What is performance energy?
Monday, June 15th, 2009Performance Energy is massive, sometimes overwhelming, always a learning opportunity, and hopefully surprising. What’s there to know? We enter the performance week with so much anticipation that builds and builds right up to the moment we walk on stage or do the “action” thing.
Performance energy creates its own necessity for us to learn because coming with the high energy package are all of our emotions wrapped in butterflies or fear and sometimes covered by our tendency to either shrink or become a big bad blow fish.
We try to deal with the intensity by understanding that all the fear is only excitement and for a good purpose. Or we unfortunately take this opportunity to call up all our bad habits and get irritable and argumentative. Carpools are no longer cool and “don’t touch me” is the code word. It’s all in the process of learning what performance energy is and how to build strength with it.
Everyone is different and has their own way of navigating the seas of performance energy. For most of us there are many learning curves to experience. Two of the biggest are at the beginning of the dress rehearsal week and at the end of the performance after the exciting exchanges with friends about what went great and what went wrong.
Going into dress rehearsals or before, the image of the performance becomes real and all of the fear of “will we be ready?” sets in. Serious performers learn that the energy is there for them to use not to dwell on and not to build negative emotions around. They learn to go into the energy and listen to the director or the feedback of the dancing rather than what is in their heads and guts. Some dancers miss out on the benefits of this high intensity energy by shutting out all their emotions and ignoring the energy so that they can work on the technical aspect of the performance. Obviously there is a balance.
Dealing with performance energy is just as crucial going out the theater door after the performance. The intensity of these moments can be just as overwhelming especially when we dwell on what we wish we could have done rather than what we actually accomplished. For some the chatter of friends helps, for others being alone is best, and for all the falling away of the performance energy is a process.
The moment of the performance is another energy altogether. Before I understood what was happening and embraced it, my body shook so much I did not think I could actually walk on the stage. Once I took the step, “Boom,” the energy exploded into purposeful performance.
Where does performance energy come from? First is the rubbing of the pearl of my own personal emotions and desires to express myself and to clarify the tools and message of my art. Second is the energy of those around me, friends, supporters, fellow performers, and the gathering audience. Third is the “life force,” the vibration of all my cells in connection and communication with all the other cells of the universe. Every breath I take affects not only my body but molecules that surround me and touch other molecules on and on to infinity. And fourth is the unifying source of all this energy that some call God and some say is clarified as enduring love through Jesus Christ.
In any case, all this energy comes from somewhere and it is ours to use. Those who learn to relish it come up with many riches to communicate to themselves, their fellow performers, and their audiences. The best performers approach all the energy of learning and performing with an exuberance, an openness to taking in more, and an awareness that the energy comes not only from themselves but from all these directions that are beyond themselves.
This is why a great performer is often the one who is most encouraging of other performers and why they understand the importance of building the energy of the entire cast rather than just the energy of their own part. Of course, this little navigation takes many twists and turns depending on the director and the cast.
How do we learn to navigate performance energy? With lots of work and lots of trust and lots of surrender to the excellence of our technique that captures the moment without us. Our job is to breathe and go.
Every performer has their routine of pre-performance preparation, some come early, some later, some review every moment, others clear their mind, some walk the stage, others stay with fellow performers.
One crucial part of performance energy–the intensity can open the performer to be seen through and through. Once the performer enters the performance energy intensity completely, their character and everything about them is open to be seen. This sounds obvious, but that is the commitment of the performer to allow the audience to see into them completely and take away what they want from the performance energy that has been given to them.
