characteristics (425)

Performers of any kind, dance, color guard, cheer, acting, show choir, and choir, have many different characteristics. Some are bold with their choices, some are on the shy side and tend not to say a lot, some are so outgoing they never stop talking, but all of them have to be dependable, consistent and trustworthy people to be involved in such activities.

Performers need to be dependable because a director can only do so much, unless you want him or her feeding you lines from behind stage or yelling out moves in the middle of a show. The performer is the only one who can make themselves learn what they have to and have it locked in their brain, leaving the director to make the whole ensemble come together. Another reason it is good for a performer to be dependable is because the director will depend on you for a lot of things like, being on time, having everything you need to work and being ready for the day. Some directors depend on their performers so much they will have them run practice for a while, or give them keys to go unlock a door.

Consistency is something very useful in the world of performing arts because Directors expect that if you did it once you will do it again exactly like the way you just did it. In practice if you ran a show three times and the first one was good, everyone hit their marks or hit that back bend at the right place, the second one was awful, no one knew their lines and everyone was off pitch, and the third one was amazing, even after the third one a director wouldn’t be very happy because none of those were the same performance. Consistency also deals with being on time and how often you show up to practice, a director loves people who are early and almost never skip.

Trustworthy kind of goes with dependable. A director has to be able to trust that you won’t take those keys and unlock every door in the building or if you’re running rehearsal, they have to trust that you will actually be going over lines or hit points not just sitting around on break. Directors also have to trust that you will get your work done, if you are supposed to have such and such lines memorized then they trust that you will by the time they tell you to. These three characteristics make a good performer but talent and hard work help too.