt so good about myself. I felt more confident. More empowered.

I can SEE what I created and I KNOW I turned some fabrics into this beautiful bra & belt!

After that I tried creating my own choreography and performed it. I initiated projects with other dancers. Other dancers saw that, and started treating me as another dancer, not someone’s student. That gave me more confidence.

See the ripple effect?

One of my favourite comments I hear from Sparkly Belly audience is, “I never thought I could make something like this myself!” This comment shows that their self-confidence is growing, because they can see the results.

So if you’ve struggled with self-confidence as a dancer, I highly recommend you give costume making a try, and see how you feel.

You’ve got nothing to lose. At the very least, you’ll gain new skills and new costumes and more exciting performances! I really hope your future performances are going to be less stressful and more fun! 🙂

Some of you may feel, “But Mao, I’m completely new to costume making, and I don’t even know where to start!”

Here’s good news – In the next couple of weeks, I’m going to do Back to Basic series. How do you start making dance costumes? What tools do I need? How to I pick fabric? I’ll answer all these questions in the next videos 🙂

So if you’re curious, make sure to sign up for my newsletter so you won’t miss the next series!

Click here to sign up for Sparkly Belly newsletter & start building new skills and confidence!

And if you know a dancer who could benefit from this post, let’s share love and share this video with them. They will appreciate that your care 🙂

Thanks for reading, and keep sparkling!

P.S. Pin this image for future reference 🙂