PERFORMANCE

-orrging to communities
~

rather than to individuais. This

PROCESSES

place, of the temporal

comprised not only painting and sculpting, but also

'""":!nS-personalceremonies, incantations, gestures, and dance

events stirrounding

structure

of a performance,

and as

and succeeding the performance,

both

affected by it and affecting it.

os. Taken as a whole, these were the means of trafismitti-Rg ~ -Performance

collective knowledge of the tribe, group, or community.

processes can also be studied as interactions

among four types of players:

- order to assure that the correct gestures were made, the

~t

ongs sung and dances danced, performance

- rransmitted

knowledge

body to body. These prehistoric

sourcers

perfor-

ces were part of a larger, inclusive process that inc1uded

~g,

performing,

remembering,

and transmitting

(authors,

dramaturgs,
2

the

choreographers,

composers,

etc.)

producers

(directors,

designers,

technicians,

business

staff, etc.)

. le system from generation to generation.

performers

partakers

(spectators,

fans, congregations,

juries,

the

public, etc.).

erforma nce process as a

me-space sequence

Sourcers

find, compose,

be performed.
-:De performance process is a time-space
o; proto-performance,

performance,

and aftermath.

Producers

sourcers to transform

sequence composed
This

rnree-phasc sequence may be further divided into ten parts:

devise, or invent the actions to

events. Performers

work with the performers

play the actions. Partakers

actions and sometimes

participate

types of players - sourcers,

Proto- performance

and

the sources into publicly performed

receive the

in them. The first three

producers , and performers

- often work together.

Producers

1 training

always work together.

Partakers

workshop

process after much of the prepatory

rehearsal

done. These categories are not mutually exclusive~Over time,

and performers

almost

usually take part in the

work has already been

many individuals perforrn in all the categories. In an] given

Performance
4

instance, an individual may perform

.:; public performance

enact all of these processes:

events/ contexts sustaining the public performance

cooldown

Let me now discuss this system in more detail.

Proto-performance

AItermath
8

in more than one, and

even all, of the categories. A group may collectively devi se or

warm-up

critical responses
The proto-performance (or "proto-p") is what precedes

9 archives

and/ or gives rise to a performance.

10 memories.

A proto-p

is a starting

point or, more commonly, a bunch of starting points. Very

This process
performing

applies to all kinds of performances

rituais, plav, and the performances

standing

this time-space

performances

- the

sequence

dance notation,

of everyday life. Undermeans grasping

how

are generated, how they are stagecl in a focused

rnanner, how they are nested within larger events, and what
their long-term

not a straitjacket.

spectators,

into

something

performing

"not

ordinary,"

and so on. It
makes her body

something

special

for

- what Eugenio Barba calls the "pre-expressive"

realm altogether

exist

- as plans, drawings,

paintings, diagrams, manifestos, or ideas. A proto-p may. be

a group

leaving traces in the bodies of the performers

and participants

music score, oral tradition,

may even be a certain way that a performer

outside the written

Performances have both a short -term impact anda longer

aftereffect,

start from a single source or irnpulse. A

(see Barba box and figure 7.4). Many proto-ps

effects are. The model is not prescriptive.

I intend it to be an aid to understanding,

few performances

proto-p mavbe a legal code, liturgy, scenario, script, drama,

arts, sports and other popular entertainments,

of people

who want to stage a performance.

proto-p may be an upcoming date that requires a performance

in archives, and in traditions.

Performance processes can be studied.from the point of view

- a birthday, Christmas party, or initiation rite - the list of

of actions enacted, of the spaces in which a performance

date-driven

takes

225

proto-ps

is very longo A proto-p

may also be a

PERFORMANCE

STUDIES

One may think of the protocp as a "pretext," something

that not only comes before the performance

but is also a

strategy of concealing from the audience significant portions

of the performance
usually closed.

processo Rehearsals and preparations

Even during

the perforrnance

are

itself, the

audience is let inon only some of what's happening. Not only

are backstage activitieshidden

, but the mas ter performer

reveals only some of what she is able to do. The sense that
there

is much more in reserve

performance

adds immeasurably

to a

's impacto Just as an iceberg is three-fourths

submerged, so a strong perforrnance is largely concealed. This

the [apanese noh master Zeami Motokiyo

knew well,

advising actors to show audiences only 20 percent of what

fig 7.4. An actor in Jerzy Grotowski's Polish Laboratory Theatre in the

they knew, holding the other 80 percent in reserve,

early 1960s doing "the cat," an exerci se designed to help performers

train their pre-expressive skills. Photograph courtesy of Eugenio Barba.

