Controlling my Nerves, nothing works!

[madeleine]

I have a competition coming up in a few days. This will be my first time doing a solo en pointe, and I am so scared! I've done group numbers on pointe, and we were slipping everywhere. I am so nervous that I will fall flat on my face! I have a double pirouette, which is super hard for me. This is causing a lot of stress, and I just want to have fun! Does anybody have any ways that calm their nerves that might be able to help me?

 

thanks

[Victoria Leigh]

Madeleine, the best way to control nerves is to be confident in what you are doing. That means extremely well rehearsed and consistent in executing everything in the variation. It would also mean knowing ahead of time what the stage is like, so that you can prepare if it is slippery. Will they let you on the stage prior to your solo? Is there a warm up time on the stage at some point? If so, get out there and find out what it is like. If it is extremely slippery, then either get yourself some resin or get a very, very thin layer of rubber on your shoes. This is not optimal, as it does show, but, it's better than falling.

 

As for the double pirouette, if you are not solid with it, then single it. Again, better than falling off. But your teacher/coach should actually make that decision and not allow you to go out there doing anything you are not ready to do consistently.