It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no….its the oversized ego of a super diva! It is amazing the characters you meet in the entertainment industry and no other character gets my blood boiling more than the divas and divos. It is one thing to be confident and secure of oneself, but to think you are THE most amazing thing in the world and think you are just too good for anyone else is another story. I can personally speak from experience that dealing with the diva(o) leads to negative outcomes. I once had to work with a performer that although this person had limited belly dance experience, thought she was the most amazing thing since sliced bread. Now this did not ruffle my feathers too much at all (I already had met a number of these personalities) but the actions that resulted from that did. This person refused to share the spot light, would give dirty looks to other dancers while they performed their set, would purposely walk the other way in order not to cross paths, purposely would take too long getting ready so the next dancer would have to start late, would give you “tips” that frankly were designed to bring your confidence down.
My focus for today though is on the twist to the story…the divos! Divos are the male counterpart to the diva. I met one recently who gave me and the rest who crossed his path quite a good laugh. This person was a musician hired to do an event. I was the performer hired to perform at the event. A last minute attempt was made by the coordinator to see if we would possibly want to unite our talents for a segment of my performance. I told the coordinator yes (I love dancing to live music) and the coordinator passed on my contact information to this person…..but no email ever came. The day of the event the musician came up to me asking me when we would start. I am sorry, but until that moment I had no idea who the musician was, had never heard a solo from him in order to access his abilities, and if there is one thing about me to know, it’s that I do not do things half way. All musicians are NOT created equal. The divo presumed to grumble to the coordinator and out loud try to ruin the mood. To make a long story short, I went ahead with the show I had designed especially for the occasion and everyone was raving about the performance. In the end, the people he tried to get on his side were so disappointed in his childish behavior and will gladly work with me and not him ever again.
You have to be humble in life. If you are talented that’s fantastic, but no one will want to work with you again if you have a diva(o) attitude. Acting rudely to anyone else “in your way” also makes you have a terrible reputation. This business is about passion, talent, and personality. What goes around comes around and no one is too good to stop learning or being kind to others.
How to spot a Divo/Diva (jajajaja)
1. Listen for the person barking orders
2. Usually eying everyone up and down that crosses their path
3. Always have a pen for potential autographs handy in their costume
4. Are the first to wail when things do not go their way
5. Are the first to give themselves credit when something good happens (it is never the talented team that made it possible, it is their effort only)