One of the gifts you get when you teach students, is the opportunity to learn from them as they are learning. For someone who has been performing for a while, looking through the eyes of a first time performer offers so much insight.

When given the opportunity to witness the journey through the eyes of 3 students who performed with me for their first performance ever, I was reminded of the 2 mindsets that have helped countless students evolve over the years and was inspired to share. First is this one:

‘Grace’ is not demonstrated when things are going right; rather, when things aren’t going as you intended them to go.

As I was having a great conversation with one of the budding performers after the show, she commented on how effective it was for her to smile and bounce around as she was untangling her poi. It makes sense when you think about it — would you rather watch someone bouncing around, smiling and looking comfortable with their experience or someone who is disconnected from the audience as they are working through the tangle? This experience can be summed up by embodying grace.

As we continued chatting, I was reminded of another important idea that I also shared with her:

They will never know what you intended — only what you showed them.

As you consider this mindset, imagine coming off the stage after your performance and someone commenting on how good your set was. It may be, however, that in your own mind you are focused on what didn’t go as you had imagined it would so you might say something to your fan about how it could have been better. If the fan looks at you like they don’t understand, it could just be that all they saw was what you showed them which may have been, in their mind, a home run even if in your mind it was just a triple.

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