75: How to Be Successful — Jim Cooney

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This week on 5.6.7.EIGHT, Aleksandra interviews Jim Cooney, a New Yorker who has collaborated with multiple Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award winners in his career as an award-winning director, choreographer, and educator. Jim’s work spans both national and international audiences, and he has been praised by</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The New York Times</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">for training performers with “audition must haves: character, motivation, and endurance.” Most recently, Cooney has developed</span> <a href= "https://www.jimcooney.me/seeing2020"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">a curriculum</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">to help artists integrate their artistry, finances, and health and take charge of their careers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jim is a wealth of knowledge, both around the art and technique of dance and how to succeed on and off the stage. On the podcast, Jim deep dives on the elements that make dancers (and, frankly, any professionals) successful in their careers and shares some practical advice for listeners on taking steps towards developing a healthy mentality and, thus, unlocking profound success.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Moving Quotes:</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[On having a healthy mindset] “For most artists, the roadblock is themselves… You can create anything you want to create. You don’t need to wait for someone else to give you an opportunity."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“A lot of branding work [as a dancer] is the mindset work — knowing yourself and how you want to position yourself and how you want to shape the conversation around yourself."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Be kind to yourself and realize anything is possible. You can be your biggest cheerleader or your biggest enemy."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“What you have to offer the world, the world does need. If you keep your gifts to yourself, y