#65: Use Your Strengths (And Hide What Doesn’t Help You)

This week’s episode is a reminder that you don’t have to do it all — you just need to do you really well.

I’m coming to you from a pageant venue in Orlando, where I’ve seen firsthand how dancers, singers, and performers thrive when they understand their strengths — and stop trying to copy everyone else. Whether it’s tights, tricks, turns, or two-piece costumes, we talk about what it really means to make a smart first impression on stage.

We also dive into:

• How to use choreography, outfits, and mindset to your advantage
• When to skip what isn’t working and lean into what is
• Why understanding your body (and your vibe) gives you the edge
• A little embarrassing story from my college public speaking class 😅
• And yes… whether or not you really need to wear tights

Plus, I’m sharing a sneak peek into FAME Academy — my 12-week coaching experience that helps dancers and their parents build confidence, clarity, and performance presence from the inside out.

🗓️ FAME Academy opens this October and only runs once a year. Don’t miss it!

Join the Expression Lab before it's too late! Classes begin May 6

www.brittanynoltimier.com/lab

Transcript

You've got to know what your strengths are. And then once you do, use those to your advantage. Hello and welcome back to Dance Colleges and Careers. I'm your host, Brittany Noltimier and this is the podcast where we talk about all things dance, colleges, careers, and of course those competitions.

I'm coming at you from a venue in Orlando, Florida, because I'm judging the Pure International Pageant right now. But right next door is a dance competition.

So today I want to talk about why

you have got to understand your strengths and use them to your advantage. Which in the dance world also means you need to learn how to hide your flaws. We all have flaws. You should have flaws. You can't be perfect at everything. You can't be good at everything. Even if you're one of those people who are good at everything you do, there are still areas where you're better.

And you're going to thrive even more if you can figure out how to utilize your strengths and either bring up your weaknesses like we're always trying to do or just learn how to hide them. Scoot those under the rug at least for the couple minutes you're on the stage.

I have a great example because like I said, I'm judging the pageant right now, but this can connect to all performances, whether you're singing, dancing, a musician, a dancer on stage, or in a In pageants, there's often talents, and I know I've heard many times he'll be like, I can't be in a pageant because I don't have a talent.

So use what you're good at. If you're a great modeler, then strut and own the stage with the confidence and amazing outfit or dress that you have and fill in with whatever else you kind of have to do, whether that's choreography or vocals. But that doesn't mean you need to go step, kick, step, double pirouette.

because you would fall out of that and look really messy, you need to do things that make you look good. If you have really long legs, finding positions and pictures to where you know that position looks amazing on you, not saying you have to do a lot of quick footwork if you're not gonna do that correctly or well anyways, especially to a judge or a trained eye.

This is for a competitive stage. If you are putting something on stage for a talent show or for in the middle of a mall or just performance, performing to perform, you do you boo. You have fun. You put whatever is appropriate and age appropriate and fun out on that stage. But in the competitive level, in a way to score higher, because that's what we're trying to do, learning how to score higher. You need to learn how to take your weaknesses.

them and elevate what you're good at.

Okay, I have kind of a silly story to relate to you here and to be honest, it's totally embarrassing, but I'm gonna share it with you today.

So this is not singing or dancing. This was my public speaking class. I got to tell you, public speaking has never been my favorite. Even in pageants, the interview was not my favorite. I've always been a dancer. I communicate. I speak with my body. Yes, I love musical theater and being on stage and saying lines, but that's not coming out of my own head. you're given a script and you follow the rules. I love rules. I'm a rule follower. I love guidelines and rules.

My speech wasn't that The due date had come and it was midnight. I had written it up. I did the assignment, but I did not practice it because I embellished it. I embellished it with what I'm good at.

I had done gone so much over the top with the other parts of the project that there was no way I couldn't get 100 % because I had gone above and beyond in the presentation, the performance. Maybe my actual words and how it was laid out were clumsy and maybe I was reading the note card, but the rest of the performance, the presentation was fully there.

And I got 100%.

So some examples of how you can fix this. if you have, if your feet anatomically are not ever gonna be like ballerina foot with really beautifully point feet, you can wear specific shoes to hide that. they are, maybe they're not trained, maybe you haven't really trained your feet. can put on a cute little white KEDS sneaker and do a very stylized routine in that kind of shoe.

and it would hide a lot of the floppiness of the foot. Something else. If we have really poor, I want to say poor, I don't really want to say poor, but if we have not trained our leg muscles yet, lifting up out of our quads in a ballet style, right? If we have not really trained our quads and behind the knees to really stretch, you could be better off wearing a pair of pants rather than a short skirt that shows all of those buckled lines and

curves like when we know we want it to be straight. Okay so it's just putting yourself in the right zone, in the right outfit, in the right room so that you can be successful.

