Personalise your pre-performance ritual

Recently we wrote about overcoming nerves, but what about warming up? As performers, speakers, teachers, facilitators, we all have our own rituals to prepare us before we face our audience.

Creating your own personalised ritual can take years of trial and error. When to eat? How much sleep do you need? Do you stretch? Sing? Do a crossword? We all have our own traditions and sequences to get us in the zone.

But once you refine it, your ritual can become a reliable friend. It can be the trusted sequence that prepares you to perform at your best.

We surveyed our company to find out what kinds of warm up rituals they do. The answers are as varied and individual as our ensemble members!

We are creating a resource page of warm up rituals. What’s yours? Let us know in the comments section below.

Our company says:

1. Connect with the breath.

Lie in semi supine, flat on your back with knees bent up, head resting on a largish book (either 20 mins at home earlier in the day or briefly during the warm up). Take a moment to be still and notice the breath.

2. Stretch (and shake out nerves).

We all have our personal favourites from yoga poses to Grotowski-inspired specific sequences. The repetition of a routine that reminds us of past performances can be as important as the stretches themselves.

3. Warm up the voice

Humming, trilling,  yawning, brrrrrr (vibrating lips), rrrrrrr (trilling tongue) sounds, singing. And of course, tongue twisters!

4. Connect with fellow performers.

Group warm-up exercises force us to make eye contact and be ‘in response’ to our fellow performers. Zap is a great one for this reason. Nerves often send us retreating into our own heads, so anything that can encourage presence with other performers and playfulness is good. Being gentle & positive with co-performers before a gig is important.

What are your top three warm up rituals? Let us know in the comments below.