The Elusiveness of Talent

What is talent?

Mr. Webster defines it as the natural endowments of a person; a special often athletic, creative, or artistic aptitude.

But who, or what, decides if we have talent? And what is the measure of that talent? But at all of this is the fundamental question:

What is talent?

There are some kinds of talent that are obvious, like singing or dancing or painting. When a person has that spark, that natural gift and sense that he or she was born to sing or dance or paint, we call it talent. But talent is not something that one can measure, rather it is something that is intuitive and based on perception. People are not talented in the same way that they are short or blond. Talent is just a human construct, impossible to measure, so can it be real? How can we judge someone based on a scale that is, at its heart, our own imperfect creation?

I think that at the core of this issue is the same fundamental urge of people to be special. Talented people are special; they are a different breed. Fans wait hours at stage doors for the change to catch even the shortest glimpse of a star, and for what? These people aren't gods. They are mortal, as the tabloids love to remind us. Maybe that's why the world devours celebrity gossip magazine. We have idolized these "talented" people to the point where they exist as a greater species, lording above the rest of us just because they were born with talent.

I'd love to believe that the Great White Way is different and that Broadway stars are wonderful, kind people that do not believe the rest of us not blessed with golden vocal cords to be lesser. However, from the (many) hours of interviews that I have watched with The Greats (you know who I mean) I can assume that they are as affected by this God complex as the rest of us.

So what is talent?

On Broadway it means "star quality," that inherent, God-given ability to act, dance, and sing better than the rest of the world. It means having those famed golden vocal cords and being able to belt a tear-jerking ballad while jazz-squaring your heart out. It is still not measurable. And I guess that's what makes talent so elusive and so, so desirable. When someone important says that you're talented, no one can dispute that claim because talent is not something that can be weighed or have volume. Maybe that's why people spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours at the piano or in the dance studio; trying to achieve talent, because we are taught that nothing good comes without hard work. And God only knows, talent is good. But there comes a point when lessons can only take you so far, and the last few inches to greatness can only be accomplished with something more than practice.

And that's when you need talent.