What is Performance Anxiety?
When I was studying Learning and Teaching in the Performing Arts at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, I undertook a project to learn about performance anxiety and investigate what strategies breakers can implement for controlling anxiety prior to competitions. This blog is part 1 of my literature review from that project.
Performance anxiety can prevent individuals from delivering their best performance, hinder career advancement, threaten self-esteem, identity and confidence. Studies from sport psychology, and dance, singing and actor training are useful for investigating performance anxiety in relation to breaking competitions.
“The origin of the word ‘anxious’ comes from the Latin ‘ango’ meaning to choke and compress, and can be traced to its German origin ‘angst’ which means ‘a choking in the narrows’. This is not surprising as anxiety is linked to a physical tightening in the thorax, and constriction in the pharynx in which the air, in my experience, feels choked and unable to flow.” (p 105 Kollwitz, 2016).
Different types of anxiety are referred to in the literature surrounding performance anxiety. Abril (2007) discusses the work of Leary and Kowalski in her article on singers’ performance anxiety. They attribute anxiety to four separate aspects: cognitive, somatic, behavioural and affective (Leary and Kowalski, 1995). Cognitive symptoms involve dwelling on the action causing anxiety, negative thoughts about performance, fear of failure and disrupted attention. Somatic symptoms include increased heart rate, palpitations, sweaty palms and dry mouth. Behavioural symptoms lead the individual to want to escape the anxiety producing experience. Affective symptoms induce unpleasant feelings like depression or loneliness.
Kollwitz (2016) discusses actors’ somatic anxiety, where the nervous system becomes aroused and adrenaline release causing shakiness, high blood pressure, dry throat, muscular tension, increased heart rate, sweaty hands and butterflies in the stomach.
Abril (2007) also mentions social anxiety, where a particular social situation evokes a fear of being evaluated. Social anxiety is proportional to the perceived level of control over the situation, the more control felt, the less anxiety experienced. Rohleder et al (2007) also discuss social anxiety in relation to ballroom dancers’ performance anxiety during competitions:
“The social self refers to how an individual perceives his or her social status and value and is shaped by how others evaluate that individual’s worth.” (p 69, Rohleder et al, 2007)
Ballroom dance competitions are comparable to breaking competitions and both can induce feelings of social anxiety. Parfitt and Pates (1999) also discuss this in relation to basketball players. Anxiety arises for competitors when a central goal is involved, when the situation requires the display of a skill valued by the individual performing and when that skill is evaluated by others. Fear of a negative evaluation is elicited as this could lead to a loss of social status and hinder the goal of becoming or remaining a top level dancer/athlete. Aspects of the situation, like other competitors’ performances, biased judges, condition of the floor, temperature of the room, are not under the competitors’ control. Other external factors that breakers are not in control of are the music the DJ plays, when dancers can take their turn, who their opponent is. All these factors add to a threat of self-esteem and social standing, leading to feelings of anxiety.
Kokotsaki and Davidson (2003) believe anxiety in singers also results from a fear of social evaluation. They state that performers may experience cognitive symptoms such as worry over being evaluated and distress about the consequences of failure.
Klockare et al (2011) denote specific psychological demands on dancers as performing in front of an audience, focusing on the performance while interacting with other dancers and the audience and delivering not only correct technique but also a meaningful performance. Klockare et al (p 277, 2011) believe athletes and dancers undergo similar experiences:
“For both dancers and athletes their bodies are their instruments, and optimized training is required in order to perform well, leading them to face many of the same psychological issues.” (Hays 2002).
Masaki et al (2017) list psychological aspects of athletes’ performance anxiety as worrying about the situation and its outcomes, paying attention to thoughts of failure, being distracted from the task at hand and feeling self-conscious about correct performance. These worries can lead to execution of well-learned skills being disrupted, and can result in deteriorated performance. These aspects are similar to Hjeitnes et al’s (2015) explanation of psychological symptoms suffered by university students suffering from academic evaluation anxiety. They mention feeling overwhelmed by worries, experiencing negative feelings, emotional distress, self-criticism, a sense of futility, frustration and fear of failure.
Kollwitz (2016) attributes actors’ anxiety to identity, as working with the voice can be deeply personal. Abril (2007) reflects that anxiety is heightened because singing is seen as an intimate reflection of the self, eliciting feelings of vulnerability and exposure. This is similar to breakers as they are performing their own moves, their own choreography and breaking is seen as not just a danceform but as an identity. Each time a breaker performs in front of their social group they are putting their identity on display, negative evaluation of this can hurt their social standing in the group, self-esteem and their goal of being a top level breaker. Kollwitz goes on to say that, when performing, actors must be present in the moment and aware of themselves simultaneously. This is also true of breakers in competitions, they must be aware of and able to respond to their opponent, while remaining aware of their own performance.
Kenny (2005) describes how musicians’ overall levels of anxiety are also affected by surrounding stressors like financial insecurity, social pressure and fatigue. Kollwitz (2016) adds to these stressors, with low pay, short contracts, competition for parts and rejection all being day-to-day issues faced by actors. These same stressors affect professional breakers. Kenny (2005) describes how these trigger musicians to enter into a self-evaluation mode in which they question their adequacy and competency. In this state “Attention typically narrows to a focus on catastrophic cognitive self-statements that disrupt concentration and performance.” (p 184 Kenny, 2005).
