On the Edge.
As a street performer I became very familiar with edges. Your edge is defined as the front of your audience and it’s vital you get it right if your show is to succeed. Some performers would lay down rope or draw a chalk circle, others, magicians normally, would start working at the edge and then back away leaving the spectators in the perfect position. Over the years I tried all of these in my attempts to set the perfect edge. On the street learning to create an edge was crucial.So why is it so important?
Edges outlined your performance area but they also outlined your intentions to perform and attracted interest. The act of building the edge was the method as well as the outcome. Your edge also determined the scope of your performance. Set your edge to far away and you’ll not be able to create the energy you need to fill the show, too close and you cut off sight lines and therefore vital income streams. Creating the boundary also built your “4th wall” , an osmotic layer that provided a means of filtering what came in and what left the performance. Shows could not risk being a two way street, with equal input from either side of the wall. Control was always needed to prevent things being taken over by the masses. The edge contained the energy of the show – if the wall was breached and holes appeared then energy would be sucked out of your show faster than you could create it . Skilled performers will plug the gap as fast as possible stopping the show until they have.
Boundaries and edges are essential. They are a force field that provide identity and focus.
If you don’t spend time outlining your boundaries and intentions then you can’t expect others to understand what your place in the world is. You may well be ignored or taken for a ride. Without your boundaries clearly stated you are more exposed to ridicule and criticism by people who just don’t “get it”.
You need to know where your boundaries lie or you can’t ever know how far you can go in pursuit of your goals. Boundaries act as guide lines that have a bearing on all the decisions you make. If you set them too far away you’ll never be able to fill the space and you’ll eventually be lost in the crowd. Set them too close and you’ll never extend your grasp, you’ll feel hemmed in and your performance will be crushed.
If your edge isn’t defined then it becomes difficult to know what was you and what wasn’t. Your ideas and thoughts will become mixed with those of other people and again you’ll lose yourself in the crowd. You run the risk of pursuing someone else’s dream and not your own, of becoming a second rate version of someone else and not a first rate version of yourself, (to paraphrase Judy Garland). Performers are often told to “be yourself” but without boundaries who is that? Hey it’s easier to be someone else, someone who has clearly defined who and what they are already – but that’s a sure route to deep dissatisfaction.
As performers we offer ourselves up as a finished product but the truth can be very different. We are often ill-defined parodies of others, fuzzy and blurred around the edges with only a packet of cards separating us from the people we’re performing to. A magician, a corporate entertainer, a mindreader, a magical entertainer, close-up magician, blah, bah, blah. What is it that make you unique? Where is your edge? Have you set your boundaries?
Go ahead draw a chalk circle that says exactly who you are and then work that edge. Use it to create interest, build on it and take control of your performance before you lose yourself in the crowd.
