Finding your dance self

I mentioned in the January group meeting that I was reading a new book (recommended to me by Samantha Emanuel) called Performance Psychology for Dancers by Erin Sanchez, Dave Collins and Aine Macnamara.

The first chapter is called Ideas and provides tools for dancers to help them generate and refine thoughts about where their focus is and what they want from their dance. They name three categories, then later add a fourth (I’m not totally clear why they don’t list all 4 at the same time) and discuss that the categories are not absolute, you may fit into more than one category at once, and that we often shift through and change categories throughout our time in dance.

I thought that further defining of some parameters may help those of us who are interested in figuring out what we want, and may help us attain those desires.

Elite Referenced Excellence - This category is when your ability is measured by your status against others or through competition.
Examples: ‘I’m a principle dancer at X’, ‘I won the X award’, ‘I toured with X’, ‘I am certified in X program’.

Personally Referenced Excellence - This category is when your ability is based on how you’ve developed in relation to your past performance (performance including in classes, rehearsals as well as actual performance situations).
Examples: ‘I feel I’m performing much better recently’, ‘After all my hard-focused practicing, I can see my skills improving’.

Physical Self Worth - In this category, your involvement in dance is a personally beneficial thing.
Examples: ‘I enjoy dance because it keep me fit, and makes me feel good about myself’, ‘I feel energized and inspired after class or practice’.

Professional Judgement and Decision-Making - In this category, you experiment (practically and/or mentally) to try out ideas in advance of applying them. This way of approaching dance includes developing and trying out variations to see what generates the best results (in technique, creative, improvisation and choreography creation). It helps with critical reflection and performance, develops a sense of self-awareness, and self-regulation.