Talent!

The subject was up in my head due to a conversation in the Facebook.

I thank God for my talents constantly. I actually feel I have them borrowed from God who is generous enough to inspire me and let me use them very often. I am humble enough to know that these talents do not belong to me but were given to me, for an undetermined space of time, so that I can use them in the best way I can.

Yet the discussion was not only about talent but the fact that it is not enough for an artist to succeed. If talent is essencial - although in many cases of commercial success it is not there at all! - then there are many other hidden treats that MAKE an artist and those are not visible to the public.

The hard work, the discipline, the perseverance and the willingness to always go further and one - or many - steps ahead of himself/herself besides the sense of sacrifice and the stamina to hold on to his/her artistic mission when everything seems to go terribly wrong are so important as talent.

Sure the audience only sees the TALENT, not the work that is behind it. Raw talent in itself is not enough to make an ARTIST and build a long career and yet the audience only sees the point of the iceberg.

A great DANCER will make a difficult thing look very easy and natural. When the effort is seen, we are headed for disaster. What we give our audiences is only the final product but not the backstage homework that is developed in the utmost solutide and, very often, hard times context.

I LOVE talent, all kinds of talents.

But I admire even more the strenght of character, the honesty and respect one artist has for his/her art to the point of working beyond his/her own limitations and surpass them.

This was just a little homage to the huge iceberg that lays, invisible to the crowds, under the glittering water of SUCCESS!