Every artist wants an act that looks good, works well and if possible, an act of world class. Creating an act is not just skill, it requires creativity in combining tricks, music, costumes and props and if possible a theme or story. This however is not where it should end with developing your act.
Justin M. Berg conducted a research about predicting success of new ideas (read the introduction here). Results suggest that creators were more accurate than managers when forecasting about the novel ideas of others, but not their own. In other words; get someone to judge you, to give you feedback and help you to see both your strong and weak points.
A good mentor will identify your qualities and help you to optimise those strengths by assembling the right skills and talents for projects. You’ll see it will inspire and motivate certain artists to dominate and crush it, where others don’t respond to competition at all. A good mentor will also suggest instead of impose things to you. In the end, it is your act and based on your skill, character and ideas.
Many creative people are often as protective of their process as they are of their ideas. Someone with a do-it-like-this mentality will block someone’s creative process because you need to be able to discover your way to perform your act and make it your own. Make sure your mentor suits your preferred “style” of handing you feedback.
Engagement, exchanges, education and empowerment - Laura Bush
A good mentor will stimulate you, teach you, exchange tips and tricks and ultimately empower you to get the most out of you. It is you who works to achieve optimal results together with the coaching of your mentor. It might be advisable for some to get coaching from people of different disciplines. The one who teaches you your special tricks might not be the right one to teach you presentation, choreography or fine-tune your act.
Ask your mentor to video your performance and rehearsals and analyse it together. See where the weak spots in the act are (the same goes for complete shows with various acts).
Sabioleon has extensive experience in coaching creative people and performers. We have a network of people to help you.
Get in touch with us and see how we can help you!