No one ever died from stage fright.

No one ever died from stage fright.  However, according to surveys, most people would rather die than perform on stage.  Irish dancers know this feeling all too well, but there are ways to cope with stage fright once you learn how to control it.
Many of the top performers get stage fright.  If you have ever seen Riverdance or Lord of the Dance, it looks like all the dancers are fully confident in their dancing capabilities.  They come out onto the stage with bold body language and a fierce attitude.  However, many of those performers still experience stage fright – after all those competitions and shows, it can be extremely nerve-racking for them to come out on stage each night.
You may experience stage fright from time to time, but it usually does not disappear permanently.  However, you can learn to control this feeling.  It is important to first get the feeling out in the open.  Understand that you are nervous and realize that many people competing with you are also experiencing stage fright.  Once you make your fears known, you can work on getting the feeling under control.
The best tip for controlling stage fright is to think of it in a positive way.  Fear can be your friend.  When you are nervous about performing, it makes you more conscious of your posture and breathing.  It heightens your energy level and makes your reflexes sharper.  Actually, some studies have shown that stage fright will add color to your cheeks and make you look more physically attractive.  All of these side effects can actually help you to perform better.
The most important thing to understand about stage fright is that it stems from some lack of self confidence.  You may

Here are some useful visualization strategies that can be used to keep stage fright under control.
-Think about how good you are and how far you
have come with your dancing.
-Try to concentrate on your mom, dad, grandma,
friend, etc. in the audience.
-Pretend you are just at a practice and dancing in
front of your friends.
-Imagine the audience in their underwear.
-Remember moments in your past that make you happy.

be frightened of performing in front of hundreds of people but it is related to some sense of inadequacy that you feel.  Maybe you could have practiced just a little harder, or went to a few more feisanna.   In some way, you feel unprepared or inadequate and the thought of performing in front of people is overwhelming.
Self-confidence is something that you either have or you don’t.  However, before a major competition, you can work on building up your confidence level.  The only way to get it is to practice and prepare.  Practice hard in dance class and practice even harder at feisanna.  This will help you to be fully aware of your skills and you will grow confident in your abilities.
Practice to you perfect your moves.  You must be able to dance your steps over and over again until you are completely confident that you won’t forget them and that you will dance them properly.  It is important to perfect each move when you are practicing in class.  If you are tripping up on a part, concentrate on doing that part over and over again for the rest of the class.  Think about it this way – there is no way to dance your steps other than perfectly and it takes a deliberate and considerable amount of effort to dance less then perfectly.  You must be completely sure that your steps are perfected.  There should be no doubt in your mind and body that you can dance your steps over and over again no matter what, without mistake.
Practing to perfect will increase your self-confidence.  With complete self-confidence you can look into the front row of any ballroom and take that as an opportunity to show off your skills.  You can take command and show everyone how good you are and how much you have practiced.  Self-confidence comes from knowing your limits along with your capabilites.  When you know your limits you can push yourself to them at will.
With complete self-confidence you can take control and be in command of your performance.  Complete self-confidence overcomes any distraction, any situation and any fear.  It shouldn’t make any difference if everyone is watching or no one is watching.  The important thing is that you are watching and demanding you own perfection.  You needd to make sure that you feel your performance will be the absolute best it can be, and that your audience is lucky to be there to see your talent.

Erin Reilly