Do you Know What You’re Doing?
You know the test that you can pose to people, “Can you tell me what the numbers on your watch are, Roman or Arabic?” Most people can’t tell you because they have been looking at the damn thing every day for such a long time that it is now taken for granted and ignored. Well how mindful of your environment are you when you perform. If I asked you after a close up gig to describe the people who you were working for could you? For us routines that we do over and over again can become a bit like the face of your watch, so familiar that we begin to take it for granted. We forget to look and listen for reactions and deliver a word for word rendition because that’s what we know. The routine stops developing and we miss opportunities to engage with the people we’re working for. As a street performer it was fatal to stop being mindful of your performance because the real “magic”, the best moments came from outside influences. If something happened that had a direct impact on your show and you didn’t respond to it people would fail to be reminded that you were a live performer. They might as well be at home watching the TV. The art of the live performer is the art of interaction and interaction can only take place if you are fully aware of what’s going on around you. You should know your magic so well that you take it for granted but that’s just the mechanics. Now you’re free to play around the effect, (not with), as much as you like because you know it so well. It’s like driving a car, you do the necessary functions to operate the car as second nature and this should leave you mindful of the world around you , enabling you to react if necessary, (make phone calls on you mobile – joking), and eventually get you to where you need to go. However if you fail to engage in this mindful approach to your environment when your driving you are risking a hell of a lot, not just alienating yourself from your audience.
So here’s the challenge, the next time you perform switch on all of your senses and place yourself firmly in the moment. Listen and watch your audience, look them in the eyes. Observe your handling of props and people and become acutely aware of everything that makes up your entire performance. If you can do this then there’s a chance that you will reconnect some of those internal switches that you have had ignored for so long and the joy of what you do will be apparent again, to you and to your audience.
