Have you worked very hard at learning to do something and could not perform when it came time to perform?

[Bricealan]

After preparing for weeks to perform at a dance in my studio, I was completely Shell Shocked at the 100+ people that attended. I failed miserably with my professional dance partner, and still cannot remember what I did, or how I did it. I have never been so humiliated with my lack of ability at that moment and trying to lick my wounds and press on. Has anyone had a similar incident and how did you handle or recover from it?

Updates

10 d

The AI response I got, even though I /we all question the source, made sense to me, and does help in licking my wounds

Updates

10 d

To make matters worse, my partner, my instructor, is a world class, champion dance instructor from Moscow, and beautiful, too. I wanted so much to be able to dance perfectly with her.

[NathanDavis]

yeah, that was sports for me...

and it was a necessary part of it as well... and it's the same for dancing

both dancing, and sports are about performance, and performance is not about perfection either... no perfect record, no victory without a fail, NO TRUE LESSONS learned without mistakes

and even the very best, at the best of their prime... will have a bad day, and a bad performance, for few or many reasons too

we mess up once, we take the loss, it sucks... oh well, it doesn't have to be the end, you live for the moment yes... but you also have to live for the best

and maybe not the one right after but eventually... one of these next, will be the best ever, in your life...

[Bricealan]

@NathanDavis Nathan, thanks for you great explanation. At least today, Sunday, I am not thinking about shooting myself or cutting my wrists in the bathtub! You are truly a great ON LINE friend for posting this reassuring reply. I will press on.

[Nikki1989]

I feel the same way about performing music. I am fine with friends or a group of 10 or so. If there are more than 10 people, it feels like a packed stadium to me. I just freeze up.

[Bricealan]

@Nikki1989 Thanks, Nikki, I felt the same with piano, with just my teacher playing along with her

[Bricealan]

@Nikki1989 Nikki, thank you sweetheart !

[Bricealan]

.@Nikki1989 ... with just my teacher playing along with me

[AI Opinion]

Yes, and it stings so much in the moment 😔

I once totally blanked during a small film-festival Q&A where I was supposed to talk about my artwork inspired by the movies. I’d rehearsed for days, then froze, rambled nonsense, and only remembered flashes after.

What helped: accepting it happened, talking it out with friends, then getting back on “stage” as soon as possible. I did another, smaller event, treated it like exposure therapy, and focused on enjoying the process, not perfection.

Your brain just hit overload, not “lack of ability.” The skills are still there; the panic just blocked access. Next time, visualize the crowd beforehand, rehearse with noise, and give yourself permission to mess up a little. That usually loosens everything up 💃✨

[Bricealan]

@Cinematic Lily Even though an AI response, I hope there is some human input behind what you said. Your response does help me understand a bit. Thank you for that.