Dancers spend a huge amount of time in front of mirrors looking at themselves critically. It’s rare for them to admire themselves or engage in positive self talk while they take class or rehearse. It’s more common for them to find fault or to compare themselves to others and see themselves lacking as they look at their reflection. This negative self talk, while partly meant as a means to improve their dance technique, often results in decreased self-esteem and a general sense of discouragement about their own level of performance and ability.
How do you, as a teacher, help your students avoid the downward spiral of negative self talk and negative thoughts? Teach them how to use affirmation and visualization techniques. These tools are implemented by many professional athletes to help them achieve higher levels of proficiency in their given sports and to accomplish their specific goals.
Affirmations: These are positive statements related to a particular goal a dancer wants to achieve or a desire they want to manifest. Usually the statement is made in the future tense as if the goal has already been achieved or the desire has already been fulfilled.
Let’s say, for example, a dancer wants to have more pointed toes. Instead of criticizing her toes each time she looks at her feet or thinks about them, she will repeat an affirmation. She can say, 'I now have the most beautifully pointed toes imaginable.' Or 'I now have toes pointed just like _____,' and fill in the blank with the name of a dancer she admires. It’s also a good idea for the dancer to use her name in the affirmation: 'I, Sonya, now love my perfectly pointed toes.'
Tell your dancers to write their affirmations down on 3x5 cards and carry them around with them. They should repeat them five or ten times before bed and upon waking up each morning, as well as any time they remember during the day.
Visualization: In this case dancers actually picture in their minds having what they desire—a perfect double tour, for example. A dancer will close his eyes and imagine himself doing a double tour. He can image the preparation and the tour itself and the follow through until the move has been completely finished. Additionally, the dancer should imagine what it feels like to do this move perfectly from start to finish. He can even imagine the heat on his face from the lights and the audience applauding and how that feels.
The mind does now know the difference between actually doing the tour and visualizing it. The muscles fire as if they are doing a double tour, thus visualization becomes a perfect practice period. This leads to easier achievement of the goal when it comes time to actually perform.
The trick to visualization is to see the goal and to feel it achieved. Make visualization part of your students daily practice—just like class. Tell them to implement 2-3 sessions of five or ten minutes per day in the morning and evening and once during the day.
Affirmations and visualization may seem like airy fairy techniques, but, in fact, they are used by professional business people and athletes alike to achieve goals. Dance teachers do a great service to their students by teaching them these tools early in their careers. Plus, as your dancers continue to practice affirmations and visualizations—and to see the positive results—they’ll replace their negative and self-talk and criticism with more positive thoughts, affirmations and visualization. Why? Because they’ll realize these behaviors improve their dancing much more than their old ones.
