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Smile. Sounds simple, doesn't it? It's not. You want to avoid looking cheesy, losing your concentration, or having a fixed smile. You can't avoid feeling cheesy. Sorry. The most important thing is to smile at the judges before you start dancing. Pretend you see someone in the audience and smile at them. Then, as soon as you finish dancing, flash a huge smile, like you've just danced the best you've ever danced, whether you have or not. Trust me. It helps.

Double-knot your laces. Please. It's dangerous not to. For that matter, make sure that your brooch, cape, wig, headband, scrunchie, etc. are all securely fastened. You don't want to literally fall apart on stage. If you have a plastic number cover, use a small safety pin to pin your number card to the cover. The numbers fall out of the covers a lot.

Stretch and sock glue your socks. To within an inch of their lives. Sock glue is obvious, but you can get your socks ever so much higher if you play tug-of-war with someone with them first. Stretch them like a balloon you're planning to blow up.

Polish your shoes the night before. Give them plenty of time to absorb the polish; otherwise, you will have black socks.

Test the stage. You need to know what you'll be dancing on. If it's not possible, watch the other dancers closely. Does the stage seem louder in one spot? Does everyone slip in one area? Is the stage sloped? How wide and how long is it? As a rule of thumb, parquet is the most slippery, followed by bare plywood, and marley-covered plywood is ideal.

Zone out. You need to be calm, collected, and focused before you dance. I just listen to my favorite dance music for a few minutes before I dance. If you are too jittery for music but don't want to talk, just put on your headphones without playing any music. People will leave you alone.

Don't bring homework. There's no way you'll do it in the chaos that is a feis. Why lug heavy textbooks to and from the feis if you won't use them?