There are various theories of how to minimise performance anxiety. Klockare et al (2011) believe that psychological qualities regulate thoughts and emotions and therefore affect physiological qualities, and believe treatment for anxiety should include psychological skills training. Examples of tasks given to dancers are setting goals, evaluating progress towards these goals, using imagery, mental preparation and relaxation. These tasks work on the psychological skills of attention control, focus, motivation and maintenance of self-confidence. They draw parallels between dancers, figure skaters and gymnasts, as imagery can be used in each of these areas to optimise artistic aspects of performance. They also report that dancers suffer from high levels of anxiety as a result of being self-critical and placing unreasonably high demands on themselves. A strategy to overcome this is to move attention away from negative feelings and onto the performance itself, thereby taking the focus off anxiety. This could be useful for breakers as they must focus on their opponent's behaviour and respond to it, focusing on the performance could reduce negative feelings and alleviate anxiety.
Golschmidt et al (2002) suggest that practising psychological skills, like imagery and relaxation, helps dancers focus inward and become more aware of their actions and reactions to stressful situations. This awareness frees dancers from their automatic responses and creates space to make better choices. Self-discovery is useful for overcoming performance anxiety, as well as for creativity and expression. Goal setting, maintaining personal motivation, coping with injuries and working with emotions and self-esteem are all suggested psychological skills.
Hjeitnes et al (2015) discuss treatments for students suffering academic performance anxiety. They suggest adopting meditation and mindfulness to find an inner source of calm; talking to peers, realising that other people experience anxiety reduces feelings of isolation; staying focused in learning situations and feeling more self-acceptance when anxiety arises, allowing negative thoughts and feelings to come and go.
Bibliography
Abril, C. R., (2007) I have a voice but I just can't sing: a narrative investigation of singing and social anxiety, Music Education Research, 9:1, 1-15, DOI: 10.1080/14613800601127494 https://doi.org/10.1080/14613800601127494
Goldschmidt, H., (2002) Dancing With Your Head On: Mental Imagery Techniques for Dancers, Journal of Dance Education, 2:1, 15-22, DOI: 10.1080/15290824.2002.10387202 https://doi.org/10.1080/15290824.2002.10387202
Hays, K. (2002) The Enhancement of Performance Excellence Among Performing Artists Journal of Applied Sport Psychology 14 pp 229-312
Hays, K., Thomas, O., Maynard, I., & Bawden, M. (2009) The role of confidence in world-class sport performance, Journal of Sports Sciences, 27:11, 1185-1199, DOI: 10.1080/02640410903089798 https://doi.org/10.1080/02640410903089798
Hjeltnes A., Binder, P.E., Moltu, C. & Dundas, I. (2015) Facing the fear of failure: An explorative qualitative study of client experiences in a mindfulnessbased stress reduction program for university students with academic evaluation anxiety, International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 10:1, 27990, DOI: 10.3402/ qhw.v10.27990 https://doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v10.27990
Kenny, T. K., (2005) A Systematic Review of Treatments for Music Performance Anxiety, Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 18:3, 183-208, DOI: 10.1080/10615800500167258 https://doi.org/10.1080/10615800500167258
Klockare, E., Gustafsson, H. & Nordin-Bates, S. M., (2011) An interpretative phenomenological analysis of how professional dance teachers implement psychological skills training in practice, Research in Dance Education, 12:3, 277-293, DOI: 10.1080/14647893.2011.614332 https://doi.org/10.1080/14647893.2011.614332
Kokotsaki, D., & Davidson, J. W., (2003) Investigating Musical Performance Anxiety among Music College Singing Students: A quantitative analysis, Music Education Research, 5:1, 45-59, DOI: 10.1080/14613800307103 https://doi.org/10.1080/14613800307103
Kollwitz, M. (2016) Breath, tremoring, and performance anxiety: How can Fitzmaurice Voicework’s Destructuring address performance anxiety in undergraduate acting training?, Voice and Speech Review, 10:2-3, 100-120, DOI: 10.1080/23268263.2016.1349726 https://doi.org/10.1080/23268263.2016.1349726
Leary, M. R. & Kowalski, R. M., (1995) Social Anxiety (New York, Guilford Press)
Parfitt, G., & Pates, J., (1999) The effects of cognitive and somatic anxiety and self-confidence on components of performance during competition, Journal of Sports Sciences, 17:5, 351-356, DOI: 10.1080/026404199365867 https://doi.org/10.1080/026404199365867
Rohleder, N., Beulen, S.E., Chen, E., Wolf, J., Kirschbaum, C. (2007)
Stress on the Dance Floor: The Cortisol Stress Response to Social-Evaluative Threat in Competitive Ballroom Dancers, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin Vol 33, Issue 1, pp. 69 - 84
https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167206293986
Schlenker, B. R., & Leary, M. R. (1982) Social Anxiety and Self-Presentation: A Conceptualization and Model, Psychological Bulletin, 92, pp 641-669