Learning to Perform

As someone who loves to talk and make people laugh, it has always shocked people when I said that I have never loved to perform. I remember the first time I was expected to perform a solo at my sixth-grade band concert and how anxious that situation made me feel. For some reason, getting up on a stage and talking about research always feels comfortable but the second that I am required to put on a persona or show off a creative skill I have been working towards, I freak out. Knowing this, I am still almost in awe of myself for deciding to go through with this class. I am even more shocked, however, by how much I am enjoying myself. Being able to be a window for someone else's struggle and their build-up afterward has given me new insight into what performing can mean and how it is viewed. I have come to realize that at the end of the day, the performance is really for me and the person I am portraying. It is a way for me to show them how much power they have and how they have created a beautiful life for themself. Also, through watching my peers work on their own performances, I realize that I am not the only one who has nerves around performing and that in the end, we are all still trying to figure out what we are doing. For me, performing does not come naturally, and I doubt that it ever will. However, my perspective on performing has changed, and I can feel the power that it provides both those performing and those viewing.