DESTINED FOR THE ARTS SINGER RITA SHUKLA

Some people have all the luck. They can act, they can sing, they can write songs and they can do music. Of course, maybe luck is the wrong word. Perhaps it should be: some people have all the talent and the discipline to cultivate it and then become artists. Yes, I know, too many words, but you understand what we mean, don’t you? Take, The Brazilian woman Rita Shukla, for instance. She started playing piano at the age of four and then at 12 she learned to dance, especially the Flamenco, and at 13 she took belly dancing lessons and when she hit 15, she took up the electric guitar and then acting lessons at 16.

All that sounds like a lot of fun, that’s easy to see, but it all sounds like a lot of work too. That’s the discipline part of Rita’s life. When she wants to do something or learn a new skill or art then she just goes out and does it. She immerses herself in it until she masters it and then performs in front of an audience. That’s the talent part.

Rita learned all of these artistic skills and practiced them until they were second nature to her. Then she realized after going to university in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro that her heart was completely being pulled into the musical theatre and singing world. She knew that was what she was going to do for the rest of her life and she knew that it would be her lifetime career.

She had been in plenty of theatrical plays previously but once she was cast in several musical theatre plays she knew that she would have to move to Los Angeles and learn more. She enrolled in AMDA, College and Conservatory of the Performance Arts and threw herself into the study of musical theatre and found herself remembering how singing was her passion when she was only a small child. She had always loved to sing but the other arts distracted her and pulled her away from it – for a while. Now, of course, she is in a Los Angeles based rock & roll band, Lloyd Moss & The Rock Collective and she is singing her heart out regularly for appreciative audiences. They play all over the Los Angeles area so keep your eyes and ears open because they will be playing at a venue near you soon.