登台前手心出汗怎么办？职业舞者应对演出焦虑的办法

As the audience settles in their seats and the orchestra begins tuning its instruments, Isabella Boylston, 40, is hit with a sense of panic backstage. Even after 20 years of performing in front of audiences, the American Ballet Theatre principal dancer isn’t immune to performance anxiety. “I feel like a tiny furnace of adrenaline is burning inside of me, my brain is working overtime going through steps and scenarios, and I also feel like I get less circulation to my fingers and toes,” she says.

Whether you’re giving a presentation during a meeting, training for a race, or even getting ready for a date, performance anxiety is extremely common. In fact, 63 percent of the general population reports experiencing anxiety around public speaking. “Performance anxiety can show up in any sort of activity that involves being evaluated or where there is some expectation of the level you’re trying to perform at,” says sport and counseling psychologist Natalie Léger, PsyD. Worry and doubt about the outcome are “extremely normal,” she says. But despite how commonplace anxiety is around performance, it can be hard to manage, and even harder to talk about.

Dancers are no strangers to performing under high-stress situations—and oftentimes, performing through less-than-ideal circumstances such as injury, illness, or minimal rehearsal time. That’s especially true right now, as professional ballerinas gear up for one of their busiest seasons of the year, when they perform The Nutcracker for the holidays. That’s why we turned to some of the pros for their best tips to help regain control over nerves. Here’s what they recommend.

Acknowledge your feelings and give yourself a pep talk.

“The first step in being able to tackle anxiety is awareness,” says American Ballet Theatre director of repertoire Nancy Raffa, who helps teach the dancers choreography and mental health practices, and holds a degree in psychology. “Anxiety is a built-up fear towards an outcome that hasn’t happened yet, so instead of criticizing yourself that there’s something wrong with you, ask yourself what it is that you’re anxious about to start shifting the thought process.” Then, give yourself grace and know that how you feel is totally valid.

It's in these moments that Léger suggests introducing some short affirmations, reminding yourself that you’re capable and prepared. You can also try instructional self-talk, which helps shift your attention to the present by giving yourself a small assignment to focus on like holding your shoulders back and your head high. “Our emotion center of the brain is really activated within moments like this, and so if you give yourself instruction, that starts to bring oxygen to the part of the brain that’s more related to decision-making and thinking logically,” she says.

Stick to a routine.

You can’t always predict when anxiety will creep in, but having a well-structured routine can give you a sense of security ahead of that anxiety-inducing activity, says Léger. Jasmine Perry, 31, a corps de ballet dancer with Miami City Ballet, focuses on the root of her anxiety, which is the fear that fatigue will interfere with her performance ability. “So, I focus on what makes me feel strong,” she says. Perry prioritizes getting at least seven hours of sleep, eating balanced meals, and making sure that anything she needs for performance day is ready to go the night before.

Sleep Check
Insufficient sleep can make anxiety worse. If you struggle to go to sleep the night(s) before a big talk or performance, develop a routine around sleep. That may look like “staying away from the screens in the hour leading up to sleep, not working out too close to going to sleep, ensuring that your bed is not a place that you’re reading or watching TV,” Léger says.

Limit screen time.

A growing amount of research points to a correlation between increased social media use and anxiety. So, consider assessing your social media habits to take stock of where your “energy is being pulled or supported,” says Léger. “For example, feeling checked out while doomscrolling when trying to go to sleep is highly unlikely to support optimal performance, while watching a video of a chef make a recipe you’re interested in trying after training can feel like it’s supporting your creative mind, which can be helpful for performance.”

Start by limiting your screen time around your sleep schedule, both before you go to bed at night and when you wake up in the morning, Léger says. Training yourself to resist reaching for your phone as soon as you wake up helps to put you in touch with the present moment, which is the goal ahead of a performance.

