FEIS PRACTICE STRATEGY
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
ALWAYS WARM UP BEFORE YOU BEGIN TO STRETCH
STRETCH BEFORE YOU START TO DANCE
ALWAYS WEAR YOUR DANCE SHOES
ALWAYS PRACTICE TO MUSIC; VARY YOUR MUSIC
WORK ON YOUR:
A) TURN OUT
B) CROSS OVER
C) LIFT
D) ELEVATION
6) REMEMBER YOUR CLOCK:
7) A) TURN OUT AT 10 & 2
8) B) FRONT CROSS OVERS AT 11 & 1
9) C) BACK CROSS OVERS AT 7 & 5
10) ALWAYS PRACTICE ALL YOUR DANCES
REMEMBER DOING YOUR STEPS ONLY ONCE OR TWICE IS NOT
REALLY PRACTICING—YOU MUST SPEND AT LEAST 10 MINUTES
ON EACH DANCE, TRYING TO TURN OUT MORE, CROSS MORE,
ELEVATE MORE AND LIFT MORE EVERY TIME YOU DO EACH
DANCE.
WORK HARD AND YOU WILL BE REWARDED
10 MENTAL TOUGHNESS TIPS FOR COMPETITIVE IRISH DANCERS
By Dr Alan Goldberg, Sports Psychologist
There’s no question that success at a competition is 95% mental and 5%
physical. By the time that big feis comes along. All the hard work has
been done. To make 2011 a breakthrough year, commit to working on
the mental side of your dancing as well as the physical. That lifetime
best dance is already inside of you, just waiting for you to release it!
Use these tip to get that world-class dancer out on stage when it
matters most.
1) STAY CALM AND LIMBER—Staying loose and relaxed before you
dance is the key to competing under pressure. Tight muscles ruin your
mechanics and kill endurance, making it impossible to do your best.
Limber muscles allow your body to perform as trained. Listen to music,
talk to friends, and have fun to help stay calm.
2) LEAVE YOUR GOALS AT HOME—Your goals are a motivational tool
that drives you to work hard at every practice. Goals should NEVER tag
along on feis day because they WILL weigh you down. Athletes who
dwell o their goals at a competition become too nervous and physically
uptight. Remember, you don’t have to think about your goals at a feis
in order to reach them.
3) STAY IN YOUR OWN SPACE—Keep your focus of concentration on
what YOU are doing and NOT on your competition. The more you
concentrate on what you are doing, the more relaxed you’ll stay and
the better chance you’ll have of actually beating the competition.
Conversely, the more you think about and focus on other dancers, the
more nervous you’ll get and the less likely you’ll be able to beat them.
IT GOOD TO BE FRIENDLY WITH YOUR COMPETITORS, BUT KEEP IN
MIND THEY ARE ALL THERE TO BEAT YOU, REMEMBER “THERE ARE NO
FRIENDS ON THE BATTLEFIELD”.
4) STAY IN THE “NOW”—A costly mistake some dancers make is to
allow their feis day focus time to “time travel”. When you mentally
leave the “Now” and jump ahead to awards or fall back to that last feis,
you sabotage your hard work. Discipline yourself to keep your focus in
the “Now”, before AND during your dance. At the feis, focus on one
event at a time; during your performance, focus on one step at a time.
REMEMBER: IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL YOU HAVE FINISHED DANCING
AND COMPLETED YOUR BOW. DO NOT LOSE YOUR CONCENTRATION
WHEN YOU ARE ALMOST DONE, THAT OFTEN LEADS TO MISTAKES.
5) BE AWARE WHENEVER YOUR CONCENTRATION DRIFTS AND
IMMEDIATELY BRING IT BACK—It’s perfectly normal to lose focus
before and during your dance because there is so much that can
distract you. Understand that losing your concentration won’t really
hurt you. What WILL cause you to consistently underperform is losing
your focus and not quickly returning it to the RIGHT focus. Discipline
yourself to recognize the instant your concentration leaves what YOU
are doing in the NOW and quickly bring yourself back.
6) FOCUS ON FEELINGS NOT THOUGHTS—Dancing with excellence
happens when you focus on the FEEL of what you are doing without
thinking about it. For example, this could be your turn out, feeling that
stretch in your calf, or the motion of your body gliding forward.
Thinking thoughts like “I’ve got to use more stage,” or “My legs feel like
lead,” will always hold you back. Focus on feel and when thoughts
intrude, quickly return your concentration to the FEEL of what you are
doing.
7) HAVE FUN—If you want to dance the performance of your life,
understand that this can only happen when you are having fun. If you
make one dancer or any feis too important, and you’re too serious
going in, it will drain all the fun out and replace it with a lot of nervous
tension. When you’re having fun, you’re mentally and physically loose
and relaxed.
8) FOCUS ON ONLY THAT WHICH IS WITHIN YOUR CONTROL—There
are a lot of things that are directly out of your control. For example,
you have no control over how many competitors there are, the kind of
stage you are dancing on, who is lined up to dance with you or the time
of day you are scheduled to compete. When you focus on these
“uncontrollable” things before or during your event, you’ll get nervous
and physically tight, lose your confidence and perform under par.
Instead, concentrate only on those things you can control.
9) KNOW THAT LAST MINUTE DOUBTS AND NEGATAIVE THOUGHTS
ARE NORMAL—It’s very common to have last minute doubts pop into
your head right before you compete. Know that you can still dance
your best with this negative thinking going on just as long as you stay
calm. Accept the thinking for what it is-simply brainwave activity-and
then quickly refocus your concentration on the task at hand. Try NOT
to fight with the negative thoughts, replace them with positive ones, or
work to keep them out of your mind. This approach only makes the
negative thinking stronger. Instead, notice them, accept them, as
normal and then refocus!
10) TRUST AND LET IT HAPPEN—You’ll always dance your very best
when you relax, trust your training and let the excellent dancer inside
you emerge, as opposed to trying too hard and forcing her/him out.
Trust your training and your body, know that the perfect dance is inside
and just let it happen!