The concept of performance is incredibly broad. To try to confine the word to one simple meaning would be to misunderstand the nature of performance. My thought process has begun with researching into ideologies with regards to when does one perform. Is it simply a matter of getting onto a stage and reciting lines? Or am I performing when I brush my teeth in the morning and only I experience that act? What happens if everyone in the United Kingdom were to brush their teeth at the same time? Would we then experience a collective performance?
To enlighten me on the subject of ‘when’ is one performing I turned to Richard Schechner’s Performance Studies: An Introduction [Third Edition]. Schechner addressed the differences behind the idea of performing in everyday life as opposed to performing in a show.
“In business, sports, and sex, “to perform” is to do something up to a standard – to succeed, to excel. In the arts, “to perform” is to put on a show, a play, a dance, a concert. In everyday life “to perform” is to show off, to go to extremes, to underline an action for those who are watching. In the twenty-first century, people as never before live by means of performance. “To perform” can also be understood in relation to: Being, Doing, Showing Doing and Explaining “showing doing.” “Being” is existence itself. “Doing” is the activity of all that exists, from quarks to sentient beings to supergalactic strings. “Showing doing” is performing: pointing to, underlining, and displaying doing. “Explaining ‘showing doing'” is performance studies.” (Schechner, R (2013) Performance Studies: An Introduction. Third Edition. Oxon: Routledge)
This ideology is related to the notion of “Is Performance” and “As Performance.”
The idea is that something either IS a performance or something can be seen AS a performance. To relate it back to the idea of brushing your teeth, if you are in your bathroom alone and are brushing your teeth it could be seen AS a performance, it’s not quite a performance in the traditional sense but it could be seen AS a task based performance. However, if you were to bring in spectators to watch you brush your teeth then brushing your teeth IS a performance.
The concept that something that is seen AS a performance can transform into something which IS a performance is an idea I would like to expand upon further and I will be researching this topic in more detail.