What Makes An Irresistible Performer?

In the early 1990’s, I was privileged to study acting with Michael Howard, who had trained such greats as Olympia Dukakis and Mercedes Ruehl.  During one of the classes we did an exercise designed to make us more alluring as performers. Guess what the key was? It was feeling irresistible to ourselves. I remember looking around the room and seeing people entranced with themselves. Believe it or not, this didn’t come off as narcissistic at all. It was all just fascinating and fun. One man ran his hand along a record player and listened, humming the sounds back to the machine. Meanwhile, a woman wrote a letter and took note of how sensual her fingers felt as she made marks on the page. The focus and concentration in the room was hypnotic. One couldn’t wait to experience what would happen next.

At a recent “5,000 Women” workshop a participant played with this technique. She wanted to play with her star power not just onstage, but in her everyday life too. Offstage she was rather proper, often asking for permission, while onstage she simply followed her impulses. In the workshop she started to act like a star, mesmerizing us as she slinked into the middle of the room, tossing her head back and smiling. She decided that indulging her needs and wants felt best to her and she would begin to practice that onstage and off. As a result she became completely irresistible.

Is there a way you’d like to indulge your star power right now and practice being irresistible?