Let's change it to "I haven't learn to do that.... yet"
“I haven’t learnt how to do that yet”
I am in the middle of taking some students through an Act Development course. This is a process that offers some touchstones and workshop style classes to coach students from getting an act from the idea to a presentation on stage.
The process of creating a new performance (whether as a solo or a group) can be really daunting.
It’s often getting outside of your comfort zone.
Some students come in with a really strong dance background, and things like choreography or musicality just come really naturally and quickly to them.
Others might have a really strong craft or visual perspective and find constructing the visuals or conceptual side of an act a lot easier - but movement might be harder.
In my opinion, what can be especially hard is the way hat we talk to ourselves during this creative process.
We have all this hard work in front of us. And sometimes we add to it with our own internalised criticsm.
Costuming , for example, and constructing a look can be really hard. Just a few weeks ago I had a student say “Oh I’m just no good at that”.
My response in that moment was to say “Let’s change that to - I’m not good at that, yet”. Or to “I just haven’t learnt how to do that….yet”
What difference would that make?
For some people changing a few words might not make a jot of difference at all.
But my challenge is to change up that internal voice.
Instead of telling yourself you aren’t good at something or there is something in burlesque you aren’t good at.
You can talk to yourself with more self compassion but just adding “yet”.
I can’t sew….yet.
I am not good at choreograpy…yet.
There definitely might be areas in any art form that don’t come naturally to you (for me its social media, and finances!).
But rather than talking yourself down. Give yourself a bit more verbal permission to grow and develop.
Often the reason we might think we aren’t ‘good’ at something is because we just have’t had a lot of practice.
In the example I gave, this person probably hadn’t had to make a costume from scratch ever! And that’s a really big ask and a huge challenge for any performer.
So it might be really hard (and yes, it might suck big time or not turn out exactly as planned). But it’s just because this is an area you might be a bit less interested in or have had less time to devote to.
I often use the phrase about speaking to yourself like a friend.
And the friend that had never sewed before…well you wouldn’t berate them for not delivering a Dior Couture level costume, right.
Give yourself permission to learn. To evolve. To challenge yourself.
When I started performing I had no concept of creating costumes. Not a clear idea of myself as a performer. Not to mention the no shoes and no eyebrows (!). I hadn’t learnt that….yet.