Another term done. Another 12 weeks of discovery and growth.
12 weeks ago I found myself in a rehearsal room surrounded by people I admired, respected and slightly feared. On a music stand in front of me - large sections of the incomplete score for Philip Venables' new Royal Opera commission: 4.48 Psychosis. It was definitely one of those moments where I wondered how Mimi - the small girl with small ears from Hampshire, who had been told countless times that she wasn't good enough (not least in the previous three months) - had got herself into this glorious mess. There was nothing to do but to throw myself into it. And I did. And I had the most wonderful week, discovering what it is to be genuinely creative - to help give birth to a new work.
That seems to be the way at Guildhall. I find myself in a situation I would never have imagined myself to end up in (or have even gone to great lengths to avoid) - performing Shakespeare, dancing in public, singing a piece of contemporary music that six weeks earlier seemed an insurmountable mess of dots and lines - and I have to just throw myself into it.
Through these experiences I have learned to appreciate qualities that I didn't know I had, and finally faced weaknesses that I have been hiding from since I was a ten-year-old in dance class with two left feet. This is how we grow as artists. By addressing our vulnerabilities we grow stronger. By discovering what we are already good at we grow in happiness and confidence. The moral? Don't hide from anything - only through addressing your fears will you find out what you are truly capable of.