Throughout the years I have met a lot of creative people and had the pleasure to work with and alongside some very interesting individuals. And no matter what kind of Performing Art you are studying or developing, they all have one common ‘enemy’: EMOTIONS. There are people that spend years and years studying techniques, getting super nerdy about everything and anything related to their chosen art… but yet still struggle to produce something that is truly outstanding. Why? Because acting, singing, dancing, painting (etc…) are not just about the technique, but expressing and communicating a feeling, a state of mind, a point of view… an EMOTION.
We go see plays and gigs live because we all crave the good time yes, but ultimately it is because we want to connect and experience the artist’s emotional journeys and feel like we belong, that we are not alone in those fights or happy moments. Specifically in music, I see a ton of great vocalists and instrumentalists every year, most of them extremely skilled when it comes to techniques and showcasing their talents. But what is the message? What is the story? Who am I listening to?
The hardest part of being a creative person is that you always have a lot of great ideas but for some it gets extremely uncomfortable to let loose and ultimately let people in and share their deepest feelings through their art. But… isn’t that the whole point? To share your emotions, feelings, stories and messages through your craft? Being a performer (or a writer/creator) means you have something that you would like to share with others to inspire change, a healing process, to empower people, raise awareness, move or show people different things: all very noble ideas that should make us feel super pumped but when it comes to it… fear, shame and anxiety kick in full throttle and start a vicious cycle that one can either sweep under the rug and act like nothing happened, or acknowledge but feel powerless against them. These are usually a huge block for at least 80% of the people that I have coached/trained in the past few years. And when I was a student myself, I definitely did have a phase when I experienced ALL of those words too so I know exactly how frustrating and annoying it can get, as well as extremely stressful because you may see a problem but cannot quite work out how to get rid of it.
I believe it is vital to understand these psychological mechanisms first, seeing how they are generated and where they come from to begin tackling the invisible barriers preventing us from being free and delivering with passion as well as good technique. If you have been taking lessons with me you know how much I care about everyone’s mental wellbeing as well as the physical side of all my students, therefore I wanted to use this post to raise awareness and shine a light on these topics to hopefully inspire you all to take a stand against these ‘inner demons’ and start a very personal journey to finding out your fullest potential. I have spent years researching and looking into the psychological side of performing arts, and one name kept coming up very often: Brené Brown.
Brené Brown PhD is a professor, lecturer and author who has pledged her professional life to a very specific mission of diving into the depths of how human emotions affect and dictate our lives, as well as looking into inter/intrapersonal relationships in different scenarios and settings. This woman has really been doing the digging for more than a decade now and she has become quite the face for this kind of studies. From books to lectures in universities, from Ted Talks to a Netflix documentary… she’s got a lot of news and she is more than happy to share them in her very own funny, real, unfiltered and honest way.
I would really encourage you all to start getting familiar with her work (which I am linking below) as it is extremely interesting and eye-opening on so many levels. We all want to learn how to communicate our feelings better, to improve our ways of directly connecting with someone face-2-face in a world where technology is sort of pushing us farther and farther away from each other. Here are the links, hope you all enjoy!
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS BRENÉ’S OFFICIAL WEBSITE
CLICK HERE TO VIEW BRENÉ’S BOOK COLLECTION
CLICK HERE TO WATCH BRENÉ’S FIRST TED TALK – THE POWER OF VULNERABILITY
CLICK HERE TO WATCH BRENÉ’S SECOND TED TALK – LISTENING TO SHAME
AND FOR BRENÉ’S NETFLIX SHOW: JUST GO ON NETFLIX AND LOOK FOR ‘BRENÉ BROWN – A CALL TO COURAGE’