Audition Day Tips: How to Keep Calm and Stay Strong for a Great Performance
Photo source: Pelicans Dance Team (Twitter)
Your ability to stay calm in stressful situations such as pro cheer auditions can impact your performance which ultimately leads to success or failure. Feeling nervous on the big day is normal. It happens to all audition candidates. However, too much nervousness drains your energy. You have to deal with it effectively.
If you haven’t read our previous blog post about handling pre-performance nerves, do check it out here. Continue with today’s guide for more tips.
Ways to Keep Calm and Stay Strong During a Pro Cheer Audition
1. Take 3 slow deep breaths.
When you’re nervous, you tend to take shallow breaths. Practice “calm breathing.” It’s a technique that involves standing or sitting upright and breathing slowly and deeply through the nose and exhaling slowly through the mouth. Feel your abdomen rising and falling. Calm breathing delivers oxygen to your brain and relaxes your muscles.
2. Stop perfectionist thinking and just give it your BEST shot.
Remember the truth that you are not perfect! Being an imperfect pro cheer audition candidate is 100% okay. Minor imperfections when you dance or speak in front of the judges doesn’t mean that your entire performance will be catastrophic. One of the best stay calm quotes to tell yourself is this: “All I can do is my best!”
Related: Your Focus Should Be Progress, Not Perfection
3. Be sure to get proper sleep during the audition week!
Sleeplessness prevents your brain from functioning effectively. Being sleep deprived increases your tendency to think negatively. Sleep should be ample (7-9 hours for adults) to give your brain a mental reset and allow it to heal. As you read this post, start working on an optimal bedtime schedule. Create a relaxing bedtime routine and a sleep environment.
4. Focus on your dancing.
Here’s a little trick I want to share. When you perform in small groups in front of the judges, stop looking at other candidates! If you rely on a candidate’s moves and she messes up, you might mess up and get all panicky. But if in case you mess up during the dance portion, smile and move on. The judges want to see that you’re able to handle stress and pressure.
5. Ask yourself, “What would someone else do?”
Get outside of your own situation for a bit. Imagine that you are another person (a person you truly admire for her positive qualities) and question what that person would do if she was in your shoes. This will help change your perspective and focus on the immediate solution.
6. Give yourself a 5-minute break to dwell on positive thoughts.
During the auditions, there will be a lot of moments when you get to relax and rehearse. Use these down times to take a few minutes to really focus on positive things. These can be anything from funny memories with a loved one to a conversation with a friend who’s giving you encouragement.
Be in control. Do not let anxiety get the best of you. Give these tips a go on the biggest day of the year. Most importantly, make sure to prepare in advance. Advance prep increases your chances of achieving audition success!
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