Success Mindset for Dancers – what is it? How can my dancers get it?

How to succeed at dance competitions

Peak Performance Psychology for Dancers

The world of competitive dance is TOUGH. Our dancers are fronting up weekend after weekend, being judged, critiqued, and scored.  Sometimes they are up, sometimes they are down but they must stand on the stage and smile regardless of the outcome.  Self-belief can be challenged and self-doubt can creep in.  Dancer Anxiety, nerves, lack of confidence, and focus can all play a role.  The technical skill we are now training our younger dancers with is increasing all the time. Knowing how to succeed at dance competitions is becoming increasingly more challenging and  dancer mindset can be the one thing that sets your dancers apart from the crowd.  The Success Mindset for Dancers kit is designed to help YOU equip your dancers with a winning mindset.  Based on the latest research into peak performance psychology for dancers the kit contains 15 units to help your dancers develop a Success Mindset and give them the tools to succeed in the world of competitive dance.  You will learn how to help your dancers banish the fear of failure and start training dedicated, committed dancers who consistently operate outside their comfort zone to achieve incredible things,

The Success Mindset for Dancers is written with the following poem in mind.

The Success Mindset for Dancers kit contains over 45 pages of workbooks and instructions to help your dancers achieve peak performance and showing them how they can succeed at dance competitions.

Topics covered include

1, Defining success – dancers are challenged to differentiate between success symbols and actual success and then to develop a definition of success that is personal to them.

2. Redefining Failure – a key component of building a Success Mindset for dancers and learning how to succeed at dance competitions   is to help dancers to let go of a their fear of failure and to redefine it as a stepping stone to success

3. Facing Fear – dancers are challenged to unpack their fears and explore the sources of their anxiety and discover strategies to help deal with them.

4. Reframing negative thoughts – Learning how to reframe negative thoughts and become a ‘Unicorn Dancer’ is integral to building a robust winning mindset

5. Dealing with nerves – dancers are challenged to look at what makes them nervous, how they react, and then explore strategies to overcome nerves and harness their power for good

6. Developing Laser Focus

7. Dance competition reflection – reflection is a key component of performance psychology for dancers and integral when exploring how to succeed at dance competitions.  Dancers are challenged to examine the whole dance competition experience from the preparation to being sidestage to the performance itself.  This then forms a learning experience for future competition experience.

8. Setting SMART goals – an introduction to goal setting and a springboard for the Goal Setting for Dancers Resource kit.

9. Matching intentions with actions – this sometimes confronting unit, looks at whether what dancers say they want and their actions align.

10. Dance class reflection – this unit provides dancers with the skills to reflect on their classes promoting the development of mental toughness.

11.  Corrections – this unit helps dancers build a success mindset by helping dancers to understand the link between corrections in class and their 30-day goals.

12. Motivation – Understanding and controlling motivation is a key to the development of a Success Mindset for dancers

13. How to be a great teammate – this is a very powerful unit that is particularly useful if you are struggling with dancer attendance.

14. How to be an inspired dancer – This unit helps dancers perform a mindset reset. Rather than being a ‘hater’ and feeling threatened by the success of others, this unit helps dancers to step outside of their comfort zone and find inspiration in the success of others. You can learn more about Growth mindset and dance here.

13 The “Wheel of Success” – the wheel of Success brings all components of the Success Mindset for Dancers kit together.  The final unit is titled “How to succeed at dance competitions” and brings together all the skills dancers need to create and maintain their winning mindset. This unit covers all the key concepts in peak performance psychology for dancers and provides dancers with a framework they can use on a weekly basis. The Wheel of Success is highly recommended for all competitive dance students and teams to complete and discuss on a regular basis,

The Success Mindset Resource Kit is available over in the Resources for Dance Teachers Store.

More information about the importance of Mindset and Dance can be found in these articles

How to Praise your Dancer for Success

Dancer Success and growth mindset

Growth Mindset for Dancers – turning can’t into can

Goal setting for Dancers