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How to dance in a mascot costume


Mascot Tips and Tricks from the Performance Pros

Mascot Performing and Training

Our mascot tips and tricks are essential for any aspiring or professional mascot performer. Having the basic skills is the secret to truly engaging your audience in a way that is not only appropriate for the character and brand but for your audience as well. That is why Hogtown Mascots provides mascot performer training, in addition to our mascot design and construction services.

Mascot Tips and Tricks

The Golden Rule for Mascots

Communication is very important with a mascot. But certain kinds of communication work better than others. For example: Mascots should NEVER speak! It ruins the illusion. the human voice sounds distorted and muffled through a mascot head. Also, different performers have different voices which will confuse your audience. If the mascot has an escort, they can use some popular excuses to explain why it is not able to speak.

  • He has a sore throat today from all of the singing he did yesterday
  • She’s saving her voice for the show later on.
  • He was cheering so hard for the team that he lost his voice. Can you show him your favorite cheer?
  • They’re a bit shy. Let’s tickle them a bit and see if they laugh.
  • He ate way too much peanut butter yesterday and he’s still clearing it out of his throat.

Common Mascot Gestures

Good mascot training will teach performers about all of the classic gestures and mascot moves that allow the character to make a connection with the audience – whether children or adults. Learning how to express fear, surprise, disappointment and more are important to know. All without making a peep! Here are some quick pointers.

  1. Waving – Use your entire arm for a big wave in situations that you really need to stand out like a sports game or walking in a parade. Simply open and close your hand when waving to a smaller child in a meet and greet mascot situation.

2. Laughing – Bring your hands up to the mascot’s mouth and nod the mascot head forward in a rapid motion to signal laughing.

3. Blowing a kiss – Put your hand to the mascot mouth and then flat out in front of the head with the palm up.

4. Hugging – Be gentle when hugging. Remember that children may feel shy or intimidated by a gigantic furry presence. Also, if you give a strong forceful hug, especially to an adult or teenager you run the risk of initiating an aggressive or confrontational situation.

5. I love you! – point to yourself then use both hands to draw a heart in the air and point to the recipient.

6. I’m scared! – run away, cover your eyes, and shake your knees. Lifting one hand up to peek out can be very comical.

7. Aww, shucks! – give a little sweeping kick forward while hooking your arm in front of you.

Tips for

Mascots at Sporting Events

Waving – Get the crowd going by starting a wave!

Goals & points – When your team scores make sure to give a big jump and rally the crowd with two big thumbs up. If the other team scores, then give a little sweeping kick forward with an “aww, shucks” kind of feel, then shake the mascot head back and forth while covering your eyes. Just remember to be respectful of the opposing team. After all, it’s in good fun.

Participation – If the mascot is to participate in the game in any way then you need to take the time to make sure you can perform safely and effectively. Start out by practicing without the costume, then try with just the mascot head on, then the hands, and add the feet. Finally, practice in the entire mascot costume. This practice will be worth the effort and will show when the performance actually takes place.

Mascots in Parades

On the Float – Make sure you know your boundaries. You should always try to remain seated on a float but if you have to stand then try to keep your mascot feet planted in one spot. Moving around the float could cause you to lose your boundaries and take a nasty tumble. Remember that your audience is constantly changing as the float moves so movements that seem very repetitive to you are fresh to the people watching you.

Off the Float – If music is playing then it’s a great idea to choreograph a little dance. Keep your movements small as you may have a long way to go. Dancing should be limited mainly to arm movements that you can do while walking. Remember that it can repeat frequently as your audience is constantly changing. Taking the time to learn a little movement will make your float or parade walk look very professional. Feel free to shake a few hands, give a little laugh every now and then, and always be waving to the crowd. Your arms should never just hang by your side!

Tips for

Meet-and-Greet Mascots

Different mascots communicate with different gestures. Above all you should let the personality of your mascot be reflected in your actions. Are you shy, boisterous, jokester, tough, etc? Once the personality is established then you can determine what actions should be applied while in the mascot costume. This will ensure that everyone wearing the mascot is portraying the same characteristics. It’s a great idea to keep a written reference of your mascot’s personality and standard gestures with your costume for every performer to read prior to performing. In most situations it is ideal to have an escort with you to keep your back protected and to be your voice.

Adults and Teens – Shake hands, give a big hug, laugh, and even blow a kiss. Most importantly, take notice of adults and teens as soon as they approach you. This will establish a level of authority. Your escort should make eye contact and say something like “Who do we have here?” to initiate a conversation. This type of introduction and interaction with teens and adults can diffuse many potential uncomfortable or even violent encounters.

