Recently a young dancer came to us with a problem. It seems that she always danced well in class, but on stage she got so nervous she would dance poorly or lose her balance. She and her teachers believed she had the ability, but they did not know how to deal with her anxiety.

This reaction is not uncommon among dancers. In fact, anxiety, or nervousness, is one of the greatest obstacles to optimal performance. Anxiety results in extreme muscle tension, butterflies in the stomach, and difficulty breathing, among other things. The term “choking” is common, but few people realize that it is an actual physical reaction to stress.

When people are nervous, the muscles in the breathing system contract, blocking off air passages, resulting in insufficient oxygen intake. So, in this condition, people are choking in the real sense of the word. In this nervous state, the body loses strength, coordination, and flexibility, and, quite obviously, can not perform at its highest level.

Such responses are found not only in young dancers but also among experienced dancers. A former student who went on to become a successful dancer was so nervous in her first major performance that she was in tears and did not want to go on stage. Only the experience and sensitivity of the choreographer enabled her to gain her composure and give a good performance.

This illustration demonstrates an extremely high level of anxiety. However, I do not mean to suggest that the opposite of this state is ideal either; being totally relaxed can be just as bad for performance. Clearly too much or too little anxiety is not good for performance. Recent research indicates that a moderate level of anxiety is necessary to perform at a high level. Moderate anxiety boosts adrenaline and diverts energy to necessary parts of the body such as the legs, thereby enhancing strength and coordination.

So far I have told you about things you have probably experienced many times in the past. Now, like the young dancer we talked about earlier, you want to know what you can do about it. Because few dancers suffer from too little anxiety, we shall focus on dealing with excessive anxiety.

One of the most effective techniques to control nervousness is known as progressive relaxation. Its benefits are twofold. First, this method teaches your body how to relax. Second, it shows you how to control and regulate aspects of your body such as muscle tension and breathing. When you get into a stressful situation, you have the ability to calm down and relax.

The following outline describes everything you need to know to use this technique effectively:

1. Progressive relaxation involves tightening and relaxing four major muscle groups: legs, chest and back, arms and shoulders, and face and neck.
2. Start with the legs and work your way up. Tighten your legs for three seconds, then relax (do twice). Repeat this for each muscle group. Then tighten your whole body for three seconds, and relax.
3. During these exercises pair cuewords with the tightening and relaxing. That is, say ‘tight’ just before you tense your muscles, and say ‘loose’ before you relax. Feel free to make up cuewords you are most comfortable with. The object of this phase of the exercises is to condition your body to the cuewords so when you get nervous, you can say the cuewords and your body will respond accordingly. We should point out that this can be used for increasing anxiety (if you are too relaxed) in addition to relaxing.
4. Breathing is an important part of progressive relaxation. During the relaxation phases, take several deep breaths. A good defense against “choking” is to force yourself to breathe slowly and deeply.
5. After the exercises, make a mental checklist of each part of your body to see if you are relaxed. If you find that you have chronic tension in one particular area, do extra relaxation exercises on that area.
6. During the exercises feel the relaxation and gain an awareness of the difference between tension and relaxation. When you get into an anxious situation, you will then be able to sense your anxiety and you will be able to take positive steps to relieve it.
7. Like any form of training, there is no such thing as instant improvement. Change takes time and effort. So include progressive relaxation in your training program and make it routine.

In summary, look back on your past dance performances. Find the performances in which you danced well and poorly. Then compare how you felt in these performances. Were you relaxed in the good performances and nervous in the bad ones, or vice versa? Look for differences and find your own optimal level of anxiety. Then use progressive relaxation to reach and maintain that state.