Dancing for an unresponsive audience.

Performing in public takes serious nerve. And nothing breaks your nerve like an audience who ignores you, doesn't react to your performance or worse, reacts negatively. Today I'd like to explore how this happens, and how not to let it ruin your performance.

Gigs with potentially tough audiences

Some performance venues carry a stronger potential for a tough crowd. It's important to prepare well for these and not rely on the atmosphere to carry the performance. If you are a nervous performer, or struggle not to take the audience reaction too personally, you might want to consider avoiding them.

Promenade performances

A promenade stage is a performance area where the audience is "passing through". It might be a high street, shopping arcade, carnival or fete. Essentially you don't have a captive audience and you may find that the vast majority of people walk past without casting you a second glance.

The unexpected or out of place performance

If people aren't expecting to see dance, they can be a more reluctant audience. It might be a fete, art show, music event or street performance, but if people are there with a purpose other than watching dance, they are liable to be less enthusiastic.

The uncomfortable party

This is a tricky one to predict. Often when a dancer turns up to a party performance, the atmosphere is great, the dancer is welcome and everyone gets in the spirit and has a smashing time. Sometimes it takes a bit more coaxing. Bellydance still suffers a little with the reputation for being a bit risque. There are still times when a dance performance is booked to gently embarrass the guest of honour, and that can be awkward for everyone. On the other hand you might find the guest of honour and organisers really "get" your performance, but other guests are uncomfortable or unpleasant.

Culturally inappropriate

I've heard tales of dancers or groups being booked for "world" or "cultural" events and being poorly received by an audience of authentic Middle Eastern people who don't recognise their own culture in the performance (or do recognise it and don't appreciate how it is represented). This is a matter of communication, preparation and authenticity. If you are dancing a westernised or fusion style then it is important to make that clear, and if you are dancing an authentic Middle Eastern style to an audience who know what they are looking at, it better be rock solid authentic. That means music, costume, movement, the lot. It means no pop music with controversial lyrics, no Turkish in a Greek venue and there's a potential whole other post on all that....

Be prepared for a flat audience

If you are heading off to your local friendly hafla, it doesn't always matter if you are a bit unsure of yourself, because it is a safe space. Most haflas are supportive and fun, and they know what you are facing. You can get away with assuming that the audience will carry you a little. If I am trying out something new, I will always do it in a safe place among other dancers who understand the process, not for the general public.

If you are up for a tougher gig, your set needs to hold up on its own. Think about making it suitable for the occasion. Think about how to catch their eye and hold their attention. Use music that excites you and wear a costume that you feel fabulous, not self-conscious in.

Don't project motives onto your audience

"They didn't like my performance"

"They looked at me disapprovingly"

"They hated me"

I have heard all of these from dancers after a tough performance, but the truth is that you just can't tell what is going on in your audiences' thoughts. On more than one occasion I have had an audience member who sat with their arms folded and apparently scowling, go out of their way to tell me how much they loved my performance.

You don't know how someone's day is going, you can't say that the person who rushed past your stage area glowering wasn't just late for an appointment or hungry, or just had a row with their partner. Let it go.

It is your job to perform and present your art. It is not your job to control how it is received. If you have put the work in to present an appropriate and skilled performance, you have not failed.

Of course some people will react genuinely negatively. You can hear their concerns if you choose, but remember that not all critique is valid or necessary, process it as you will.

Find someone to dance for and focus on them.

In most audiences you will find someone who is into your performance. So dance for them.

Don't make it creepy and actually just dance at them, but know that they are there and they are a reason to keep doing your best.

Sometimes it's a small child who is totally, unabashedly into the music and spectacle. Sometimes it's a couple of tweens who might be put off or embarrassed by more than a fleeting smile in their direction. It might be just that one person who is really enjoying the dance. [It might also be a slightly creepy guy in a grubby mac, ignore him....]

