Picture yourself giving a great performance and you will be more likely to do so.
Performing on stage is an exciting opportunity, but when the time comes to present your work to an audience, you might feel anxious and afraid. Stage fright is a common feeling among people who are new to performing, and even among some people who have been doing it for years. The important thing to remember is that you can conquer stage fright and give a performance that you are proud of and can enjoy.
What is Stage Fright?
A person who has experienced stage fright will tell you that it feels like anxiety or nervousness before or while performing on stage. Symptoms of stage fright include dry mouth, tight throat, shaky hands and trembling. However, stage fright isn't an illness or a medical condition. If you suffer from stage fright, what you are actually dealing with is an excess energy that you simply do not know use. Once you know control and harness that energy, you can cure yourself of fright.
What Does Stage Fright Do to a Performance?
If you are overly nervous before a public speaking engagement or a play, you cannot focus on giving your speech or performance. You will be distracted by the thought of messing up or what the people in the audience are thinking. On a physiological level, you may not be able to breathe evenly, so you probably won't in fact be able to do what you rehearsed.
How Can You Circumvent Stage Fright?
As with any fear, you can conquer stage fright through mental exercises. But the most important exercise is identifying why you personally feel afraid before getting on stage and accepting that fear will not improve your performance. There is actually a benefit to feeling a certain degree of excess energy before you step on stage. If you were perfectly relaxed, you might not "sell it" or seem compelling. Focus your extra energy on the material that you will deliver. For instance, if you're giving a speech, prepare everything you will say and memorize it in a logical sequence, so you'll be able to remember what comes next. If you are acting in a play, invest in your character's feelings and concentrate on how you need your scene partner to feel.
Suggested Exercises
Figure out if you are the kind of person who works better if you isolate yourself before a performance or engage with other people backstage. If you need to separate yourself from others, do so politely, so that they respect your process. While you're alone, practice breathing in and out by counting to a number and increasing the number of your inhale each time. Try concentrating on mundane things. For instance, say the alphabet backwards or count to one hundred.
