We recently connected with Susan Priver and have shared our conversation below.

Susan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Often the greatest growth and the biggest wins come right after a defeat. ther times the failure serves as a lesson that’s helpful later in your journey. We’d appreciate if you could open up about a time you’ve failed.

Well, I fail all the time, as I’m human, but my biggest failure came at a young age. It came at a time when I had few coping skills as a 23 year old professional ballet dancer, That particular failure and recovering from it has led to some great things in my growth as a person and artist, allowed me to have compassion and empathy for others, and assisted me in finally getting a backbone of sorts in a very competitive industry. I’ve detailed this failure in as personal a way as possible, my “fall from grace” as I call it in my memoir Dancer Interrupted.” I always wanted to somehow share this story, and finally, after almost 8 years, I got it done. And of course, not without failures along the way.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I hope I don’t sound negative here, and hope this quote doesn’t turn readers off, but I don’t have a brand. This quote from a very famous performance artist to a great interviewer about 9 years ago was “I don’t have a brand, They brand cows, correct?” I laughed hysterically when I heard this, and agreed with him totally. Its too finite a description for a creative. I remember at the time a lot of people were forming their “brands” as actors and yoga teachers. Those are my chosen professions, or passions, so to speak. I knew that would never work for me, so in that, I created a lot of my own work, and had already done that when I wrote my first feature”What’s Up, Scarlet?” and then carried on to produce and star in “Serving Up Richard” AKA “The Guest Room.”

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I was fired from my last professional job as a ballet dancer for the Cleveland Ballet at 23, I was completely dazed confused and depressed. My parents suggested I go to college so I could finally get the education that they strongly desired for me to have. I would have had to live at home and rely on them to get by. The theater had always been my home, and I’d traveled and worked in Germany, New York and finally Cleveland, so living with my parents to do something they wanted me to do was not an option. I became a waitress and an art model to support myself for many years while, studying and performing on small stages in LA. Amazing education for survival and learning to fend for oneself. Took me years,and years to come into my own.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Finally after studying acting for about 5 years, struggling to pay rent and car insurance and all living expenses, I began to get a few auditions for agents. An entirely new world for me, not knowing how nepotism played such a big part in the film industry. So, when a huge agent from what is now Endeavor came to see me in a play and signed me, The games began, even though at 29 I wasn’t truly ready for the big time. When I met at her office in Century City, that very first day, the next client coming to see her was the yet undiscovered Ashley Judd. Her clients also included Oliver Platt, Selma Hayek, and Mira Sorvino. I was lost in a sea of nepotism, but held on until I couldn’t anymore. My resilience came when I couldn’t compete. I decided to just work hard at what I knew I could do, I became a stage actress and eventually a yoga teacher, where I thrived. In both actually. I learned, that for me competition was not a good driving force. Empathy as a teacher, and creating my own work is what allowed me to be resilient in a world where one is knocked down just by the way you look on an every day basis. I’ve lasted a very long time past my expiration date.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.susanpriver.com
• Facebook: Susan priver
• Youtube: Susan priver

Image Credits

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