The feeling of performing onstage is unlike any other. The rush of endorphins as the curtain opens and the bright stage lights illuminate my face causes bubbling in my chest. As the audience anticipates the beginning of the performance, I feel nervousness coursing through my veins. No matter how many times I have stood in front of an audience I can’t shake the worry of forgetting the steps or stumbling over my feet. Once the music starts, everything comes back to me, and I soon settle into the movement.   

Stage fright, or performance anxiety, is felt as a rapid increase in heart rate, sweating, nausea, or fear and is common in many aspects of appearing in front of a crowd. Whether the anxiety is induced by public speaking, theater, musical, or dance performances, many performers know the feeling all too well.  

Why does this phenomenon occur? Does it go away with enough practice, or is it always prevalent in the life of a performing artist? Depending on the field of performance, many studies have investigated the development of performance anxiety.  

For example, a research article that compiles information and experiments on musical performance anxiety finds that there are differing levels of anxiety that have separate impacts on the individual. The individuals in low-anxiety and high-anxiety groups perform worse in front of an audience of five ‘judges’ than those in a middle-level anxiety group in a study conducted by Craske and Craig by utilizing the Report of Confidence as a Performer Scale on proficient pianists.  

It was also found that the idea that anxiety is a motivator before a performance is slightly misguided. While anxious feelings normally arrive before a performance instead of during it, anxiety isn’t the true reason for motivation. Instead, it is the “heightened state of arousal… which psychologists have conceived as a biologically motivating force,” (Salmon 1990). This anxiety, good or bad, can also be more likely to occur further into a performer’s career. Described as the “gambler’s fallacy”, there is a common fear that over time the average number of failures must catch up with the performer. As is found in statistics, the more times an action is performed, the more likely the results will average out. In something as simple as a coin flip, with only a few flips, landing many more heads than tails is plausible. However, the more times the coin is flipped, the number of heads and tails will be nearly the same. This idea can hold true for performers. The more amazing performances that occur, the more likely a bad show will happen to even the average. With that being said, that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to counteract nerves and use these heightened senses as a strength. 

Research on dancers and performance anxiety found a way to limit the aspect of performance anxiety by being in the “flow” of the performance itself. 

According to the data found by Young-Mee and Jin-Young, dance immersion is seen in dancers with more experience and leads to lower levels of performance anxiety. Dance Immersion refers to both the behavioral and cognitive aspects of being fully enveloped in the performance. Behaviorally, the dancer is physically engaged which refers to the movement or choreography itself. This focuses on the technique of the performance. Cognitively, the dancer is mentally involved in the piece. Through drawing emotional connections, this can be achieved.   

This immersion is possible through the actions of dance visualization practices. Dance visualization is the process of imagining the movements in the mind instead of moving the body. This can be practiced internally or externally depending on how the movements are observed. In internal practice, the dancer would imagine themselves moving their body, but external practice is imagining watching in the third person view.  

It was found that dancing yourself isn’t the only way to increase this immersion. Choreographing for others can have the same effect as increasing the number of personal performances. This could be due to the mental picturing that is required in some aspects of choreography. Although they are not performing in the same capacity as the dancers, the act of creating material still seems to have an effect on anxiety while performing. 

That said, there were a few individual differences found in the study. For example, the specified major of dance had discrepancies. Ballet majors had higher levels of immersion with higher levels of lack of confidence anxiety compared to modern majors. Gender also played a role as men had higher immersion while women had a higher lack of confidence anxiety.  

Standing on stage elicits a feeling unlike any other. No matter the activity, playing the piano, dancing, etc., most people are likely to experience some performance anxiety. The choice is how they decide to use it. Will they let it freak them out, or will they hone the heightened state to produce a performance unlike any other? The choice is theirs. 

Citations: 

Salmon PG. 1990. A Psychological Perspective on Musical Performance Anxiety: A Review of the Literature. Medical Problems of Performing Artists. 5(1):2–11. https://www.jstor.org/stable/45440271. 

Young-Mee K, Jin-Young C. 2016. Influence of Dance Visualization of Dance Majoring University Students on Dance Immersion and Dance Performance Anxiety. Indian Journal of Science and Technology. 9(25). doi:https://doi.org/10.17485/ijst/2016/v9i25/97225.