I have always loved dance and only took up formal training a couple of years back when i was 22. Anyway, we have a graduation show coming up and as rehearsals progress, I start to feel a sense of disappointment and self-doubt.

It came mainly when I couldn't hit the timing of the dance as it was too fast or execute clean pirouettes or stuff like these. I feel incompetent not being able to meet the choreographer's expectations. It is very distracting as the more I stress out, the worse it becomes. It's making me dread going to the studio and failing again.

Has anyone ever felt the same way? And what do you do about it? How do you get out of this "black hole"? I feel like I'm sinking and I hate that I'm not having as much fun dancing!

Self doubt is part of the ballet experience. The things that drive you mad now and seem like such points of failure --- when you look back on them later, you'll find they were not as big a deal as felt at the time.

Remember what drew you to dance in the first place. Do you feel joy and excitement? Do you enjoy feeling your body move through space to music? Give it your best effort and you will do JUST FINE!

Relaxed efficiency is the key to moving fast. It's possible that you are doing extra movements that prevent you from executing clean pirouettes as fast as you need to in this case. Often, people train their bodies to move inefficiently because they believe it's "pretty" --- but it doesn't work at high speed. A slow, careful analysis of your movements could help find these inefficiencies. In general, if you train in simple, direct movements, you will be able to dance faster over time.

Hi there

We just had our graduation showcase and it was success! Thank you so much for all the advice and being there when I was so near to giving it up.

I swear I made some pretty obvious mistakes on stage but was just so absorbed in performing and enjoying the moment, that my friends were just looking at my face and upper body, and didn't seem to notice anything wrong with my feet. Haha.

The best news is I've been invited to join the Company. I'll probably always be in the corps, but I'll grow old, happy, knowing that I have the courage to chase my dreams.

Thanks and bless you all.

Congratulations, cspot! Thanks for letting us know how things turned out! Good luck in the future!

What a great way to start the CriticalDance day - reading this moving topic. cspot, thank you thank you for having the confidence to bring it up here and, of course, to citibob and Gina for their excellent advice. I'm sure that there are student dancers around the world reading this and being inspired to "go for it".

cspot, I am so pleased that it all went well and you are moving on to the next stage of your dancing. Hope we hear more about your dance progress.

wishing you all the success and happiness for a most wonderful future in dance. please keep us all updated on your progress. what an inspiration you are. joining a company ......wow.......go you