When speaking with students about how to make a performance for the rest of the class I seem to talk a lot about gifts and giving. When you can create anything, how do you choose what to say or do? What do you do with your creative freedom? After 27 tutorials this week the following seems to have coalesced, a short list of ideas for making solo performance thoughtfully, as a gift.
Make a performance as a gift.
The perfect gift:
- Is timely. It is given at the right time.
- Is thoughtful. It suits the person/people it is given to.
- Is scarce. It is something that they don’t already have.
- Is meaningful. Makes them feel, see, imagine, hear or think something they would not have otherwise.
- Is yours. It bears the hallmark of the giver. It is part of the giver. It has cost something. The whole point is that you give it, not someone else.
- Is useful. It is needed and can be put to good use.
- Is tangible. It is receivable, that is to say, well delivered. They can appreciate, grasp, recognise and understand its worth.