Its Eisteddfod time again and before you head to Taree take stock of what you have and how hard you have worked to prepare for this event!

Here are 5 Things to remember to make this eisteddfod experience your best yet!

1) Go in with the right attitude and enjoy yourself:

Competition tends to bring out the best and worst in people and whilst it is great to win a prize or to take home a trophy, don’t forget why your teachers enter you in Eisteddfods in the first place. We want you to have the experience of performing in front of an audience. We want you to have the opportunity to show off all of the hard work you have done in class to your friends and family. We want you to get all dressed up in a beautiful costume and express yourself on stage. And most importantly we want you to make friends who share your love of dance and learn from each other as you progress through your dance training. It is more important to us as your teachers that you wish your fellow competitors good luck, that you support your fellow dancers backstage, helping anyone out that needs it either emotionally with a hug or words of encouragement or physically with a pair of tights if they forgot theirs. The way you dance on stage and the way you conduct yourself backstage are of most importance to us as your PMPA teachers, not who wins the awards. And its important to remember that the adjudicator is just one person with an opinion, tomorrow his/her decisions could be totally different. Most importantly remember that they are only judging you for what you do on stage, what you do off stage is equally as important but they don’t get to see that! So whilst you may not take home a trophy, if you make the experience a positive one for all involved, you still go home a winner.

2) Arrive on time:

Eisteddfods run on a time schedule of their own, you never know if a section is going to run fast or slow, if there will be withdrawals or the speed the adjudicator works. Always arrive with plenty of time to get ready. Always do your hair and makeup before you arrive and if in doubt, take a game or ipod along with you to help kill the time. Better still, get yourself ready, cover up your costume and then head into the auditorium, you can learn so much from watching the performances of others. Plus its great to support your fellow dancers by watching and applauding for them.

3) Stay Calm and focused:

Don’t let the excitement of the big day take hold of you and allow you to lose focus from what your routine requires of you. Don’t get ruffled if someone in your dressing room forgets their shoes or someone in your section forgets their routine and runs of stage. Stay calm and focus on what you have to do to best prepare you for your performance. You have done all of the hard work in class, in your own time practicing and in your extension lessons with your teachers, don’t spoil all of that hard work by getting distracted on the day.

4) Warm up:

Don’t underestimate the power of a good warm up!

Start with some cardio, jogging on the spot, star jumps etc, follow your Miss Kate exercises from your weekly conditioning class. Follow this up from some technique work from your ballet syllabus barre exercise, plies, tendus and rond de jambes are fantastic. Then have a stretch, listen to your performance music through headphones and visualise your performance going flawlessly on stage. Doing each of these things will ensure you are fully prepared before stepping out on stage, setting yourself up to do the best routine you can.

5) And finally… Be prepared:

Don’t you hate that feeling when you realise you have forgotten something important, that sinking feeling in your stomach that happens only seconds before your need to rush, panic and generally freak out. Don’t let this happen to you this eisteddfod.

At PMPA we ensure that you have all of the information you need in regards to your group routines. Which shoes you need, what tights and where to buy them, what time to arrive etc.

Pack the week before, making lists of things you can only include closer to the event. Preparation is the key. We give you checklists in your PMPA handbook, use these for your solos too, or make your own ahead of time and re-use them each eisteddfod.

So enjoy this eisteddfod and use the opportunity to help become the best dancer you can be. Always thank your mum, dad, grandma or whoever allows you the opportunity to perform and we look forward to watching you out there on stage. Go get em!