Career Advice and How to Ignore Some of It - Part One

Like every dancer who had a few international experiences and wanted more... I asked all the famous and less famous workshop instructors I came across how to go about that.

"help me!" "what can I do that I am not doing already?"

I want to think a little about all that advice that has been given to me over the years. The advice I followed up. And the advice I stuck in a drawer and left there, and why.

I dont judge anybody elses choices. It's your llife! This is a highly personal account of what did or did not work for me. In this series I will talk about appearance, smiling, competitions, social network marketing, "making a name for yourself", teaching style, and more.

1. Appearance. "You gotta look the part!"

So a famous dancer critiqued my dancing, and what did I get?No comments on my technique or performance as dance, but

- Use Redder lipstick
- Do your eyebrows
- Get another fancier hairdo
- Oh, and make sure you look better when you are IN a workshop.

This did not happen just the once, but with several instructors that I took classes from.

Sounds strange?The point is, they were right. You need all of that to make it in todays dance world. It IS all about the look. About good dancing too of course, but good dancing doesn't go far enough, or so it seems, without the look.

I have struggled with this issue all my dance carreer. As a baby dancer i hated being told that I needed to tan! I was told by several directors to go to a tanning salon. I ended up changing my hair colours, and since I've been a red head nobody has ever made any remarks on my skin colour again.

I also really hated that I needed to wear lenses instead of my glasses. I hated my lenses, and I used to put them in just before I went on stage. This was before I used fake lashes.

Later on I had to relearn a few times how to do my makeup. I took some professional classes in doing my make up and they were really usefull. I plan on taking another soon in applying blush and contouring for the stage because I currently suck at that.

Yes, it seems to be allll about the glam these days. You want fame? You need to look like the cover of a magazine. And i'm not talking body weight, but you need to have "the face".

And that can be a lot of fun. Girls like talking makeup, like doing makeup, we like dressing up.  Make up is one of our toys for adults, like my husband makes model airplanes and loves choosing paints for them, mixing them. I love my stuff as well: green OPI nail polish, MAC eye shadows, MAC Russian Red Lipstick, Clinique Mascara, are just some of my favourites. It's not just the results we get with them, the transformation, but the physical objects too. they way they smell and feel in our hand. And their names, allthough I was never much in to that (frosty something something green?).

But I do see some of my students who are not "into" make up, struggling with this. And what advice can I give them?You need it for the stage? Some will get addicted to MAC, for others it will just remain a "necessary evil". Apllied because I make them, but it doesnt "do" anything for them. And not being into make up doesnt make them less good dancers than the rest of the class.

For professionals? I think you need to find some middle ground, and not loose yourself in it.

For myself there are a few lines i've drawn
- dont spend more on makeup than on classes
- dont spend all backstage time talking about make up and nothing else
- I dont do my eyebrows. I paint them on for shows, I dont want the look for my daily life
- I dont get my hair done any more than absolutely necessary. I dont need it to look perfect all the time.
- I often teach in my glasses, yes also at big events, when I feel like it
- I dont have to have my nails done allll the time. I just do them for shows. and in between you'll see me with chipped nail polish.

and especially:

I really dont need to look done up and like "Artemisia" all the time. Students and events can seem me as "me".  For post workshop hanging out I don't need to go and put on lipstick.
 
 In class, I sweat. And i look horrible in most class pictures, and don't care.


xxx
Artemisia