Shameless Self Promotion!

My castle my rules!

One of the things I have been trying to recoup from the accident is my artistic voice.

I simply do not have the physical ability I had before. So performing is going to be inhibited.

So,  what do I DO?!  I will not allow someone to take that away from me.

I turned to voiceover work.  Studied,  continue to develop my craft, and booked several audio books this year!

It allows me to keep my acting chops and my voice in shape and gives me creative license to explore the art of story telling.  I am loving it!

Two of three books have now been released.
A third will be released in the next 2 weeks.
I am about to begin another one for a fall release.

Here are the links!

The first,  Secrets of the Red Box by Vickie Hall
available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes!

The second, Love is in the Air by Devon Vaughn Archer
available on Amazon, Audible and iTunes!

The third is ROUGE VOLUME 1 by Leigh Talbert Moore
and will be released in audio format in the next two weeks!

I am excited to be doing this professionally now - and hope to do more!

Finding those things that keep your artistic voice growing and residing somewhere is so crucial to our ongoing development.

I am finding new and wonderful ways of exploring my artistic and actor roots and using my voice in new but familiar ways! It makes life worth living and gives me more HOPE.  I am not done yet!

Thanks for letting me promote my new work!!

Artistic Energy

We are back from Brasil!

We worked with some marvelous young singers, met some great human beings and artists and will forever hold that tightly.

On my final day there,  I held a seminar that morphed into a great many things about being an artist. Today, I am simply musing on that energy.

Artistic energy.

If you are an artist, you are forever one, from the moment you wake up to your last breath.  Whether you make a living making your art is a completely separate issue.

So, how you feed that artistic energy? 

Some days, the body, the psyche, the spirit simply does not want to pursue, or practice, or move.  Sometimes, we are just TIRED.  Tired from what doesn't even matter.  We are just tired. Period.

Is it okay? Of course it is.  We must remain sensitive to allow for your artistic lives to grow, and in being sensitive, we often take in more than we can actually deal with. 

On the days you are exhausted, depleted, discouraged, just don't wanna...what do you DO?

Giving yourself permission just to be where you are is difficult.  Trust me, I know.  However, the stillness is crucial to rejuvenate and replenish what we need to continue to thrive. 

We are encouraged to do something for our business each day, and for our artistry, and yes, in a perfect day that works.  But some days,  we simply need to sit still.  We need to experience NOT doing.  We need the space both physically and psychologically to allow a decompression and re-entry to occur.  This is why we often get sick.  Our energy has been over-taxed and our bodies simply say NO.  NO MORE.  You gotta sit down and nurture yourself.

It seems so simple doesn't it?  HA!  I know it all too well. 

So how can you NOT do and replenish?  Do you have your rituals in place to allow for YOU time? If it is YOUR time and YOUR choice and YOUR decision,  it will feed your soul, psyche and your artistic life.

Give yourself permission NOT to practice.   NOT to go to that audition.  NOT to sing full out at a rehearsal.  NOT to try to please all of the time!

Give yourself permission to spend a little more time sleeping, having another cup of coffee, looking at a magazine,  browsing the Internet.

Replenishing could simply mean reading a book,  looking at a painting, putting your headphones on and listening to something that simply moves you to tears, or revs you up, or calms you down. 

When we slow down enough to allow ourselves to be transported in that stillness, THIS is when the energy reveals itself to us.  THIS is when artistic energy meets artistic temperament and allows for growth, AND stillness. 

"I have no energy"  should be a red flag that you simply need YOU for a little while.  And guess what?  You is kinda wonderful. 

The artistic energy of YOU needs as much care and attention as technical behavior you are developing in your craft;  as the score you are studying;  as the monologue you are developing.  The artistic energy of YOU needs the focus and realization that you give working out passaggio, or your breathing,  or your resonance as you work the transitions of registers!

So replenish often.  Otherwise you are living on fumes.  No transformation of any kind can last on that.

Permission granted.

Observations after a week in Brazil

Greetings from Brazil!

Thomas and I are here with FioAmericas teaching...

Our first week is complete, with all of its challenges and frustrations, and also its revelations, some wonderful students and my first performance since before the accident.

