Workshop in Africa, 2008
I wondered, during the 26-hour trip to Cape Town, whether giving a performance anxiety workshop in South Africa would be much different than giving one in America or Europe. One thing was certainly different: I gave my first live radio interview. It was on FMR (Fine Music Radio), the only classical music station in the Cape area. A young dancer in the lobby, waiting to be interviewed after me, came breathlessly came running up to me after my few moments on the air, saying, “Are you the performing anxiety coach? Can I come to your workshop tomorrow? I need it so much!” That was my first clue that things would be the same as everywhere else. People are needy for help in gaining self-assurance on stage.
The person who made this amazing event possible is Jason King, the owner of The South African Woodwind and Brass Specialists, and although he is based in Cape Town, he is revitalizing and energizing the flute playing and woodwind and brass community in the entire country. Jason is a businessman extraordinaire, a passionate player and lover of the flute, and one of the most generous, kind, funny, genuine, and did I say funny? human beings I’ve met in years.
The workshop consisted of close to 150 participants: a large contingent of flutists, as well as players of other instruments, dancers, actors, and public speakers. The participants’ experiences, the questions they asked, and the issues discussed, were, of course, similar to those I hear all across the US and in Europe. Why do we have these mysterious symptoms and how in the world can we make them stop interfering with the potential we know we have inside of us? How can we let go of feeling not good enough, how can we shake off this need for perfection, and oh, please, what can we do about our worry about what others think of us? This group was open, responsive, courageous, and loved to laugh with me. As one person said to me after, “My confidence has turned a corner. I found what I’ve been looking for my whole life.”