Who Can You Steal From?

I just finished reading Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon and I am buzzing with inspiration. What I’m excited to be taking away from the book is that there are no original ideas, just original combinations of ideas. I’ve been noodling a lot lately on impostor syndrome. Sometimes the pressure to think of a new interpretation of a role or song can feel paralyzing. I can’t act or sing or be exactly like Julie Andrews or Kelli O’Hara or Audra McDonald. But I can study what they do and steal a little bit from each of them and become a better Meg Supina. The trick is observing. The trick is studying. The trick is giving yourself the permission to try something that you’ve never done before or stealing from unexpected places. So…who will you steal from today? 

Now the important caveat is that you aren’t plagiarizing. You aren’t copying every movement that Kelli O’Hara does in “The Light in the Piazza” and passing it off as your own.  But what if you look at how Julie Andrews sings “I Have Confidence” and steal a few gestures and put them into “The Beauty Is?” Combining ideas and making them your own. Stealing like an artist. 

What if giving yourself permission to steal from people you look up to is an antidote for Impostor Syndrome?