How to Make Your Artistic Dreams Come True

Carla Dominguez was born and raised in the small town of San Nicolás del Arroyo in Argentina and never imagined getting to tour the world, to participate in the popular TV show America’s Got Talent and to dance in a mega celebrity event honoring Karl Lagerfeld where the “cream of the crop” of fashion and movies gathered.

At 8 years old, Carla Dominguez was already interested in the artistic and dreamed to travel and become part of the stunning and glamorous world of artists. She started trying different musical disciplines and genres. She dabbled in folk and contemporary dance, took singing, acting, and musical theater classes.

One day, outside a dance school, Carla Dominguez peeked through the window a class of young people dancing tango. She was impressed by the dynamics of their dance and decided that this is what she wanted to pursue and it was precisely the tango dance which led her to travel the world and fulfill her dreams.

Insist, keep learning and never lose humility

Carla Dominguez’s advice is to insist, insist and insist and never give up. You can rehearse a lot, go to castings and have many a “no” and you have to be emotionally prepared for this. There are many talented artists who have dreams as you have and you should not be intimidated by this. When you have insecurities, there is something that blocks you and does not let your talent flow and that is what you have to overcome because there will always be someone who will see what you can give artistically and maybe even you will not perceive it by yourself.

The time will come when you will be lifted by a little step up when you get the “yes” that you have been looking for so long in your auditions.

You should never lose motivation, you have to keep chasing your dream regardless of negative casting results. You have to focus your energies on what you want, rehearse a lot, keep learning and working without losing humility and realize that there is always something to learn. Unexpected experiences and people you least expect can teach you more than what you think.

Adapting to change

What Carla Dominguez enjoys most about her profession is to be able to travel, get to know the culture and cities of each country. She believes that the most valuable thing about traveling is learning to open your mind to new things, to totally different ways of thinking and unforeseen situations.

Carla Dominguez returned to Argentina on March 10, 2020 from performing in England, France and Monaco and immediately the health authorities of her country ordered the entire company to stay in quarantine for 14 days at their homes since Europe was at that moment the epicenter of Covid-19.

At the end of the quarantine, she would go on another tour with Tango Lovers. It was then when the pandemic was declared and Argentina closed its borders and ordered the population not to leave home. So far, the ordinance has been extended for now until mid-July, almost 4 months.

With theaters closed and tours canceled, the artists had to adjust to an unusual license of their active lives and had to redesign their day-to-day life by taking and teaching online classes and rehearsing and exercising at their homes.

Carla Dominguez together with her life and artistic partner, Julio Seffino, had to make a change and adapt to the new uncertain situation, perhaps until the end of the year. And they had to learn how to stay at home, without the glamour of the theaters, the applause of the public and the lights of the stage, and overall, to continue fulfilling their dream.

And suddenly, as it happens during crisis periods, creativity arose. Without many technical resources but with great professionalism, Tango Lovers’ artists and a small production team were inspired by their audiences and built a multidisciplinary application in Spanish and English, TalentME which is distributed through App and Google stores.

Carla, Julio, Emiliano Greco and María de los Angeles spent several hours during the quarantine to design the programs in which they teach how to dance tango, play the piano and to sing. The program is designed for people of any age who might want to discover their talent or develop it, either as a hobby or to reach professional levels, being able to access the app 24/7 to rehearse as much as they can. Additionally, TalentMe provides free content with segments of Tango Lovers’ shows and “behind the scenes” Tango Lovers’ experiences during tours and tips from guest artists to break any inhibition that prevents flourishing of the talent that we all have.

Art lives inside us

Carla Dominguez longs to return to her live performances soon and to continue taking her art around the world, meanwhile it is social networks and technology which are giving her the stage that all artists need not only for economic reasons but because of being able to give some of themselves to the public which is already part of their passion, their emotions and artistic expressions.

Carla Dominguez grew up with a dream and at only 27 years old, she is living it and is already an international artist who continues to grow in the world.

Although the pandemic has taken an unexpected turn in her dynamic life, she does not stop dancing, singing, expressing herself, however with a virtual audience.

This situation is new but is allowing her to explore new boundaries. She continues to live her dream and through TalentME she can now teach and show people of any age that everyone can develop their inner artistic vein, it is just a matter of learning, training, rehearsing and persisting. It is up to each person how far they want to reach.

About the author:
Pierina Asti-Schulz is an entrepreneur Master in Global Business, specialized in Innovation and market disruption at Harvard University. She has been interviewed by People magazine, NBC, Telemundo and Diario Las Americas and many others about her projects in the entertainment industry.

About Tango Lovers:
Tango Lovers is a non-profit organization with the mission of uniting cultures and generations through the art of dance and music.

