On our way from Houston to New York today, landing just in time for tonight’s premiere of The Exterminating Angel at the Met!
Today’s post is as much for me as it is for you. I’ve reached the flash point in our audition/casting process where my anxiety dreams are playing out both sleeping and waking. :) We all need to learn to sit with uncertainty.
#ASQoD* for this Thursday:
“Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how.
The moment you know how, you begin to die a little.
The artist never entirely knows. We guess.
We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.”
Agnes de Mille
There are plenty of other parts of life in which we can delude ourselves about the role of uncertainty. Where we can pretend that we know where the bodies are buried. But not here.
Putting yourself out there for scrutiny as a performer is an exercise in extreme uncertainty. There are no right answers, and somehow you have to marry a tolerance for the unknowable with an artist’s courage of conviction.
This dance is part of becoming a whole person as well as a whole artist. And even more, I believe that it’s what makes compelling performers irresistible to their audiences. When we watch and listen to them, we are somehow aware of this dichotomy, and it inspires us.
The Audition Season Quote of the Day is a month-long series brought to you by Wolf Trap Opera.
Add Comment