You might have just instigated some major revelation or change in that one person, that makes it worth it. Don't let them down.

Find your intrinsic motivation

Why do you dance? Do you perform solely to gain appreciation and gratitude from your audience? If so, that's OK, but you will need to choose your performance outlets accordingly. What about the other reasons?

Are you trying to share the art and raise awareness of your danceform among the public? Know that not everyone who is inspired or interested by the dance is going to respond with rapture and gushing from the outset. Sometimes you are just planting a seed. Being visible and letting people know that it is possible to dance, to dance with curves, or with age, as a woman, as a man - you are making an impact, even if you can't feel it at the time.

Are you dancing to express yourself? then dance, send out your message to the world. You won't always make waves, but the act of expression remains.

Or perhaps you are dancing because you just love the music, and just love to dance. So keep doing it. Nobody can take that joy away from you, even if you offer it to share, and they choose not to accept.

Just keep dancing.

Or just imagine these guys in place of your actual audience.

Diva skills - Don't hold back

Continuing my series on improving your performance through inspiration from drag queens. So far we've looked at make up, and we've looked at how to hold your nerve in the face of adversity. So let's move on.

Committing to the process

On Ru Paul's Drag Race, contestants are often given challenges involving acting, singing, modelling etc, and one of the most commonly repeated pieces of advice, from judges, coaches and Ru is "don't hold back, we'll let you know if you need to rein it in".

I can only recall one instance, in 6 seasons, where a queen was asked to tone down her performance. I have a theory that if you have enough self-awareness to realise that holding it back might be an option, you probably don't need to. In every other case on the show where a performer has gone all out and given everything she's got, the result has been outstanding.

I realised in a dance class this week, that holding back isn't just a performance issue. Sometimes, when I am learning something new, I am reluctant to go all out, and truly commit to every movement and every zill clap. Fear of making a mistake can make us hold back, and holding back means not getting the most out of a learning opportunity.

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something. Neil Gaiman

Missing the mark sometimes is OK, it's part of the process. If you are throwing yourself into your learning and getting the most out of it. Your eventual success will be the product of multiple mistakes, it's better to get it wrong and have something to improve upon, than to sit on the sidelines or give the kind of halfhearted effort that results in something so non-committal that it's hard to tell what it is, let alone how to make it better. I don't expect my students to turn up to class already polished and perfect on today's material, I'm learning not to expect that of myself either.

Often people who don't understand are quick to criticise or revel in the apparent "failures" of others. We have already established that this is none of our business. If they aren't making any mistakes, then they clearly aren't pushing their own boundaries, and if they are, then pointing out yours while ignoring their own is hardly something to be proud of.

Being "larger than life" is a stage essential.

When we perform we have to project our message out to the audience. Just like how public speaking is a very different animal to having a conversation with a friend, projecting your personality and telling your story in a dance performance, requires a little amplification.

In the make up installment, I talked about "beating for the back row" because distance and strong lighting can wash out your make up and erase your features. In much the same way, a stage setting can "wash out" your performance, so don't be afraid to make it that little bit stronger. Subtle nuances and gentle emotions are an important part of Raqs Sharqui, but the beauty of your performance can be lost or diluted. Don't be afraid to emote that little bigger, or to save your most subtle performances for your most intimate venues.

Who are you when you are on the stage?

Some drag queens have a completely different personality for stage, a whole character who may have certain things in common with the performer, but is, in their mind, a completely different individual. If you like, you can do this in dance too, it's certainly the case for certain character pieces where the dancer is effectively telling someone else's story, or acting as a particular stereotype (such as in a Melaya Leff).

Other queens simply amplify (often with a good deal of distortion) their own personality. They become bigger, louder, snarkier perhaps, but they are effectively still themselves. Often, in fact, they are more themselves in drag than they are out of drag, where the costume and performance settings allows them to say and do things without facing the same judgement or consequences that they might if they did the same off-stage. Michelle Visage once commented that Bianca Del Rio's greatest talent, was that she had people lining up begging her to insult them, I can guarantee that her alter ego, Roy, would not get away with saying those same things in an everyday setting!

