The other day I was talking to a friend about my career as a dancer. He was almost shocked to learn how many jobs I did, and how only a very small chunk of my income comes from dancing professionally. He’s known me for a while now, he’s seen me perform, and knows how passionate I am about dancing. I think he understands that for me, dancing is a labor of love. But after talking some more, I started to realize how different our concepts of success were.
As we continued to talk about what I do, he left me to ponder a strange phrase. He looked me in the eye and said “Maia, you really got screwed over. You’re incredibly talented”. I paused. As someone who rarely believes in their own abilities, the second half of that sentence really assuaged some doubts. But it was the first part that left me scratching my head. What did he mean I’d really been “screwed over”? When I look at my life I see that I am a professional dancer in an amazing company. I see someone who has been paid to perform as a professional. Someone who has worked with guest artists. I’m slowly earning the respect of my peers, and – I hope – am making a name for myself in the Atlanta dance scene.
Have I really been screwed over because I’m not able to make a living off of dancing alone?
As I mulled over his confused compliment, it made me realize 2 things.
- There is clearly very little known about the arts community by people outside of it, so the assumption is that artists live the same as other professionals do.
- It would be very easy for me to be bitter about the fact that I can’t only dance and support myself, depending on my perspective.
Here’s the thing, I would absolutely love to be able to focus all my time and energy on dancing. But that’s just not the way my cards have fallen at this point in time. I would love to be financially stable, and have no worries about money – how I’m going to make it, how much I’ll have, etc. I will be the first to admit that this is not quite where I thought I would be at 23. But if I look at what I have, instead of what I don’t, I’m pretty happy.
Perspective is everything.
And I don’t define my success on how much money I’m making.
The sad reality is that everyone could use some more art and culture in their lives, but very few people are willing to spend the time and money on attending performances, visiting galleries, or going to local live music events. The art world relies on the consumption of consumers and the generosity of donors, and there’s just not always enough of that.
My best advice would be to skip one “normal” weekend/evening activity for a dance show, a theatre performance, or a local musician’s set. Talk to the artists you know to learn a little more about their life, and why they do what they do. We all have passions in life. Some of those passions are in the form of hobbies, sometimes they’re occupations. Learning about someone else helps open your own perspectives and your world.
Fact of the matter is, without the arts, we’d have a very boring world.
