On Performance

You may have been led to believe that the artist is at the mercy of their audience. That they must bend and strike pose to please and gain their admiration.

Incorrect.

It is the artist who’s will is exacted in their work. Expression is one of the highest displays of humanity.

Performance is this expression, blended with the craft showmanship. The task is to marry the charm of the trickster with the passion of the zealot, and deliver it with the honesty of a poet.

In dance it is the rapture of the soul in tandem with the flesh. In song it is the amplified pulse of the heart, in perfect synch with the pulse of the room.

No, it is not the artist who submits to the audience, but martyrs himself before them. It is a sacrifice of fear and inhibition to be judged purely, bled of all guards.

Where lurks the shadow of execution we instead find the light of baptism.

And he is reborn to the sound of showering applause…