It’s the time of year when dance students everywhere get to show off the results of all of their hard work in the classroom. In other words, it’s recital time! It can be exciting or scary, but in any case hopefully fun. And of course everyone wants to do their best. The thing is that performing is a skill in and of itself, and it is only developed by performing. It’s hard to be perfect at something when you don’t have many chances of honing that particular skill.
This is not to say that all beginning or intermediate level dancers will perform poorly or make mistakes, but sometimes we can be our own worst enemy by putting pressure on ourselves to be perfect. After over a decade as a professional Middle Eastern dancer, I know that I personally have made some of my biggest strides in performing by allowing myself to make mistakes. This doesn’t mean that by allowing myself to make mistakes that I actually made them. I just took some of the pressure to be perfect off of myself which then allowed me to focus more completely on my performance and ultimately do a better job - and have more FUN!
This YouTube video is a collection of ballet bloopers, showing that even professional dancers can make mistakes or have a bad show. Some of the comments on YouTube say that this video is mean-spirited, but I don’t think that is the case at all. It is meant to be funny, and this reminds me of something a great dancer named Zahira once said to me, “It will either be a great performance or a good story.” Either way, you will have something worthwhile to take away from the experience. And remember, if something goes awry onstage, you are in good company!
Enjoy the video and best of luck to all of you in your upcoming performances!