PRE-SHOW RITUALS EASE DANCER JITTERS.

Applying perfume, wearing unwashed socks or removing hair can be pre-dance rituals almost as important to some dancers as a good warm-up and a last check of their costumes. Many performers say such personal rites help them prepare mentally. And who knows? Maybe some good luck charms do add a bit of magic to their steps.

Deanna McBrearty, a New York City Ballet corps member, always wears the same long-sleeved black T-shirt and white fleece jogging pants while warming up. She also has lucky hair bands. "If I have a good performance when I'm wearing one, I'll keep wearing it," she says. And she dabs herself with a scent called "Beauty" by Sarah Schwartz. The perfume is partially homage to Balanchine, who used to give each dancer a different fragrance. "He'd say each dancer was a special flower and together they created a beautiful bouquet," says McBrearty.

At American Ballet Theatre, the women's corps de ballet has a group ritual. Before Act II of La Bayadere, the dancers stand in a circle and interlock pinkie fingers. Then, looking each other in the eye, they say "pinkies" to each other. "Sometimes the principals, soloists and even some danseurs join us," says corps member Rosalie O'Connor. The dancers lock pinkies before other ballets, but they only form the circle before dancing the Kingdom of the Shades. "It's a difficult act," says O'Connor, "and very much a group effort."

Alvin Ailey dancer Matthew Rushing says his pre-performance routine varies depending on what piece he's performing. But a few things never change. He always does yoga and a floor barre and never goes onstage without saying a prayer. And if he is dancing Wade in the Water, Song for You or any of Ulysses Dove's works, he adds a bit of extra grooming to his routine: shaving his head. "I only think of shaving for those dances," he says. "I'm not sure why. For Wade in the Water I think it represents purity. And Dove always wanted nothing added to his works. He liked us to perform them just as he told us. Shaving my head for his ballets makes me feel clean, like feel clean, like a blank canvas."

After arriving at the theater, Jon Lehrer, dancer and rehearsal director for Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, always heads for the stage. "I stand in the center with my eyes closed to sense the theater's energy," he says, "then I walk around to get a feel for the space." Lehrer also has special pre-performance warm-up clothes: a red cotton jumpsuit that buttons up the front. "Sort of like a convict's suit," he says. He keeps his feet warm with layers of socks--a pair of white ones under thick lumberjack socks with a red stripe. "I try to wash the jumpsuit and socks as infrequently as possible," he says.

Like the ABT corps, The Parsons Dance Company has a group ritual. Before every show they all gather and pile their hands over center stage. After a few encouraging words from Parsons or another company member, everyone reaches down, up, and breaks out of the pack into a pose. Each dancer always hits the same ending position. "We call it the `whoosh,'" says Jaime Martinez, company member and associate artistic director, "because that's what we say as we break out."

In addition, Parsons dancers have individual practices. Elizabeth Koeppen shares rehearsal director responsibilities with Martinez. Since her company duties have grown, it's become harder to relax before performing, so she's developed a unique solution. "During the hour before the show, I shut myself in a dressing room and run my blow dryer for twenty minutes," she says. The white noise blocks out the pandemonium around her and lets her calm down. "I used to use the dryer on my hair, but now I just let it run while I nap or use it to warm my feet," she says.

San Francisco Ballet soloist Vanessa Zahorian also danced with the Kirov Ballet, where she learned to say "good luck" in Russian. She always exchanges the greeting with another Russian-speaking dancer before performing with him. She also says a prayer and kisses the ground before going onstage. And she never performs without her diamond pinkie ring, which she masks with tape. "My parents gave it to me when I was 11, around the time I became serious about dance," she says.

The jarring experience of an injury made Houston Ballet principal Dawn Scannell reconsider many of her pre-dance habits. "I always did my hair and makeup in a particular order," she says. "But when I came back after my injury I couldn't remember what came first and I realized that it didn't matter." But even so, there is one talisman she has not abandoned. At her theater, she keeps a copy of a letter that Martha Graham wrote to Agnes de Mille in 1927. She received it from the Ballet's harpist, Joan Eidman, after Scannell had been asked to dance the lead in Swan Lake on short notice. "In Act II, just before the pas de deux, the swan dances alone to the sound of the harp," she explains. "Joan said she always thought of me at that moment as we performed together." Since then, Scannell has shared the letter with other dancers who need a boost of confidence. "You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work," the letter reads. "You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open...."