PERFORMANCE

My dad used to make me sing in front of people. I say “make” because he didn’t ask if I wanted to, he just told me to do it. Every time we got together with friends or family, or for special events like weddings or a service at church, he’d have a minus-one karaoke track on a cassette in his pocket and we’d be ready to go. I can imagine that this would have upset many kids in childhood, but I like to think the reason he did this was because he could tell that even as a toddler, performing was something I already loved to do.

These days performance still has a big part of my heart. I act in plays or in front of a camera, I sing in musicals or choir, I tell stories. Sometimes, dance or movement is part of telling the story. I used to worry that this performance passion of mine was proof that I thought too highly of myself, that I was attention-seeking, and self-centered. But I’ve come to see those concerns as myths that we perpetuate about actors, and singers, and other performance artists. My favorite part of performing is having an opportunity to express some piece of truth or vulnerability in a space shared with other human beings. I love hearing, seeing, and feeling the responses from fellow performers and the audience witnesses. I love being part of creating an opportunity for everyone to feel some feeling, or ponder some new question.