Here's another example. If you are working on turns, you absolutely love turns, but you fall out of them every time, then you don't need to have a million turns in your dance. Sure, a double pirouette here. ⁓

maybe another one over there. But you don't need to keep putting the same step in a routine just so we watch you fall out of it over and over and over again. There are other things you can do just because all your friends and everybody else your age is doing that doesn't mean you have to. If it's not servicing you, if you are not executing that to your fullest ability, then

It's not necessary. Again, this is for the competitive stage. This is to help you clean up your routines, to fit, really thrive in what you're doing on stage. Maybe you are extremely fit. naturally you have this very fit physique. And so just starting in a beginning pose with your back muscles fully engaged, it can make the audience go, ooh, whoa, just to catch the attention because that

shows us that you've worked your muscles, that you have been training for a showing I'm toned, I have muscle, I am smart enough to know how to engage these muscles. That goes a long ways. And that first impression is everything. Yes. First impression is everything. So bring yourself to the table with your best features.

Let's tack in a little bonus talk about tights. Everybody is all up in arms about whether we should be wearing tights or not wearing tights. The truth is, how do they service you? Do your legs look better in tights?

Or do your legs look better not in tights? It's all about the line. It's all about your muscle, your training and your tone. And there's nothing to be ashamed about that.

We all have different strengths. So if your legs are your strength, if you have leg muscles popping,

and you want and just standing in your opening position your leg muscles are on fire that is the great first impression that makes the judges go ooh we have great training here but if you start on stage and you're not even squeezing a leg muscle at all to begin with then that's not gonna service you.

wearing tights might help remind you to pull your legs in. And this is not the only reason we wear tights or not wear tights. Some costumes just fully look better with tights and some don't. Or if you're going to get end up with a big huge wedgie, you might just feel more confident having tights as long as you can complete the ankle line well. just because.

everybody your age is wearing tights or not wearing tights, it does not mean you need to do the same thing because you want to come out on stage and we go, all right, here we go. And if you're showing off not your best features, then that's not going to service you as well because it just might be cleaner.

for you to be wearing those tights. And you might feel more confident. Or maybe you don't feel confident. Maybe you would rather not wear tights because you're sick of tights, you don't want to wear tights. I've been there too. But

but first impressions are everything. And if your legs are not extremely toned and ready for it, just wear the tights and it's perfectly fine. You might be working on that. And then you know what? That's an amazing goal to work towards rather than just doing it because you're supposed to, right? I mean, I don't have a six pack, so I do not wear two piece costumes.

And the same argument can be said for like a two-piece costume. This is a little bit looser, but if you have a six or eight pack, yeah, sure, wear that two-piece because you're showing off your incredible abs. Me, never, I was always fit, but I never had a six pack here. So wearing a two-piece was not going to service me. I had strong legs. My abs were a little flabbier. Okay. So I went no tights, but covering the belly here. I had cutouts.

because still had obliques, but this was not my money spot. Okay, so where are your best features? Figure it out, study it in a very healthy way. Just connecting to ourselves, understanding ourselves, So learn how to present yourself the very best you possibly can.

and go out there and rock it. Rock it with confidence.

you guys, I actually have something new to share with you. This is very exciting. I am the creator of the Fame Method, but what that means is I've created an academy to where I help dancers figure out.

these things. Figure out what they're best where their special uniquenesses are, and how to help them.

reach their higher potential faster. So this is all in the Fame Academy. We actually will be getting started this October. October, it runs one time a year, just one time a year guys. So don't miss out. It is a 12 week program. So it runs for six weeks of lessons and then an extra four weeks of feedback sessions and Q and A's. So if that sounds like something where you're looking for on the outside and then one-on-one attention.

here for you and I'm here for that growth because I know how it is when you are trying to make all these adjustments at home and then you're like, yeah, but is it working? Am I even doing it right?

Well, I'm here to give you that advice and to tell you yes and no so that you don't have to keep squandering through this journey, but we can do it together. And actually moms, dads, parents, families, I really encourage you to be a part of it with them. So if that's something you wish you could do, be a little bit more a part of their dance journey. This could be the right place for you because I, as a studio owners kid.

I fully, fully appreciate and love my experience as getting to know all those inside secrets from the studio owner, but then also being able to share more with my mom because she gets it, because she got it. I try to give to you parents as a gift so that you can build your connection even stronger and not get lost in the fray as they continue to get more advanced and you just get lost.

that's the Fame Academy. When's it coming out? It's coming out in October. So save the date

will only be open for a week and it's just one time a year so I really don't want you to miss it.

Mark it in your calendars now, we're getting started in October. Thank you so much for joining me here on Dance Colleges and Careers. Until next time, be brave, tell your story, and own the stage.