Preparing Your Mindset for a Successful Dance Convention Weekend
With the convention and competition season quickly approaching, preparing our minds is just as important as preparing our bodies. Here are some tips on how to prepare your mindset for the upcoming convention and competition season from Embody Dance Conference that we hope you can use all season long!
Set Your Intentions
Before stepping into the convention, take some time to reflect on your intentions for the weekend. You can begin by asking yourself questions like:
- What do I hope to gain from this experience?
- What are my personal goals this season and how can I achieve them?
- What are ways I can show up for myself and others?
Intention setting is a helpful tool that helps keep you centered, especially when things can start to feel overwhelming. You can use these intentions as an anchor throughout the weekend!
Prepare Your Mindset
Setting goals for yourself and striving to achieve them is something every dancer does but it’s important to remember that the journey is just as important as the destination. Preparing your mindset going into the weekend is a great way to stay grounded, reduce stress, and keep you in a positive headspace. Here are some helpful self-reflection tools from Embody’s Mindset Coach, Ashley Mowery, to help you prepare your mindset.
- Describe in words the kind of weekend you want to experience.
- Identify what is most important to you during the weekend.
- Describe the human, dancer, and teammate you want to be during the weekend.
- What do you need before each class to show up for and care for yourself?
Based on your responses, create a process-oriented focus for the weekend. What do you want to focus on that is part of the process instead of the outcome? Rather than focusing on outcomes like winning, class call outs, etc., focus on the process you’re experiencing. Processes can look like what you’re learning, how you’re treating yourself and others, or what you’re working on!
Practice Your Stress-Reduction Techniques
Stress is a normal part of everyday life and can especially be felt when we enter into competition and convention weekends. Rather than ignoring those feelings, check out Ashley’s 5 S’s to reduce stress and overwhelm in the moment! Just like practicing your routines before competition helps you prepare for a great performance, practicing your stress reduction techniques will also help prepare you for a great weekend!
- Sigh: two inhales through the nose, one extended exhale through the mouth
- Shake: gently shake your body
- Soothe: give yourself a hug, rub your arms, offer yourself words of self-compassion like “I can do this” or “It’s okay to feel this way.”
- Spot the Feeling: bring neutral awareness to what feelings and emotions you’re experiencing. Name them and identify where you feel them in your body.
- Safe Space: Imagine yourself in your “safe space” in your mind. Using your available senses, what do you see, hear, taste, smell? What textures are around you? Create a snapshot of what it would be like in your safe space.
As you head into the convention and competition season, remember that your mindset is a valuable tool that can take you far! By setting clear intentions, focusing on the process, and practicing stress-reduction techniques you can stay grounded no matter what the weekend brings. With these tools from Embody Dance Conference, we hope that you’ll walk into every convention and competition feeling ready in your mind and body!
Embody Dance Conference is a non-profit dance convention and competition on a quest to cultivate a safer, more inclusive dance community. At Embody, you’ll find the industry’s leading educators, choreographers, and change-makers put their hearts together for an event that leaves dancers feeling empowered. To learn more about Embody Dance Conference, visit our website at www.embodydanceconference.com
Instagram Handle: @EmbodyDanceConference
Website: www.embodydanceconference.com
