The Audition Shakes…
Picture this: We’re sitting in the waiting room at that big audition and all of a sudden our hands start shaking. Or maybe we feel a buzz in our legs or stomach. Our teeth could even start chattering. And we say to ourselves, “Knock it off! Get it together! What’s wrong with me?”
I call these The Audition Shakes, when our bodies shake involuntarily. And this could be literal shaking, or it could look like buzzing, quivering, tremoring, and more! It could be a completely internal sensation (like a vibration), or it could be visible to others (like trembling hands). Contrary to what our brains might say, The Audition Shakes are normal!
They are our body’s way of metabolizing the stress we feel.
There are a bunch of different ways we humans shake and tremor. Whether it be muscle fatigue while doing a plank, or shivering when cold, there’s still a lot that we don’t know about why we shake.
The majority of research out there are on tremors caused by underlying health conditions, like Parkinson’s disease. So it makes sense then why we automatically assume shaking is a sign of something “wrong.”
The Audition Shakes occur at times of high stress, when we have high levels of arousal. We artists are used to working like this. Especially at auditions, we’re familiar with big jumps in our attention, energy, and alertness. These jumps could be due to the intensity of the material, who’s in the room, or even whether we were running late or drank too much caffeine.
Sometimes that audition stress helps us connect. That adrenaline boost mobilizes us towards the material, giving us an edge. And if we see that appointment, that material, that audition as a challenge, the stress we feel can let us really ride our artistic edge.
Yet riding the edge can very easily bump us over into too much arousal, into too much energy, attention, and alertness. Especially when we are biologically programmed to over-respond to stress. And when that happens, we shake!
So, what can we do when we get The Audition Shakes?
Just to reiterate, there’s nothing wrong with us or our craft if we’re experiencing this. It’s how our bodies were built to discharge that stress. Inconvenient, frustrating, and annoying, yes. But wrong or abnormal, no.
A lot of the time when we get The Audition Shakes, our immediate reaction is to get rid of them by any means necessary. Yet if they’re not uncomfortable or painful, what would it be like to let our body do its thing?
If we always resist the response, then we’re not letting our bodies do what they’re designed to do. So next time we get them before or after the audition, let’s let ourselves shake for a bit and see what happens!
If it’s during the audition or performance, that can distract us from doing our work. In those moments, try telling our bodies “Hey thanks for doing your thing, but we’re going to shake later,” and then let ourselves shake later (don’t lie to your body!).
That’s a great moment to bring in tools from our actor toolbox; any big or large movements are useful at dispersing that stress energy. Same is true if the shaking is uncomfortable or painful, try using a tool with large movements to turn it off.
A lot of the time when we practice tools from our actor toolbox, we’re looking to completely ground, to feel cool, calm, and connected. Yet if we’re shaking, we’re at a pretty high level of stress.
It’s a big jump to go from The Audition Shakes to fully grounded! And that jump might not be a realistic (or helpful) goal. In fact, jumping that far could make us more aware of how tired or exhausted we are, which, again, can distract us from doing our work.
Instead, what would it be like to think smaller? Shifting the goal to a small shift (like a slightly deeper breath or an unclenching of our jaw), can help us come back to our artistic edge, without collapsing past it. This can also decrease our self-judgment for not being fully grounded, cause turns out we can still do great work if we’re stressed.
Lastly, we’ve got to build some muscle memory. A lot of my clients only practice their tools when they really need them, like when they’re already shaking. That’s kind of like only practicing our material in the audition room.
It might work for us once or twice, but we have different insights when we prep beforehand, without the added stress of performance. Same with our tools, we have different insights and build muscle memory when we practice them when we’re less stressed. This makes our tools more reliable to us when we’re at that high stress level.
So next time we get The Audition Shakes, remember, there’s nothing wrong with us.
And let’s see what happens if we just let em ride.
For more on how to build your own actor and audition toolbox, reach out to me here for a free consult.