Part 2: Competition Season

Happy Tuesday! There's one fewer day until YAGP and until you're finally free from grueling rehearsals. I'm really excited to continue this series for the next few days, so definitely message me on Instagram (or on here) if there's anything in particular you'd like me to discuss!

14-year-old me with my teacher (Xiao Chen) after winning 1st place in the YAGP Atlanta regionals

Here are my tips for today:

1. Be smart about using your time for open stage.

Open stage is a period of ten minutes (usually) for all competitors to practice onstage before the competition actually starts. It's always crowded with competitors, teachers on the sidelines, and backstage helpers scattered throughout. During open stage, be sure to run through the spacing of your piece as well as some of the trickier bits of technique in your variation. Although you might feel self-conscious or worried about knocking into someone, it's best to ignore that feeling, however harsh it may sound. This time period is typically the only one where you'll be able to practice onstage, so take advantage of it even if it means accidentally cutting off a dancer. Likewise, other dancers will definitely do the same to you, so take it in stride and just find some other space to practice.

In addition, just because open stage is ten minutes long doesn't mean you have to practice incessantly for all ten minutes. There's definitely a mental boost after you've nailed a turn or some other form of technique on open stage, and self-confidence can work wonders once it's actually time to compete. Leaving open stage at the last second after stumbling a few times due to fatigue can worm its way into your mental state and create feelings of self-doubt and worry. In short, practice just what you need. Don't over-practice and cram a full-out run of your variation during open stage.

2. If you're scared that people will judge you for messing up or being a bad dancer, know that people will always judge you.

This is one of those pieces of advice that's applicable both before a competition and also to carry throughout everyday life. I've heard stories about being too scared to be expressive onstage, worrying about what people think if you mess up onstage, or maybe (in my case) being too scared to smile.

Unfortunately, a fact of life is that people will form judgements about you regardless of how well you do. This might seem negative at first glance, but in reality, it also means that fear of judgement should cease to exist, simply because judgement is omnipresent in our everyday lives. There will always be people that are pleased with your performance and people who aren't; in a similar strain, there will always be people that like you and those who don't.

Therefore, there's nothing more to do than to perform and enjoy the performance without letting any haters get in the way. In the macrocosm of things, don't be reluctant to do something you believe in because you're afraid of how other people might react. They'll react to whatever you do, so go out and be yourself.

3. For turns, focus on the one thing your teacher always tells you and nothing else.

I have a love-hate relationship with turns (pirouettes). I love practicing them and doing them in the studio, but I'm absolutely terrified with doing them onstage. As a disclaimer, my success rate with doing turns onstage is pretty low, so take this advice with a grain of salt.

If you think of every single thing you have to do before a turn – knee turned out, not using your heel, sucking in your stomach, or keeping your arms up –, you'll definitely be late to the music. Instead, think of that one thing that your teacher always yells at you about. When you're nervous, chances are that you might forget about the one key thing that could lead to falling out of a turn. The rest will be taken care of by muscle memory.

For me, I'm always more successful with turns if I'm more relaxed onstage. Therefore, being able to nail difficult pieces of technique always stems with warming up conscientiously, spending time alone to keep up my energy levels, and maintaining the outlook that technique isn't everything.

One failed turn doesn't mean a failed performance. There are so many other things to be proud of in a performance, whether that's how you handled your nerves for that day or how much you improved in regards to turnout or artistry.

Dance is considered an art form and not a sport because it doesn't place more emphasis on technique than artistry. In competition settings, it's easy to forget that and think that someone doing a triple pirouette is definitively better than someone who can only do a double. Of course, this could be a factor in winning awards, but being a true dancer means so much more – artistry, grace, and storytelling are all qualitative characteristics that can never be clearly defined by a score.

~Ellie