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What is stage presence to you?
I'm just wondering how fellow polers know when someone has a great stage presence.
Is it when the performer looks confident in herself?
Lots of interaction with the audience?And is it something that an individual can develop or do you think it's just a natural thing?
Just something that's been on my mind recently 🙂
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21 Replies
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I think confidence is a very important assumption for stage presence. someone with stage presence is able to catch the audience´s full attention and you see that he feels comfortable on the stage.
I love when pole dancers interact with the audience like Jenyne or Felix. A little smile over the shoulder before you climb the pole or when you did a great trick is awsome, but I think it must be natural.
I though think that you can practice this with a mirror or a camera (both very hard for me) or better with friends or a real audience.
I thought about that, too. I think it´s so important. It can make every performance so much better. Someone with a great presence doesn´t necessarily need advanced tricks to wow the audience and it kind of makes a choreo or freestyle complete
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I agree with everything emotioncatcher said.
IMO, it's not really possible to fake presence. For me, it's the reason some dancers, though technically almost perfect, aren't very much fun to watch. And why some dancers are a blast to watch even if their lines aren't always perfect, etc.
Then you have the dancers who have it all–the ones who are positively mesmerizing.
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i would add: character, story, body awareness, poise, extension.
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I think some people have it or they dont…BUT….it is possible to fake it. So I don't believe everyone naturally has it but i believe everyone can have it, I am in the process of putting together a little seminar about stage presence/personality where I teach my personal tricks and boy do I have a lot.
However I will say (and this is going to sound awful) I have seen some performances where the poler doesn't even look happy at all and remains completely expressionless where it's almost weird. I have a hard time getting into those girls because I don't want to watch someone who looks like they don't want to be up there. I know this is probably not the case and the person is just really nervous – but being totally expressionless isn't very convincing that you're doing something you enjoy. I know nerves can get the best of people though and that is something I am going to cover in my seminar too. I got lucky because I never remember being shy in my life – I am loud, talkative and outgoing in my real life so it's easy for me translate that to pole I guess!
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I hate watching something that I feel like I could get up and go to the bathroom and not worry I have missed anything.
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I think there is a certain element of 'x factor' that people have naturally but I think that you can develop it to some extent too. Eye contact with the audience is a big one for me, and facial expression. I agree with the others that those who seem like they are completely internally focussed are a bit less interesting to watch, even if they are doing awesome things! One of my fav internet pole clips still remains someone who is really engaging and perky in their dancing and flirtation with the camera, even though they're not doing much beyond spins.
I think practice is a biggie for becoming more confident and when you're more confident, you can let your body take over the actual pole stuffs and work on your face and eye contact. Also, working with a mirror or camera and pretending that's the audience can make a difference in "getting out of your head" so to speak:)
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sassafrassle where is the link?! I must see!!!
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Hey Glitter – here it is. You reminded me that I haven't actually watched it in ages so had to struggle a bit to find where it was! Even though her actual pole moves aren't perfect, I still love to watch it because she's engaging and looking like she's having fun and actually working with the music instead of in spite of it (which is one of my big issues when it comes to truly enjoying a routine). It was one of the first pole clips I saw on youtube and even thought I've seen hundreds since, this one has still stuck with me, which I can't say for a lot of others!
Here's the other one of hers that I really like as well, again not high difficulty but I like it for similar reasons:) I am a sucker for polers with obvious dance training though!
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I agree with most of what has already been said, but I chuckled to myself reading this cause I find that I am SO focused on the music, moves, timing, guaging the pole for slipperyness, hair flipping, making sure my boob isn't falling out, and of course pointing my toes, that my facial expression on practice videos is horrid! LOL I've decided I'm gonna rock my sexy grimace for now. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_rambo.gif
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ha ha fuzzynavel! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif i need to work on this too. i am always trying to think of what to do next, and my mind goes blank. it is so discouraging. maybe i should start making routines instead of trying to freestyle.
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I have none so I don't know. I think it really comes down to you sharing a feeling or experience that youar having and finding a way for everyone else to feel what you are feeling. I think it's being able to look at your audience in the eye and bring them in.
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charley, i disagree! i think you are amazing!
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I agree with Amy. When I watch dancers like Tracee and PoleGrrrrl, they don’t necessarily look at the “audience” (camera) but I’m always intrigued by every move. They have this ability to bring the audience into the emotion of their performance…I aspire to that.
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Ohhhhh, Charley–do not sell yourself short. You put emotion into every breath you take when you're dancing. It's exposed and a little unnerving and GORGEOUS.
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OK this is like totally weird, but if you've ever watched my last two video challenges, I've got this big dorky grin on my face the entire duration of the video right? For some odd reason I feel the need to have that big silly grin on my face when doing challenge videos, then it just…. STICKS. Like I'm totally grinning for the rest of the night and I can't stop. The reason why this happens is because my pole instructors are always like "smile through the pain!" everytime we learn a new move or do some strengthening exercises… So I smile because I always have to redo the challenge video a few hundred times over before I'm totally satisfied with one, therefore bringing on the pain and exhaustion of continous dancing.
So I figure since I am doing a total freestyle everytime I do a challenge video, the smile on my face is going to make you think I know what I'm doing even when I really honestly have no idea what to do next. The smile is way better than a "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I don't know what I'm going to do next" look or the "I'm concenrating so hard I could shoot lasers from my eyes" look…. Or something…
Anyway, I think smiling is a great way to show that you are having fun and are confident in yourself even if you're performing infront of so many people and you're totally nervous. I believe smiling makes the performance that much more enjoyable and the performer much more interesting. Unless of course you want to go the expressive dance way, then you don't have to smile because well… Just imagine tracee doing one of her expressive dances with a big grin on her face… Kinda freaky. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_eek.gif
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