Concentration is perhaps the single most misunderstood psychological factor in dance. In fact, in a recent conversation, an elite dancer indicated that she improved her concentration by staring at the second-hand of a watch for an extended period of time. Though she may think she did, most of the theory and research to date suggests that is not the case. That exercise may work if the activity she participated in required her to stare at one thing for a long time.
Dance, however, is not such a activity. Dance requires the ability to concentrate on a variety of changing things at once. Another misconception about concentration is that it is an arduous, effortful process. Yet anyone who has danced “in the zone”, that period when a dancer is at his or her peak and is dancing without thought or conscious control, knows that ideal concentration is an effortless experience of total awareness.
What then is concentration and how can it be improved? In order to explain concentration, it will be useful to introduce a term, define it, then apply it to concentration in dance. Dr. Robert Nideffer, a leading researcherin concentration, suggests that the foundation of concentration is the “attentional field”. The attentional field is everything outside of people that their senses could pick up plus everything inside of them, such as thoughts, emotions, and physical responses, that they could focus on at one time.
Applied to dance, good concentration involves focusing on performance-relevant aspects of the attentional field. In other words, concentrating only on those things in the attentional field that are important for dancers to perform. In contrast, poor concentration involves focusing on performance-irrelevant aspects of the attentional field. That is, concentrating on those things that are not necessary to dance.
What then are some performance-irrelevant things that can pop into a dancer’s head and hurt dance performance: the audience, a mistake early in the performance, a difficult technique at the end of the performance. Every dancer has many distractors that have interfered with performance.
More importantly, what are the performance-relevant things that dancers must focus on to perform well? Most obviously, you have to concentrate on the movement and the artistry, but there are several others as well. You must be aware of the stage, as changes in space will affect the performance. Also, you must focus on the other dancers because they will influence your performance. In addition, you must concentrate on yourself and use information obtained about the dance, the space, and the other dancers to dictate any adjustments that must be made. Finally, you should have the proper temporal focus. In other words, dancers must be focused on the present not the past or the future.
A classic example of a loss of concentration and its result is sometimes seen in large company performance. A dancer performs exceptionally well in the first part of the program, but falters in the second half because he begins to anticipate the bravos and the reviews. Returning to the notion of good concentration, the bravos and reviews are performance-irrevelant to performing well.
Loss of concentration also affects dancers physically. When dancers tell themselves, “I’ve done it” or “I’ve got it made”, in essence, they are telling their body to relax. So, in addition to the difficulties in performing caused by the inability to focus properly, the body lacks the necessary adrenaline, oxygen, and blood flow that is essential for dancers to perform at their peak. In other situations, loss of concentration has the opposite effect, i.e., it creates too much anxiety.
During a performance, a loss of concentration produces thoughts such as “I’ve got to concentrate” and “try harder” in the belief that these will improve concentration. However, this type of self-induced pressure tends to increase anxiety levels, which have a twofold negative effect on performance. First, the anxiety causes muscle tension, butterflies, and choking, which interfere with the body’s ability to perform at a high level. Second, concentration is hurt even more because now the focus is on the muscle tension, breathing difficulties, and general discomfort associated with the anxiety.
There are, fortunately, several simple techniques that may be used to improve concentration. First, when concentration begins to wander, cuewords may be used to refocus attention. In other words, when dancers are distracted, they can repeat a cueword that enables them to regain the proper concentration. One cueword that is quite popular, but, in fact, ineffective is “concentrate”. This cueword causes dancers to concentrate on concentrating rather than on, once again, the performance-relevant aspects of performing. Different cuewords can be used depending upon what the primary focus must be. For example, if a dancer is concerned about musicality, a good cueword might be “music”. If the steps worry a dancer, then “steps” may be helpful. Saying these cuewords to themselves (or out loud if that helps) serves two purposes. One, it blocks out distracting thoughts and, two, it refocuses concentration onto something that will enable the dancer to perform better.
Another method for improving concentration involves using a cueobject rather than a cueword. That is, when dancers lose their concentration, they can have an object that they can focus on. A useful cueobject might be a prop or a spot on the stage. By focusing on these cueobjects, it can better prepare dancers for successful completion of a difficult aspect of the performance.
Finally, breathing can be used as a cueobject to regain concentration. When concentration is lost, dancers can focus on their breathing by taking deep breaths. The benefits are twofold. First, like other cueobjects, it enables dancers to refocus their concentration. Second, by getting more oxygen into their body, dancers will relax and perform better.
An important part of improving concentration is developing awareness of what can be focused on and then gaining control over what is focused on. An exercise known as focal training can be helpful in developing these concentration skills. The next time dancers are practicing, they can take fifteen minutes for the exercise. The first five minutes they should concentrate entirely on the steps. Dancers will find that they are very aware of the steps, but do not respond to space changes very well. The second five minutes they should concentrate wholly on the space. They should not focus on the steps at all. In this case, your movement may not be very good, but you will adjust to space changes well. The third five minutes they should concentrate solely on themselves, their movement, their technique. They will find that they have a keen sense of what you are doing on the choreography.
This exercise teaches dancers an awareness of and control over what can be concentrated on. What must be done next is to determine the appropriate balance between the three. This can be accomplished by, first, having dancers figure out their personal concentrational style. For example, some dancers don’t focus on the technique enough, others don’t focus on the artistry enough. Second, while rehearsing, they can redirect some of their concentration onto the neglected object. Initially, this will take some effort, but with practice, like developing a technical skill, these concentration skills will become natural and instinctive.
The result of dancers developing their concentration skills are simple and practical. When they are in a performance, they will possess the ability to maintain their concentration. However, as often happens, if they begin to lose their concentration, they will have mastered the skills necessary to regain it. Lastly, this newfound ability will enable dancers to perform at a consistently high level, which will result in greater satisfaction and fun for them when performing.
