The Performance Experience

The moments before a show are always the most nerve-racking. I’m jumping up and down to shake off the nerves, running my act in my head while warming up, and making sure my equipment is set up properly. The second I step on stage, it all fades away. It’s just me, my apparatus, and the audience.

Whenever I’m performing an act, there is always some level of connection with the audience. I don’t perform just to show off; I do it because I want them to feel what I’m feeling, to experience the emotions of the act as if they were right there with me.

Naturally, performances don’t always go as planned, even if the audience has no idea that something went wrong. Even if you practiced the act again and again with no mistakes, something can still go wrong on stage. The beauty of live performance is that no one knows your act but you. If you didn’t do a move right or there was a costume mishap, improvise and keep going.

A couple of years ago, I had a costume mishap during a competition. I was doing a snake aerial hoop act and had this long flowy skirt that I tore off while in the air. I didn’t throw it far enough, so it landed on my mat, and I didn’t realize until I came down for my second sequence. As I started spinning, my skirt got caught on my foot, which messed up the spin and made it really slow. I flicked it off my foot and kept going like nothing happened. I was sure that would make me lose points, but I ended up winning second place. This just goes to show that mistakes happen, but it’s how you handle them that could make or break a performance.

What I’ve realized when performing is that whether I nail it or something goes wrong and I have to improvise, the audience is always with you. If you perform with passion, they will feel it. The best feeling is when you bow and everyone erupts in applause. I think of it as a way to say thank you to the audience for being there with me. That feeling always reminds me how much I love what I do.