Over the past few months I feel like my dancing has taken a real nose dive. I don’t think it has anything to do with change in my actual dance ability – in fact, I’d actually say I’ve improved over this time. But, I feel like my mojo has completely gone.

The first aspect of this I think has been confidence. When I started teaching shag, I poured all my energy into it and improving myself as a dancer. That over analysis, it seems has turned into a lot of frustration that things aren’t spot on straight away in both shag and lindy. The more I’ve learnt the more I’ve realise that I have to learn and it’s been overwhelming. I’m such a perfectionist I find things so frustrating when I can’t get them spot on straight away, and I realised I just can’t correct all the things in my dancing straight away, it’s just not possible. Approaching it this way in my mind was/is so self-destructive because it makes me feel like I’ll never be as good as I want to be and often it makes me feel like the bottom of the class or the weakest dancer at a social, and my confidence down-spiral begins.

With the lack of confidence, it’s taken the joy out of the dance. I find it so difficult to just stop stressing about all the things I’ve let myself been overwhelmed by and just sit back and enjoy into a social dance. And further that to classes – I go to class knowing 100 things I want to think about and frustrate myself to the point I just don’t enjoy it, so I just don’t go. I’ve never had this kind of mindset before, and I hate it. I’ve been working so hard to address things, break them down, tackle things head on – as well as having many a confidence chat with my best buddy Matt (who is a phenomenal lindy instructor just FYI). Nothing seems to be working as a fix though.

I’ve had a good break from dance and felt like it has improved thanks so a break, but I’m still nowhere near the enthusiasm level that I used to be.

Anyone else lost their mojo, if so why? And what have your strategies been to get it back?