Modeling reminds me of Ballet and you will understand as I go on:
I danced for fourteen years and then decided to retire and got back into this year. I remember now what I love about it. I love the discipline and the failure it's what makes dance beautiful. I mean you can dance your whole life and still fail miserably: if your like me still keep coming back to eat floor.
It's the feeling you get when I reach the top of your level and seem to know it all, and still having to push to be the top of my class. When I'm ready to get moved up and then I'm feeling pretty good, until I realize I'm at the bottom of the scrap heap all over again! Then I realize that no matter what level I'm in there are thousands of schools with dancers more talented than me. I remember the young girls with the natural talent that make me look like an old hag. The pain I get when I don't get it right, and the joy I feel when I nail it. There are always a thousand things to worry about and improve on at once.
The physical demands are painful, and time consume. Both strength and flexibility are needed in balance. Its an addiction with perfection that never comes, because we are never good enough. We are always trying to defeat ourselves and those around us. We will fail miserably 99% of the time but that 1% is pure elation, that fades quickly when we see another hurdle. One wrong move and it could all be over. But just for that 1% its worth it.
That's the art. Its the beauty that comes from the dancers soul nurtured by pain and yearning. Our blood we shed is the grace and ease the audience sees. It is not only art, but a war against oneself and ones universe. That is why it is you captivating.
I believe modeling is the same way but more external. You battle with your skills and knowledge, other models, and to fit with an alliance, an agency. You can't stop fighting, because you want that 1%. The question is why do I pick things that focus on my own failure. I must be mad to enjoy my 99% only because I know that 1% is the future. If I keep playing the odds.
XOXO
Stay Classy and Fabulous
Meghann