The performing arts industry can be highly competitive, and mere talent isn’t enough to survive and make it to the top. The industry demands various skills from the aspirant. Here are seven major skills you will need to have to succeed in performing arts:
Confidence In One’s Talent and Abilities
Whether you are an actor, a dancer or a musician, you will have to believe in yourself. While it is perfectly natural to be nervous before a performance on a stage in front of a huge crowd, you should have the ability to calm yourself, appear natural and genuinely connect with your audience. Many artists focus on having a pre-show ritual to get into the performer zone.
Effective Marketing
Performing arts is an industry where communication is everything. Without proper networking, you will not get too far even with a good amount of talent. If you don’t meet and make friends with the right people, you may lose many auditions and opportunities. Nowadays, people stay up-to-date with their networking on popular Internet networking websites.
A Never Give Up Attitude
Most artists face tremendous rejection and criticism in their initial phases. The role of an artist requires a certain vulnerability to the audience. Hence, you have to take the criticism in your stride and constantly push yourself to the limits. Like most artists, you will be forced to work hard and push yourself. Hence, you will need to have good coping skills and take care of yourself on a mental, emotional and physical level in order to prevent burnout.
You Need to Be Good at Working Multiple Projects
As an artist, your schedule will be filled with auditions, rehearsals, performances and more. You can’t get too far if you don’t have the ability to work on multiple projects at the same time. You may even be required to work another job to sustain yourself.
Ability to Work in a Team
Any artistic project will have several people pouring their skills and talent into the project. You will have to learn how to work with all the people, manage individual interests and preserve the collective interests in order to ensure the project is successful.
An Openness to Learn Different Things
They say that an artist should always be humble and open themselves up to learning as much as possible. For instance, you may be exposed to several challenging situations where you will have to learn skills that are outside of your job. You may also be required to play a role outside of your comfort zone with less preparation time.
Constantly Look for Ways to Improve Your Performance
With all the competition and different things to juggle with, ultimately, you must possess the ability to focus only on the show performance and not get too lost in the business aspect of it all. At the end of the day, you are a performer, and you must look for ways to improve and make your performance more interesting.