Stage fear

 My heart was beating so loud and fast that the audience could probably hear it. My knees were shaking, threatening to give away any minute. Any minute now they would call my name and there I’ll go, towards my doom. I walked up the stage (more like stumbled..) and gulped. Oh no! There were like 200 people there and all ready to see me as a laughing stock. I closed my eyes took a deep breathe and remembered what I told myself yesterday ‘People are just people, they can’t hold me down.’ And I began my speech. I pretended there was no one in the room and kept moving my eyes from one wall to another. All the lines I thought I had forgotten came rushing back. I had a rocky start but a smooth ending. The audience clapped. Before I knew it, the event was over but many people came to congratulate me. I inwardly smiled knowing that, from that day, that the fear itself  was the key to my magical performance. My hardwork was rewarded and a small sapling of confidence had begun to sprout.

That was the beginning of my stage journey. I still remember the adrenaline rush I had felt during the speech. This was when I was 8. In two days I had a dance performance. Even then I was terrified. Dancing in front of mirrors or my teacher was so different than dancing in front of  large audience. But the fear was less. Confidence had started growing it’s deep roots. As I grew up, I realised one thing; the only thing which could beat stage fear was going up on that stage again and again. My goal was to have the fear of coming off the stage rather than going on it.

Stage fright is pretty common. I mean I think if you don’t have stage fright during your first performance at least, then you are going wrong somewhere. Many believe that the solution to this is practice. Maybe, but I don’t think so. Even if we perfect it, practice thousand times, it’s when we go up and face the large audience that our nerves start acting up. At that moment all those pairs of eyes solely on you, the fear of you fumbling your lines increases a ten fold.

Let’s go with the basic question. What is stage fright? Stage fright, I think is the fear of people’s opinions about your performance. What would they think? First up, performers need to learn to be immune to negative reactions from the audience. Remember ‘he slayed  the demons of stage fright by delivering the speech’. So, last but not least, all I can say is participate in such activities. I know from my experience that stage fear can be conquered only by performing again and again on that stage with an audience. With every performance, your confidence will increase..that’s the way to go.

Hey guys, please tell about your experiences about stage fright in the comments below. Logging out...