Details on Performance

Upon completing the reading of Chapter 5 in our book Living Folklore by Sims and Stephens, I have a very different idea of what a performance is. I used to see a performance as a very rigid and constructed event that mainly deals with the person who is performing. For example, when I go to concerts I only picture the artist as the only person involved in the performance. Chapter 5 of Living Folklore shows that the audience is just as important as the performer. How the audience interacts and gets involved in a performance is a vital part of the performance. The main way that my idea of what a performance entails is the definition of what a performance can be. I always picture a performance as being a large social gathering in which everything is based around the performer. The book shows that a performance can be anywhere from a world-renowned concert to a person using a proverb in a small conversation in everyday life. Performances can be planned far in advance and be prepared for and anticipated over for several months, or just pop up out of nowhere. On page 128 of Living Folklore it states that most often performances of folklore happen naturally within daily conversations and situations. There are many aspects of performance that help to frame the act of performing. For instance, there is usually a saying of some sort that acknowledges the beginning or ending of a performance. The book also discusses the “texture” of performance that deals with the literary, linguistic, or physical characteristics of performance. Examples of texture in performance can be anything from metaphors and alliteration to the very way someone physically performs the events. Context of a performance deals with where and in what social situation a performance arrives. The geography as well as social context have a large effect on how a performance goes. All of these aspects have greatly changed my perspective of what a performance is. No longer will I be ignorant as to think that a performance can be classified into such a small class.