AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I got two solos in my next show! I was selected to be in Pas de Quatre with my senior dancers so I'm Fanny Cerrito and I'm a gypsy doll!!! Anyways, today I have my first rehearsal for gypsy for an hour. I'm really scared!! I've never had a solo and I get nervous and I can't remember the combos at all!!!! And then, I get embarrassed when I can't figure it out :/ Please, any advice in general about being a soloist? It doesn't have to be about memorizing combos because there are already a lot of posts about that. Any tips are appreciated!

After every rehearsal write down what you learned. I know you said you weren't so interested in learning how to memorize your work but things are a lot different when it's just you and your teacher who know the piece. It's really embarrassing during a solo rehearsal when you don't know what you are doing and it's a huge waste of your and your teacher's time. Make sure you think about and run through your piece in between rehearsals so you are ready to go.

Being a soloist is fun because you can really make the movements your own and you don't have to worry about matching leg and arm heights/angles with other dancers on stage. Really make a character for yourself and push yourself to be that character. That was hard for me to do because I felt kind of ridiculous when all eyes were on me. As soon as I let myself go the solo became a lot better.

If you allow yourself to "become the part," you might find that it comes to you more easily. I know I always used to have issues with expression, so just really get into the part. I've found that as long as you have the passion for what you're doing, the technique improvement will come second. First, get the dance down--the actual steps as well as the feel, and then you can clean it up, so to speak.

Congrats, and good luck!

If you don't show that you made a mistake the audience will likely never know a mistake was made.
My first ever solo my mind went completely blank and I improved the entire first half.

Don't overthink!


And don't worry about being 'perfect' right away. I know I can have this feeling, where I get too determined and it ends up backfiring anyway, hahaha. That is what rehearsals are for, after all - to gradually learn, fix any kinks, and practice at it. You will do just fine at the end


Relax, have fun, adapt/enjoy your characters - everyone is in it together and focused on their own work and progess, so don't worry too much about embarassing yourself either. While hard to initially get rid of (I get easily embarassed myself at times) they are probably worried about the same thing.




Best of luck!

I always have my music on my phone, my computer and on a CD. I listen to it over and over and over and over... to the exclusion of everything else. As I listen to the music, I picture the steps/movements (be very careful if you are driving! I have come too close too many times). I usually begin a heavy overdose of this about 2 months out. At night before I go to sleep, I hear the music in my head and in my minds eye, I see the movements the way I want them to look.

And one more thing, breath in, breath out and repeat as necessary.