Photos are courtesy of Tango Lovers Organization

Original in Spanish:

Carla Dominguez nació y creció en una pequeña ciudad San Nicolás del Arroyo en Argentina y jamás imaginó llegar a recorrer el mundo, participar en America Got Talent y de bailar en un mega evento homenaje a Karl Lagerfeld donde acudió la crema y nata de la moda y famosos de la pantalla grande.
Desde los 8 años Carla tuvo la inquietud artística y soñaba con los teatros musicales y de alguna vez ser parte de ese mundo deslumbrante. Empezó probando con distintos géneros siguiendo sus instintos. Incursionó en la danza folclórica y contemporánea , tomó clases de canto, actuación y de teatro musical.
Un día, estando afuera de una escuela de danza, observó por la ventana una clase de unos jóvenes que bailaban tango. Carla quedó impactada por la dinámica del género y decidió que eso es lo que ella quería perseguir y ha sido el tango el que la ha llevado a recorrer el mundo y cumplir sus sueños.

INSISTIR, SEGUIR APRENDIENDO Y NUNCA PERDER LA HUMILDAD
Hay que insistir, insistir e insistir y no rendirse nunca. Puedes ensayar mucho, ir a castings y tener muchos “no” y hay que estar emocionalmente preparado para esto. Hay muchos artistas con mucho talento que tiene sueños como uno tiene y no hay que dejarse intimidar por esto. Cuando uno tiene inseguridades, hay algo que te traba y no deja que fluya y eso es lo que hay que superar porque siempre habrá alguien que verá lo que uno puede dar artisticamente y tal vez hasta uno mismo no percibe. Y llegará el momento en que darás un pequeño salto y obtendrás el “si” que tanto uno busca en las audiciones.
No hay que desmotivarse nunca, hay que seguir persiguiendo el sueño sea cual sea el resultado de la audición. Hay que enfocar las energías en lo que uno quiere, ensayar mucho, seguir aprendiendo y trabajando sin perder la humildad. Hay que aprender de las experiencias y que el humo no se te suba a la cabeza cuando al fin lo logres.
Lo que más disfruta Carla de su profesión es poder viajar, conocer la cultura y las ciudades de cada país. Lo más valioso de viajar es aprender a abrir la mente a cosas nuevas, a maneras de pensar totalmente distintas.

ADAPTARSE AL CAMBIO
Carla regresó a Argentina de una gira por Inglaterra, Francia y Mónaco el 10 de Marzo del 2020 e inmediatamente las autoridades sanitarias de su pais le ordenaron a toda la compañía a quedarse en su casa en cuarentena por 14 días dado que en Europa ya había un alto nivel de contagios. Al término de la cuarentena, Carla partiría a otra gira con la compañia para la cual trabaja, Tango Lovers. Fue entonces cuando se declaró la pandemia y Argentina cerró sus fronteras y ordenó a la población a no salir de casa. La ordenanza se ha ido extendiendo por ahora hasta mediados de Julio.
Con teatros cerrados y giras canceladas, los artistas han tenido que adaptarse a una inusual licencia de sus agitadas vidas y rediseñar su dia-a-dia tomando y dando clases online y ensayando y ejercitándose en sus casas.
Carla junto con su pareja de vida y artística, Julio Seffino tomaron la responsabilidad de evolucionar su expresión artística y su manera de trabajar a corto plazo en un plano optimista o tal vez hasta fin de año de ser necesario. . Sin muchos recursos técnicos pero con gran creatividad artística, artistas de Tango Lovers y un reducido equipo de producción construyeron una aplicación multidisciplinaria en español y en Inglés, TalentME. Carla, Julio, Emiliano Greco y María de los Angeles dedicaron varias horas durante la cuarentena para diseñar los programas en los que enseñan a bailar tango, a tocar piano y a cantar a personas de cualquier edad que quieran descubrir su talento o desarrollarlo sea por hobby o para llegar hasta niveles profesionales. La aplicación tiene además contenido inspirador que muestra partes de shows y segmentos “tras bambalinas” de giras de Tango Lovers y consejos de artistas invitados para romper cualquier inhibición que impida aflorar el talento que todos tenemos.

EL ARTE VIVE DENTRO DE TODOS
Carla anhela volver pronto a sus escenarios y seguir llevando su arte por el mundo, mientras tanto son las redes sociales y la tecnología las que le dan el escenario que los artistas necesitan no solo por razones económicas sino porque el poder brindarse al público ya forma parte de ellos mismos, de su rutina, de sus emociones.
Carla creció con un sueño y con tan solo 27 años, ya lo vive y es ya una artista internacional y sigue conociendo el mundo. Aunque la pandemia le ha dado un giro inesperado a su agitada vida, ella no deja de bailar, de cantar, de expresarse, aunque con un público virtual y no en vivo… por ahora … pero sabe que esta situación no es para siempre y seguirá viviendo su sueño y a través de TalenME puede mostrarle al público que hay que aprender, entrenar, persistir para lograr metas. El arte está en todos, solo hay que desarrollarlo y vivirlo.

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