These beauty pageant runway walk tips can help you stand out from the competition as most pageants are decided by just a few points. If you’ve never participated in a pageant before, keep these tips in mind.
Keep Your Head Up
Always keep your head up while walking on the runway. Fight the urge to look at your feet and look straight ahead while walking. If you can’t consistently do this, keep practicing it with a book on your head until you can. You should be able to walk in a straight line, turn around and walk back without having the book fall to the ground.
To ensure you look straight ahead while walking the runway you can imagine there is a string tied to the top of your head that is pulling you up. This will help you to not tuck your chin down while walking.
Walk One Foot In Front Of The Other
Always walk with one foot in front of the other while walking on the runway in a beauty pageant. You should walk as though you are walking on a tight rope, so each step is in the same line.
Most contestants have a hard time with this and will cross their feet over too far, which leaves them doing a cross walk. To ensure you are walking in a straight line, put some tape on the ground and walk on it until you can do it every time without coming off the piece of tape.
Walking like this can separate you from other contestants in the beauty pageant judging. If you have a polished walk you’ll score highly where others might not.
Walking with one foot in front of the other creates better angles for your legs and body, and will make you look amazing.
Be Playful With The Crowd
Unlike a fashion show, we encourage our models to be playful with the crowd during a beauty pageant runway walk. If the crowd gets into your walk the judges will feel their energy and usually score you a bit higher.
Don’t be afraid to play to the crowd if your pageant allows it.
The best way to engage the crowd it to smile and have fun while you are walking and posing. If you are having fun, and don’t look nervous, the crowd will be free to get excited with you.
Pose With Your Hands On Your Waist
If you aren’t sure what to do with your hands while posing, the easiest pose to do is to stand with your feet shoulder width apart and put your hands on your waist. Once you reach your posing spot just shift your weight from side to side three times and smile.
Some pageants don’t want you to put your hands on your waist though, so check with the director for any rules they might have.
Have Fun Walking The Runway
If you are genuinely having fun it will lead to a higher score. Having fun will show confidence, and you’ll also naturally perform better than if you are nervous and tense about your walk and poses.
Hold Your Poses On The Runway
If you don’t hold your poses on the runway you won’t get great pictures afterward, and you’ll be marked down for moving too fast.
We often see models get nervous and rush through their poses as quick as possible. This always leads to a lower score and regret after the competition. Practice the timing of your poses and know how long you have to showcase yourself on stage before you get out there.
Don’t Rush
You want the judges to spend a good amount of time looking at you. If you rush through your experience, you won’t be as memorable as some others who took their time.
You should not spend way more time than everyone else, to the point that it is too long, but don’t sell yourself short on how much time you get in the spotlight.