Children – Keep the movement slower and gentle with children. Remember many kids are afraid and intimidated by mascots. Making large fast movements can be very scary to a child. Hold your hand out and open and close your hand slowly to wave. Let the child feel how soft your hand is. Let them get to know you at their own pace. If a child is scared of you and screams you can do the same by moving away from the child, covering your eyes and shaking your knees to signal that you are also a little nervous. Try to move slowly back towards the child and build a relationship but if they’re still scared, simply move on to the next child and let them observe how friendly you are. They may still come around for a big hug.

Our Top Mascot Performing Tips

No matter the situation, there are common sense rules that every mascot performer should follow. These include:

  • Stay in character at all times. Only break character once you are completely away from public view.
  • Always be friendly, courteous and animated.
  • Never speak or make noises in costume
  • Do not remove any part of your costume in public
  • Do not smoke, eat or drink while in costume or partially dressed
  • Don’t be seen entering/exiting restrooms
  • Do not show temper, anger or frustration
  • Do not scare or intimidate people

Mascot Safety

Always stay safe and comfortable when performing! Here are some top mascot safety tips.

If you are an aspiring performer interested in joining our training program, or perhaps you’re interested in hiring one of our professional mascot performers, please contact Hogtown Mascots at 1-877-622-8422 or submit our online form to get started!

how to dance as a mascot

A huge part of any mascot routine/performance will most likely include some sort of dance, whether it’s just to a random track on the PA system or part of an elaborate in-game skit.  This brief article is for the rookie who might be a little apprehensive about donning the costume and dancing for the first time.  Here are a few tips and suggestions.

  • Relax:

 

If you’re nervous about dancing in front of the crowd like I was during my first time in costume, don’t worry.  If your timing is slightly off, no one is going to notice or care all that much.  I mean, you’re the mascot, and mistakes usually look natural.  As long as you’re energetic, your dance will go over fine.

  • Be Energetic:

 

Obviously!  But I state this mostly because I’ve seen many seasoned mascot do dances at center court or on the field that are really lacking any big movements or energy. At the most, some of these mascots just sway/wave their arms and don’t even move their feet.  You have to be larger than life and really MOVE!  The crowd will get into it more if you’re into it.

  • Tips For a Random Dance:

 

Not every dance has to be planned.  When I worked basketball games in college and professionally, I would leap onto the court during time outs or TV breaks when the players were off to the sidelines.  When the music came on, I was out improvising to whatever song they played, sometimes joining the cheerleaders or dance team. And of course, random music will play throughout your games so wherever you are in the stands or on the sidelines, you can easily bust out a few quick dance moves to get the crowd into the mood.   Be active and think on your feet.

  • For a Planned Dance:

 

If the team or the event planner has asked you to plan a dance to do in front of the crowd, make it count! For three years straight at one of the baseball teams I worked for, it was set in the game day agenda that I’d get up on the dugouts and dance.  That called for quite a bit of planning.  My tips for you if you’re planning dances:  Keep your choice in music varied. Don’t worry if you don’t have anything choreographed as sometimes it’s just easier to improvise and let the music move you.  If you’d prefer to plan out your moves, make them fit the music and make it memorable.

  • Musical Variation:

 

As aforementioned, keep your playlists varied. Everyone in your audience will have a different taste in music.  In my mixes, I’ve had a nice range of tunes, spanning from classic rock, hip hop, techno, pop, swing jazz/bop jazz, disco, and country to grunge and new wave.   This helped keep the fans on their toes when I took to the dugout or the court.  This also kept me from losing inspiration for new moves.

  • Need Inspiration?

 

Any mascot will tell you that if you’re stuck coming up with something new, just take a look on Youtube and see what other mascots have done. We borrow and tweak ideas from each other constantly.  Also, look to the music you’ve chosen or that’s been picked out for you.  What genre is it? How fast? What are some of the lyrics? You can play off of the song in a lot of different ways to make your dance unique.

  • A Minor Safety Note:

 

Make sure you don’t overdo it during your dance so you’re completely out of energy at the end. Breathe! Yes, I know it’s hard to catch your breath after a dance routine, so maybe that’s a hard tip to follow.  Anyway…

For the baseball mascots out there: If you’re getting on the dugout to dance, watch your step! Know where the edges are at all times. Trust me, you do not want to take a tumble.

Watch your proximity to those around you.  You don’t want to topple into the cheerleaders in the middle of a routine and you don’t want to dance your way into the crowd, the scorer’s table or the bench.  It might hurt not only you but those around you.  Watch it!

 

Tags dance skits, how to be a mascot, how to dance as a mascot, mascot dance routines, mascot dancing

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