Weakness/ Worst Dancing Experience

[akk]

hi everyone,

i'm totally a newbie in all kinds of dance. i started taking ceech's class in spring this year, but i went on a vacation...and missed out a chance to perform on stage with the whole class. i took the class and dropped it (again!) in summer due to personal issues...so...as of today, i still don't have any performing experience. now, i really want to dedicate my time and effort to complete the class, and hopefully i'll be able to dance on the stage at least once in the near future! having said that, i have a big problem of dancing in front of people...my FEAR can take away all of my rhythm...my arms and legs will go everywhere they want without any coordination...i know i shouldn't give myself excuse...and i know the key is to practice practice and PRACTICE, make yourself feel comfortable and get used to all the moves...BUT...sometimes i really feel discouraged after screwing up again and again....

so...i'm wondering...do any of u have weakness that u had a hard time to overcome? how did u overcome it? besides, have u done anything stupid when u were performing, or what was your worst dancing experience? would u mind sharing with newbies like me in order to encourage us or be our role models?

thanks everyone! ^^

ak

[Moobish]

hmm yeah i feel you on that


you gotta kinda start small and work up lil by lil baby steps like lets see

when i first started dancing i didnt know what the HELL i was doing but i just did things i felt comfortable with in the mirror first by myself and it looked good to me and you gotta establish that in your head first in my opinion
YOU gotta like what YOU Do you cant cater to anyone elses taste besides yours and thats what dancings all about

so once you do that just start dancing in front of a mirror then move on to messing around with your friends small group of people

and when you start performing on a small scale it builds your confidence slowly and it grows
and soon youll be dancing for a whole club or maybe ARENA if its ur dream :P

but just make sure you take it easy and never stress you dont gotta impress anyone but yourself and if at any time someone says you cant dance


then they aint a real dancer and they got no soul

because a real dancer would never negativly judge your style only give constructive criticism


oh and taking a few shots *if ur 21+* helps loosen tension too :D:D:D:D

[DocLock]

Yo AK, guess what?

That "fear" factor stays on even with the seasoned professionals - haha (not that I'm one of them, I'm just "seasoned"). I had a post made on how sometimes "stage fright anxiety" still manages to rear its ugly head in from time to time.

Don't know why this happens especially cause what we do is just too much fun. You wouldn't think it would be a problem, right?

I think it's because we tend to stop and "think" too hard about what we are doing (getting routines down, remembering the music, etc.). We all want to go out looking like whoever it is that inspired us to do this in the first place.

Well, the best thing to help with this definitely is to practice as you already know. The routines will not come in by themselves. You must get your body and mind conditioned to feel the moves as if they are second nature.

That said, even then there will be times when we mess up (I always do haha).

But the magic comes in the recoup. How you recover from a mistake can make the biggest difference.

Main thing is NOT to stop. You have to just keep going on.

This is going to sound corny but it's true: You seek in your heart for why this dance makes you feel so good and let THAT come out. Pull a little funky-train-that-could mentality to it.

"I know I can...I know I can!"

Zone out on who's watching, block out any of the negative, and just focus on the beat.

Don't ever feel that what you do isn't good enough because you may not do it exactly like so-and-so. Bring out the positive within you and you'll see that others will be infected by it. Remember always dancing is supposed to be FUN!

Stupid moments for me on stage:

Singing -

When I was a widdle kid, I did choir. I remember a moment where I was on stage towards the back row of the group. For some stupid reason I just got sooo freaked and, since I was at the aisle end of the row, little by little during our song I kept creeping away from the rest of the group so I would not be visible (or so I foolishly thought) from the audience. Of course, everyone kept on singing till we were done.

I remember the choir instructor got pissed at me and, also, having to explain to my folks why I did that...haha.

Realize of course, back in those days, teachers were allowed to beat on you.

But that didn't stop me from singing......just have this terrible inexplicable hatred of nuns (j/k - it's not inexplicable).

Dance -

In my time, we danced everywhere we could. Street corners, definitely.
I was in a "cut-up" (battle) with this one guy and things were getting heated and pumped up. Neither one of us would quit and kept throwing move after move at each other from locking to robot to strutting. Back in that time, I was much more flexible and could do some crazy gymnastics so I hit my back flip into a dolphin dive move on the guy. The dolphin dive looks like a dolphin jumping out of the water and slowly going back in (I see a lot of house dancers hit this).

Anyway, in the heat of the moment, I felt myself coming down into the dive a tad bit too close to the cement sidewalk and my chin impacted. But the rest of the move felt pretty smooth and I came back up with an "IN YO FACE" ending on the other guy. Like "See that??? How'd you like that??!!"

When I saw him back off some I had thought he was declaring me the victor.

Naw, he was backing off cause he didn't want any of my blood gushing out of my chin to get on his clothes!! LOL!!

I had really tore into my chin when I hit the ground and had to get stitched. But I didn't even feel it at the time cause I was too happy cause I won overall. Stooooopid!! :D

Don't seek anything inspiring in that last bit...just thought to share that moment.

Keep on dancin, believe in yourself, and believe in the beat


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...and definitely keep taking them incredible pictures!!

[SantaCruzIce]

You are doing great AK, don't you worry too much! I know the feeling though. When it comes closer to a performance you may doubt yourself or your ability, but that is natural, it happens to everyone. My best piece of advice, which I try to follow myself, is to just do it. It's okay to be nervous and freak out a little, but just finish the class, or just do the performance. It's easy to worry so much that you make things a bigger deal than they really are. This is something I am working on at the moment. Honestly, if you just force yourself to do a few performances (assuming you want to in the first place) then after the shows you already have some performing experience. You just gotta push to that point. I am learning with dance and with many other things, the build up to an event (the questioning, the anxiety etc) is often worse than the actual thing. So just do your thing, practice over and over, and do the best you can when it's time for the show.

Also remember, whether you have a flawless show or not (few people do), in the end you are the one on stage and the people that are watching are not. Be proud of your hardwork and have fun!

[MikeyP]

in Reading PA (just outside philadelphia) i was at a dance club and got a knife pulled on me and threatened.

over dancing.


basically i battled this guys whole crew and blew past all of them (they were mad shitty, but totally full of themselves) that warented me getting swiped at. Bouncer came and diffused the situation.

thats my worst dance experience.

[SantaCruzIce]

in Reading PA (just outside philadelphia) i was at a dance club and got a knife pulled on me and threatened.

over dancing.


basically i battled this guys whole crew and blew past all of them (they were mad shitty, but totally full of themselves) that warented me getting swiped at. Bouncer came and diffused the situation.

thats my worst dance experience.

Glad nothin' happend son. Foos.

[DocLock]

You forgot about the part where you took home all their girlfriends...:eek: :rolleyes: ;)

[DocLock]

ALL of them.....

[MikeyP]

thanks sal, almost forgot that part.

[akk]

You forgot about the part where you took home all their girlfriends...:eek: :rolleyes: ;)

LOL.......that's why!!! ahhhahah..........

anyways, thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts and experiences~~ very helpful~ i feel so lucky to get to know y'all, u guys are so supportive!! i'll try my best to overcome my fear....and i'll try to dance more...more...and more...or simply down a few shots before class...but wait...it'll mess up my moves and ceech will turn into a robot.... @.@

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[MikeyP]

i got a toothache from that video

[SantaCruzIce]

i got a toothache from that video

Why is that MikeyP? Cause it was so sweet?

Badum ching

[MikeyP]

i set it up, you knock it down

[SantaCruzIce]

i set it up, you knock it down

We're kind of like a volleyball duo. Minus the short tight shorts.



Well, minus the shorts most of the times.


Possible show attire suggestion?