I want to encourage you guys that as artists our art is to create beauty. It reflects the splendour of God.
I have been learning that the purpose of beauty is to give rest, relaxation and restoration to the soul and spirit.
it also brings joy to both the receiver (audience or spectator) and the giver (performer/artist/creator).
Who likes leaving a show feeling depressed and dark. i'm not saying it has to be happy, happy, but edifying. that's our purpose.
Just as all creation shows the glory of God so our performance and work should edify and display the glory of God.
If you come out from a piece of work feeling discouraged, downhearted, frustrated or drained, then chances are you're not drawing on the strength of God, the joy of the lord is your strength, and you're also probably not in the right place. it may not be the work god has called you to, or it may not be a piece that is edifying to god.
Everything God calls us to, draws us into a closer walk with him and into a more intimate knowledge of him and his character, if what you're doing right now is not doing that, then you're robbing yourself of what God wants for you, and you're draining your spirit.
when you are where God calls you, he will give you hinds feet in high places. "you broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn." psalm 18:36
how apt is that for dancers.
God providess.
he is also the one who trains and prepares us. "it is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; { my feet for pointe work or my hands and feet for the stage} my arms can bend a bow of bronze." psalm 18:32-34
So be encouraged, God prepares you, and don't think that art should provoke you only, and only feel uncomfortable.

What have you been mandated to do?

Mandate from the latin mandatum meaning "something commanded"
basically there are two parts to a mandate

1) It is a command, when you are ordered to do something by someone in power.
An official order or commission to do something.
When God has required you to do something.

2) It is authority given so that you may act in a certain way.

Often we think we know where we can contribute, sometimes jumping in wherever there seems to be a vacancy or need. However, many times we're not called there and you find yourself fighting a tide and feeling frustrated or drained instead of contributing. Other times, God may use you in that time and place, He may bless what you have chosen to do, but...
but to be really effective and affective we need His anointing, and anointing comes when we are doing/being what we have been mandated to do.

Where God has called you to be, He gives you the authority to act, and you can and should ask for His anointing.

Don't settle for less than what God has and wants for you.

here is an example someone gave me.
As a dancer if God has called you to dance, thenyou are meant to dance.
The dancing is the end not the means to an end.
So if you have to decide between practicing for half an hour to hone your art, or taking the half hour to counsel someone, you should actually be practicing and refining your art, because that is what you were called to do, and ultimately the dancing itself is the counsel.

So seriously ask God what he has mandated you to do, and act on it.