I think it hurt my performance because I stopped being me. That won't ever happen again.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
If you're performing music that is not who you are or where you're at, it is painful. It's painful for the performer and for the audience.
Yesterday morning I amused myself with an exercise of a talent I once possessed, but have so neglected that my performance might almost be called an experiment. I cut out a dress for one of the women.
The thing that helped me come to terms with performing was an anxiety, a desperation for acceptance. There was never enough positive motivation in my life.
Seeing someone else perform and letting me be the critic for once... that's not a bad thing.
Every time I've had a bad performance at an event, I've come back more determined and focused.
In all my years of performing, no audience member has ever actually assaulted me. I consider this to be the singular triumph of my performing career.
Self-consciousness can destroy a performance. Getting rid of that is always good.
It worries me a little bit the reach and power of TV. More people saw me in 'The Practice' than will ever see me in all the stage plays I ever do. Which is sort of humbling. Or troubling. Or both.
Even when I became the typical shy adolescent, I never minded performing. I felt there was a kind of safety, a protection about being on stage, about losing myself in another character.
My performances have finally caught up with my ego.