My aim with this project was to create a quick and compact warmup that is easy to complete, and which creates a 'mental readiness' before a performance situation. I listened to several guided meditations as a source of inspiration, however I realised quite soon that I do not wish to get into a meditative state within this warmup - my goal is only to pull my focus on the present moment, and the challenge I am facing. Mindfulness exercises have similar intentions, therefore I chose mindfulness as a method for this research. By reading and listening to multiple exercises found online, I have comprised my own routine, which takes 5-6 minutes to complete. It is built in a way that it may serve a good ground for further physical warmup, if done prior to a dance class or performance.
I am an anxious person, which caused me some difficulties ever since I started taking dance classes. Sometimes anxiety can be helpful, but I often experienced stress that eventually stopped me from being able to concentrate, making performing a rather overwhelming experience. However, I also had some really good times performing, in which cases I did not have anxiety at all, or it dissolved after a while. Due to these conflicting experiences, I was wondering a lot about where this imaginary line between good and bad performance experience might be, and also whether I would be able to control that somehow.
I decided to conduct a self-study, as I believe that everybody is different, and it would be really difficult to create a warmup that works universally, and at the same time targets such an intimate part of a person - their minds. Moreover, I do not know any other performer who suffers from pre-performance anxiety the way I do (although I am sure that I am not alone with this problem). As such, I wanted to primarily focus on my own experiences, and (a bit selfishly) to try finding a solution which suits my needs in the first place.
Any sort of performance requires a focused state of mind, and a sense of readyness. Mindfulness is a method that aims to achieve this mental state, and to bring the practitioner's attention to the present moment. Therefore, it seemed to be a good method for this research.
I noticed that my mind was all over the place recently, running with 'multiple tabs open', and not allowing me to concentrate fully on only one thing at a time. My thoughts were just as disorganised as the design of this page tries to represent. This was especially limiting during rehearsals, when I caught myself thinking about other tasks rather than concentrating on the group I was working with. As such, my intention was also to help myself with this research, and to seek some practice that helped me to bring my focus on the present moment, and stay alert.
Originally, I was planning to do the warmup in a studio setting, as I wanted to include some more complex physical activity in it, for instance breathwork or some other form of movement meditation. Therefore I have started by including a breathwork exercise. I realised soon that a preparation like this separates me from other participants of the class, which probably has more disadvantages than actual benefits. Moreover, it started to feel like an obligatory set of tasks, by which I was 'forcing' myself into an almost meditative state. This, however, was not my original goal. My aim was only to bring my attention to the present moment, and far less activity was enough to achieve that.
As such, I have decided to create a warmup that is compact, and which I could do relatively anywhere, at any time. This is the reason why it only includes mental tasks. That made the warmup so flexible that sometimes I did it on the tram on my way to class, or in the last few minutes before performing.
I have started to do the warmup before a dance class I took each Monday and Wednesday. It was a release class, a style which I am familiar with, but within a new setting: held by a teacher whom I did not know before, and amongst new people. Situations like that always provoked a certain amount of stress for me. When I started my research with the warmup, I was already attending the class for a few weeks, so I was starting to get used to my new environment. As a consequence, my performance in class was already improving, as my 'fear of the unknown' had gradually passed.
I have decided to do the routine before each class on Monday, and not doing it on Wednesdays, so that I could compare my experiences. I also had two performances this semester, and I did the warmup before both of them. I have filled out a questionnaire after each occasion, in order to document and compare my experiences.