Artists Mall

I probably have said this before – actually, everything I’ve said to this date has been said by others of far more stature than I.  But, here’s the deal:  all of this bears repeating…I know I need it said again and again.  If a ballerina didn’t go to class every day of her life, she would never arrive; at best she’d be in the ballet de corps till she couldn’t get up on point anymore.  But, to succeed to the top of her game, she must urge those muscles to obey her, and she must fight against being lazy or some alternative activity, not to mention all the pain she endures to reach her goal.

Is she like anyone else?  Yes.  Perhaps.  She is likely to have more discipline than the rest of us combined.  I sang with the New York City Ballet and went on tour with them way-back-when.  Bus and truck.  Guess who was exercising and stretching and sweating in the aisles for the 8 hours it took us to reach our next town?  Yup.  A more amazing group of individuals called dancers in the name of discipline there never was, in my humble opinion.

Anyway – persistence – that’s what the dancer has and practices every day of his/her career life – because he/she has to.  Nothing like heightened necessity, you know…  There are many other artists like this, too, so I’m not heralding only one section of the artist’s congregation.  BUT, there are many others of us who could take a lesson from all these Dedicated Wonders.  It seems life gets more and more complicated by the day; so much to do, so much to put attention on, so many emails to write, so many twitters to tweet and texting to text.  Gosh, we’re becoming a typing pool – typing emails, typing texts, tweeting.  Soon phones will be obsolete!  Oh well, don’t get me started….

Back to persistence:  with all the noise in our lives, it takes every ounce of our focusing skills to keep marching to our mountain top – our Goal – whatever that happens to be.  And, just so there’s no mistake, what I say to you I say to me.  I need a pep talk every now and then too.

I often think life being so much simpler “back when” made it easier for artists to concentrate.  I could be dead wrong, but, you see my point?  And, pardon me for opining here, I think art has drifted majorly toward mediocrity.  Artists settle for the almighty buck because they have to.  An economic friendly planet we are not on!  So artists can sell out to the devil called Compromise.  Ok.   There is persistence (or lack of) on many levels: necessity in order to eat, distractions, goals clouded by both of the above, and finally, disillusionment because you didn’t quite fulfill your dreams.  I know I’m getting down and dirty here, but – it’s also true that if you have the courage to face what IS and name it, you can also rid yourself of that very thing that gets in your way of persisting.  See?  It is a legitimate solution. 

There’s also another side to this:  persistence is only as good as the goal you are trying to achieve…right?  If it’s a goal you aren’t really thrilled about, heck, change it!  You have the ability and right to do anything you want to do, and to change midstream, if that’s what’ll float your boat.  But, gosh, just PERSIST!  Do what you set out to do to the very best of your ability.  Make your mark.  Don’t settle.  Become one of our 21^st Century Giants in art.  But “do it” means “persist” at it.  So, get going, you Gods – make our planet habitable again.  And pretty.  And full of Soul!  You have it in YOU. 

I’m counting on you.

Robin