For any performer, a solid stage persona can act like an armour, giving us the confidence to put ourselves out there and "speak our truth". Don't be afraid to be fabulous, don't be afraid to be proud of the work you have done to get yourself up there. This is your spotlight, take it fearlessly.

Diva inspiration - performance lessons from drag queens

Those who know me will be aware that I am quite an enormous fan of the art of drag. Bellydancers and drag queens have a lot in common, we suffer from glitter dandruff and are among the few professions where gluing gems to your face it not only acceptable but considered very positively. If I want to share the joy of my new wig storage system, then I'll talk to a queen.

I am a huge fan of RuPaul's Drag Race, and its various spin offs, and I have found so much inspiration in terms of make up, costuming and performance skills. Being inspired by our dance idols is great, but sometimes the elements that turn us into great entertainers and unique performers, come from quite different places. So I have decided to start a series of blog posts to share the love.

Part 1 - Nerve

When I decided I wanted to put together a workshop to help shy dancers find their stage mojo, I realised I had to turn to the greatest divas for inspiration, and Fierce and Fearless started to fall into place.

Never let a b**** see you sweat - Bianca Del Rio

Ru often says that when a man puts on a wig and a dress and leaves the house, he's already a hero. It takes nerve. Are you scared to get up on stage and dance your first solo? How about a dose of whatever tonic it takes to do that when simply stepping outside the door in costume is a scary prospect?

What happens when you a criticised? It's really hard to hear someone telling you that your performance, something you are passionate about and worked hard to achieve, isn't hitting the mark - no matter how well intended or gently presented.

I know that for me, the wrong kind of feedback has knocked me for six, left me unmotivated to keep working and even made me consider giving up performing altogether.

Water off a duck's back - Jinkx Monsoon

Everyone has their own way of dealing with this. Ultimately I think it comes back to you. Decide whose opinion matters to you, work on the constructive feedback, but everything else, toss it aside. Use your passion for your performance to drive you on. Not everyone will "get" you. Do your best, train, find out about the roots of the dance you love and do it justice as best you can, but work to your own aspirations and expectations with the support of people who care about your goals more than their egos. Be true to yourself, in fact, let Ru say it (this is marginally sweary):

It's worth remembering here that your critic might not even be someone else. Is it ever? How you respond to criticism, whether it is genuine shade, tactless criticism, a backhanded compliment ("that was brave") or a standoffish audience, is your choice. But our worst critics are usually ourselves. We see an audience member with a sour face, and we assume we aren't good enough. Don't forget you are fabulous. You put in the work, you give your best performance, keep striving, but do that because you are passionate and dedicated and want to give your best, not because you need someone else's approval. Don't forget to appreciate how awesome you are, because if you don't believe it, how are you going to persuade an audience?

Sometimes a comment or a slip up really throws you. You forget your choreography, or your music messes up, or your costume malfunctions. It is very easy to stew on that, and make it very hard to get back up on stage again. When I get into a funk like that I watch this video. This is Alyssa Edwards. She is a FIERCE queen. In her season of Drag Race she had the misfortune to be competing alongside her arch nemesis (because clearly, if you are that fierce, you have a nemesis). Oh the shade of it all! Alyssa's competition was blighted by arguments, backbiting and humiliating criticism. In the first episode she was cruelly called out by another queen for her figure and costume choice, she snarks back, but you can see that it cut her. So what did she do when she was invited back as a warm up to a later season finale? She dances to music mixed with soundbites from her on-screen altercations. And she nails it.

So there it is. Know that you are fabulous. Be fabulous. But if the sound tech puts on the wrong music, or your hairpiece falls off, or your act is poorly received, don't get down, get drop dead gorgeous.