Mind over Muscle

Posted on August 6, 2009. Filed under: Impressing a, Impressing a Judge, Irish Dance, Irish dance judge, Practice, Preliminary Championship, Styles, competition, steps, tips | Tags: advice, beauty, championship, dance, feis, Feiseanna, grace, hathaway, inmprove, irish, Irish Dance, mental, mind, muscle, perfect, physical, Practice, precise, precision, preliminary, Shelley school, shelly |

It never fails. Today while trying to perfect my Treble Jig I found I was dancing it too tight and a bit clumsy. I couldn’t get it right and as I kept trying I would get more and more tired. I only have so much energy to go all out in one day. So obviously as I got more tired, I got more clumsy and less precise.

Then I remembered that in my mind I dance far better that I do in real life. I closed my eyes and just focused on the music. I danced the whole step, right and left in my head. I focused on the beauty and flow of the dance. Then I danced it one more time.

It was like the dance was brand new to me. I danced it light and precise. I think I did the first step better than I ever have before! And while I did it I hardly felt how tired I was. Of course as soon as I finished I felt how out of breath I was. LOL! But it never fails, dance is 90% mental, 10% physical. Maybe even more.

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You’re right, in fact, I’d say it’s all about the mind. And not only dance: you can do anything you want if you’re decided to it. It’s all in the head! Also, I love your solo dress. I live in Argentina, in the southest place of the continent, so getting one of those here is even harder. I’m thinking of making one myself…
Good luck