Sometimes you simply just have to DO it.  Am I the same? No.  Could I sustain a full show? No. But could I still summon my craft and deliver? I believe I did.

It was a personal triumph.  THIS is what allows for growth and confidence.  It is not comparison to anything but your previous self.

Two years ago to the date of the Gala in Brazil, I was still in a Rehab Hospital learning how to walk with a cane.  I still had many pins and staples in my body. I had many surgeries and procedures and more to come.  I was on heavy pain meds, still bruised and swollen, with many breaks still healing, and very little ability of any kind. I was only trying to walk with a cane in the PT room with a therapist on either side of me. Five steps was exhausting and I would have to sit again in my wheelchair.  I had no use of my right hand and arm.

The day of the Gala, just a few days ago, I wondered if I had lost my mind trying to perform.  I had not even tried to walk for long in a concert heel, and had not performed my beloved Kurt Weill. In over 2 years. But I decided this was for ME. I needed to know if I could still do it.

I walked out onto that stage in my heels. I did not have any spasms.  I summoned the craft I have been building my whole life, claimed what I had and committed to it.

Was it a success? yes. Why? because I have overcome a life threatening circumstance. Because I refuse to have someone else take from me something they have no authority or power over.

Because I have the same insecurities and concerns as every one of you.  Because I want to find the BEST me no matter what.  Because I will bring 100% of whatever I have. If it is only 30% or 70%, I will not dial it in.  I will bring all 30 or all 70.

I dare myself to commit to that craft.  I dare myself to improve upon it.  I dare myself to rediscover it, know my limitations and find my better self.

If I can, YOU can.

Go get it!

Find the JOY!

As we take on Fathers' Day weekend,  I muse about my wonderful Dad.

We lost him in 2009 and I miss him every day.  He had a rare form of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma called Mantle Cell.  Yet, he remained so full of joy for each moment.  He lived his life, his craft and his passions like that.

I remember that joy.  He embodied it through his teaching, his directing, his interactions with others, his painting,  his children and his grandchildren.

He was always learning, always reading, always thinking, always discovering.  He never said "that's it", or "it is a chore", or "I'm bored".  In fact, if he heard you say "I'm bored" his answer was this:
boredom comes from within.

So often,  we as artists,  as performers,  in the murky business of show often lose sight of the JOY.  We are constantly working to work, to be seen, to be hired,  and there is exhaustion with that.  It can often take over to the point that we forget WHY we do what we do in the first place.

There is nothing wrong with goals.  I believe in them.  They keep us focused.  However, if we set ourselves up to fall,  where is the joy in that?

If our expectations have nothing to do with the reality that we find ourselves in,  then perhaps our view is skewed. 

Looking too far ahead often defeats the joy that is standing right in front of you.

Why do you do what you do?  Have you lost sight of it? 

What gives you joy anyway?

Perhaps we need to get back to those basics from time to time.  It doesn't have to be sophisticated or polished or perfect.  It just has to be real.

Infusing JOY back into our lives makes everything possible.  It often doesn't have ANYTHING to do with our craft per se, although it can.  It will, however, direct and influence it.

The old saying of "all work and no play"  sometimes needs to be taken to heart.

Constant worry,  constant thoughts of "it's not enough" "I'm not enough" or even "why aren't they hiring me?"  suck the joy right out of what we say gives us that joy in the first place.

So today,  dare to find out what brings you back to joy.  What about your craft is real to you and makes you feel complete?  What lifts you up?  What makes you feel like you can breathe?  What eliminates worry or concern even for a few minutes?  What makes you laugh?  What makes you feel passionate?  What gives you possibility, not excuse?

We need to feed our joy to keep it blooming.  Just as we need to develop our craft,  our technique,  and our business skills.  If the joy doesn't buoy all we do,  it is simply work.  Dull, disappointing and exhausting.

As artists and performers,  we have to respect ourselves more than that.  We cannot allow things we cannot change to suck the joy out of our lives.  We have to commit to finding that joy and claiming it vehemently each day.

I for one,  plan to do just that!  A renewed commitment to JOY.  Because my Dad taught me how!

My wonderful Dad in his workspace where he painted!