During the busiest seasons, Boylston often completely deletes her social media apps. “It helps me feel more focused and there’s less temptation to self-sabotage and compare myself with others,” she says. Can’t commit to a full social media detox? Perry recommends using an app like Opal to limit your use, or you can use the app time limit setting on your phone to set up timers for specific apps.

Visualize your performance.

The night before or in the hours leading up to a stressful task, Perry finds a quiet, calm environment and takes a few minutes to herself. “I try to visualize the thing that I have to do, and in that image in my mind, implement the things I need to consider the next time that I do it,” she shares. “That way, I’ve had time to think, and process, and let it all settle in, so I’m able to allow those things to happen more naturally, versus physically trying to go over everything in the moment in a panic.”

The key to an effective visualization practice is to make the scene you’re envisioning feel as real as possible, says Léger. Ahead of a presentation, that might mean picturing the room you’ll be speaking in, as well as your audience, or even trying on the outfit you plan to wear. “All of these elements, felt through your own eyes, can lead to the brain firing the same neurons it would in a real-life performance, just at a lesser intensity,” she explains. This practice can also boost confidence by making the task feel more familiar.

Remember to breathe.

Breathing from your diaphragm signals a relaxation response in the body and brings the heart rate back down. “If you think about it, if you were actually under threat, you would never slow down to take a deep breath, you would just act quickly,” says Léger. “Through deep breathing, you’re starting to introduce to your nervous system, ‘I’m okay, I’m safe.’”

Try alternate nostril breathing, says Raffa. Inhale through your left nostril as you hold the right side closed, then switch to exhale through the right nostril as you hold the left side closed (and alternate as you repeat the exercise). Or try deep belly breaths: “Put one hand on your chest and one hand on your lower abdomen and do five to 10 deep breaths where you inhale and let the belly expand out, then exhale and let the belly go back in,” she says. If it helps, breathe with a rhythm by doing three counts in, three counts out.

Find ways to disconnect.

In the hours (and even days) leading up to a stressful task, it can be hard to stop yourself from obsessing over the unknown. That’s when it’s time to change focus and soothe your brain. “I try to do something that’s totally unconnected to what I have to do that evening, whether it’s reading a book or getting outside and looking at nature,” says New York City principal dancer Emma Von Enck, 29. She also has her own playlist of classical music that calms her down—almost like white noise—before she gets ready for a show.

Get extra help.

If you feel like your anxiety is more severe or interfering with your day-to-day life, Léger recommends getting in touch with a mental health professional. But leaning on your family, close friends, or a trusted colleague is also key. “When you talk with peers and articulate what your experience might be, a lot of people are going to see how so much of this is just a normal part of the human experience,” she adds. Normalizing performance anxiety and knowing that you’re not alone goes a long way in helping to ease some of the burden.

It may also be comforting to read up on performance anxiety. Boylston recommends The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey, which helped her learn how to stay present and not fixate on the outcome of a situation. Or, try Peak Performance by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness, which examines the practices of top performers across the arts, sports, and business. Von Enck credits it with helping her to hone her own pre-performance routine.

At some point, though, do your best to let go of control. “In anything where you’re trying to excel, you want to control every element, but you have to be flexible in seeing it as a challenge when something isn’t going perfectly,” Von Enck says. And know that it might take some time to master the art of performance anxiety. “Getting to a place where you can quiet the mind is a process,” says Raffa. “It’s just like dancing; to master the technique, you need to repeat, repeat, repeat.”

Meet the experts: Natalie Léger, PsyD, is a sport and counseling psychologist, mental performance consultant, and the owner of The Collective Edge, a sports and counseling psychology private practice in Washington, D.C. Isabella Boylston is a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre in New York City. Nancy Raffa is the American Ballet Theatre director of repertoire who helps teach the dancers choreography and mental health practices, and holds a degree in psychology. Emma Von Enck is a principal dancer with New York City Ballet. Jasmine Perry is a corps de ballet dancer with Miami City Ballet.