Own Your Choices
A good way to improve your performance is to video yourself and watch it back as if it's not you. We're really good at critiquing each other but if a friend of yours sent you a video of a performance that they'd done and asked you to critique it you would be able to do that. You'd be honest and say, 'I don't like the way that you do this bit' and 'this bit you look a bit unconvincing', 'but this bit where you lift your arms into the chorus I really love…and I love it where you drop into the splits at the end!' for instance 😉. So set the camera up so that you can get your whole self in the shot and some space either side if you intend to move around and film yourself singing and performing your audition songs. But before you do this, I want you to bear two things in mind.
One - Do everything from a place of truth
Two - Own your choices
So what do I mean by these things?
If every movement, look, expression comes from a place of truth, from that connection that you have with the song, the lyrics, the feelings, then it will be convincing. And, if it is convincing, then own your choice to do it. I once watched a girl drop to her knees in the middle of her song in an audition. That could be potentially awkward, or cheesy, or a bit much, but she did it with total commitment and connection with the song at that moment that actually, it was quite breathtaking.
Now I'm not expecting you to do anything as big and as extra as that but everything you do has to be truthful and you have to own it for us to be taken on your journey with you. So watch your video back and ask yourself questions like;
Am I convincing?
Do I look comfortable?
Are my expressions truthful and real?
Am I committing to my choices?
Am I owning them?
And if you are owning your choices then don't apologise for them. We apologise verbally, we apologise physically in our body language and we apologise facially when we think we've hit a slightly off note. Don't put any doubt in the minds of the people watching you. If you are apologetic then they are going to start thinking 'am I liking this?' and questioning what you are doing. Whereas, they might not have had those thoughts before you pulled that face and apologised.
If you are also brave enough, you could give your video to a friend to critique for you but it has to be a friend who will give you an honest opinion and not just tell you that you are fabulous! So get filming and then analyse and critique yourself, then pass it on to a friend to analyse and critique you too!