Today, I had the opportunity to substitute teach at a dance studio in Brooklyn (Thanks L!). I wasn’t sure if I wanted it. After all, I had more than enough on my plate for the day, and I could have easily just gone to the gym and gone home. But a little voice (the voice that writes this blog, really), said “don’t you think this is a silly opportunity to turn down?”. So, I taught the class. Of course, I had a lovely time, built the foundation for a new relationship with a dance studio in my neighborhood, and am all in all slightly further “ahead” today than I would have been if I turned the gig down.
A a freelancer, I have to make these decisions almost daily. Do I want the extra shift? The unpaid project? The random substitute dance class? There’s no clear answer, really, on when to take and not take most of these little extra gigs that always come up. But I think there’s definitely one rule to follow: If something appears out of nowhere that actually might help you build a positive relationship with another artist, studio, or community that you might want to be a part of- figure out a way to make it work.
In the end, I didn’t quite accomplish all of the business odds and ends I had initially set out to do, but I did do something that stretched me a bit, and expanded my personal network. Whenever I do do something like this, I like to think of it as a little “drop” in my proverbial bucket- something that’s very slowly helping me creep my way towards something that looks like success.