Spring has sprung and love is in the air! With summer just around the corner, new romances are budding everywhere you look. With this in mind, I've decided to make a little list of tips (a la "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide") for those of you finding yourself getting butterflies when you see someone who just happens to be involved in the performing arts.
1. We're busy. Like all the time.
Get ready for dinners at 10:30 p.m. after long, grueling rehearsals and no social life ever. People in the arts are constantly going, going, going, and you're going to need to hold on tight if you want to see them... ever.
2. We're an emotional people.
We can't help it! People in the performing arts are just more in-tune with their emotions! Sometimes we see a video of a cow and we start to cry. So what? That's just how we are and there's nothing wrong with crying over a cow!
3. Some of us are so loud (and we're sorry).
We're so loud for absolutely no reason, and we realize it. We're sorry we're so loud, but it can't be helped! Our volume is usually due to us getting excited about something we saw/were talking about/thought of in the middle of talking about something else.
4. Some of us are so quiet.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, some of us are super quiet. If we're not around our core group of friends, you won't hear from us.
5. We're critical of others...
The arts is a dog-eat-dog world, so you'd better believe that we critique everyone. We don't mean to, and we definitely don't mean any harm, but it happens.
6. ...and hyper-critical of ourselves.
If you think we're critical of other people, then you don't ever want to hear our internal monologues. We're constantly calling ourselves out on every little thing that we do and trust me -- it's not pretty.
7. We're creative.
I think it goes without saying that people in the arts are creative. We can find a song that goes with the beat of the washing machine running in the laundry room, drawing something beautiful with the stray pen marks on a piece of paper, or tap dancing on the spot to a song we hear on the radio. Arts kids are always on "on" mode, so you'd better get used to it.
8. We're passionate.
Arts kids? Passionate about what they do? I'm shocked! If you ever say you're a priority over their work, you'll be in for a huge argument. Just know that we love what we do and we're serious about it.
9. We're always stressed.
We could only be taking the minimum amount of credits for a semester (which will never usually happen anyway) and we'd still be stressed. It comes with the territory, honestly. We're just always in "go" mode, with side projects and helping out with productions going on at the time, so we're stressed.
10. We like to party
Due to all of the stress, arts kids need to kick back and just let loose every once in a while. Now, I'm only 19, so I don't do any of the "older kid" stuff because that would be illegal, but I've heard through the grapevine that arts kids party hard.
11. We're always poor
We hate that it happens, but we totally exemplify the broke college kid stereotype. However, just because we don't have any money right now doesn't mean we won't after we graduate. If you have the pessimistic mindset that arts students never get jobs, then you're not dating the right person.
12. We talk about what we do. A lot.
In case you haven't noticed by now, we love what we do and because of that, we talk about it. Like, a lot. If you're not prepared to sit and pretend to listen to us talk about cross-dressing onstage in 17th Century England or Chopin's Nocturne in E flat, then an arts person is not the person for you.
I hope this list helped you prepare for what to expect in your eventual relationship with an arts kid! Be safe and make good choices, everyone!