Zeami Motokiyo (1363-1443): ]apanese actorand plaJwright,

prior performance,

revived, revised, or reconstructed

or

the foremost figure in the liistory of noh theatre. His plays still form

simply used as a model or starting point for a performanceto-be. The performances

of classics as well as the enactment

of rituals

more

are

always

or

less

driven

the core of the noh repertory; and his ideas on acting remain
extremely influential. His treatises on acting, which at one time were
secret, have now been published- see On tbe Art ifthe No Drama: The

by prior

performances.

Major Treatises if Zeami (1984).

proto-performance
(proto-p): a source or impulse that gives
rise to a performance; a starting point. A performance can (and
usually does) have more than one proto-p.

What is this hidden portion

what the perforrner

of a performance?

role being enacted - the particular

a given performance

pretext

that informs

- but also about the whole craft, the

years of knowledge standing behind each enactment.

Eugenio

confident

Barba

of a base of knowledge

performing

i,n each particular

performance

It

to what

Stanislavsky called the "subtext" - the ongoing yet largely

internal

Widely known and practiced throughout Asia, martial arts

use concrete physiological

Being

applies not only to the

arts but across a wide range of professions.

is also related

Pre-expressivity

It is

has learned, not only about the specific

or hidden driving life force of a scene that exists

behind the spoken words and the visible gestures.

processes to destr.oy the

way, pretexts

automatisms of daily life and to create another quality

operate

secretly, concealed

In this

deep within the

performance.

of energy in the body. It is this very aspect of martial

arts, that is, their use of acculturation technique, which

In the performing arts, rituaIs, sports, and in many trades

has inspired codified theatre forms. The legs slightly

and professions such as Iawyer, doctor, carpenter, teacher, the

bent, the arms contracted: the basic position of ali Asiatic

proto-p is worked out in three phases: training, workshop,

martial arts shows a decided body ready to leap and to

and rehearsals. These sometimes

act. This attitude, which could be compared to the pli

as "apprenticing,"

inclassical ballet, can be found in the basic positions of

on. But whatever

both Oriental and Occidental perforrners. It is nothing

practicing it under supervision is analogous to what goes on

more than a codification,

in the form of extra-daily

----~

technique, of the position of an animal ready to attack. or

defend itself.

[5,---,'99"

A Dictionsry 01 Theeire Anthroooloqy, '"

go by other names such

"interning," "on-the-job
the name,

learning

training," and so
what

to do and

in the performing arts. Obviously, not all arts, rituais, sports,

. trades, and professions emphasize all three of the proto-ps.

Identifying
important

what is emphasized
to understanding

and what is omitted

both the performance

is

process

and the social world which contains and is also shaped by

particular performances.

226

PERFORMANCE

STUDIES

ordinary-lfe

side, preparing

giving the perforrncr

In organized,

the performer

for the lea

the courage to jump into performance

ritually

determined

perforrnances

- the

performing

arts, law, medicine,

relgion,

- warm-ups

are often ritualized,

invoIving specific costum

and well-known

performance

sports, and

"faces" (attitudes, demeanors

In such cases, there may be a "pre-warrn-up"

individual
because

perforrner

a perforrnance
formance,

where

fo11ows her own privare

the ritualized

50 ~-

geme-specific

routine

warm-up

is alread-

in its own right. In other words, ever;" ~-

every entry into the enactment

of a known

necessary score, demands a "time before" when the perfo

can ready

herself

Shakespeare

for

knew

putting

all about

the role.

on/becoming

-TI

this when he penned,

5, 2: 236-37).

readiness is a11"(Hamlet,

Public perforrnance
Training

and workshops

are where

performers

acq

necessary skills and find the right materiaIs to make a p

performance.

Rehearsals

are where

the directors

ographers,

conductors,

etc.) and performers

particular

perforrnance

score. The warm-up

formers for the leap into performing.

(chore-

constru
readie

Most of this book dea

with what happens next, the vast range of public perforrsfig 7.12. Noh shite ("doer," the main performer) Izumi Yoshio as
the heavenly maiden in Hagoromo by Zeami regarding his image in the
mirrar just before gOing on stage. Photograph by Monica Bethe.

their instruments,
making

scrubbing,

the first incision.

preparing

and other procedures

Athletes

stretch

continue.

warm-up

in the bullpen.

only to a few (see figure

7.13). Add to these the um

- and one comes up with

that a performance

the

forming

The list can go on and on. There are many dfferent kinds
performance.

There is before

- aesthetic,

social, athletic,

liminal time, sometimes

performers

prepare

brief, sometmgs.extended,

This leap is decisive,

of time-space.

On one side of the void is ordinary

the other, performance.

The warm-up

a jump

or dropping

- a
when

to make the leap from "readiness"

"performance."

from instance to instance.

in mainstream
and bringing

applause

or portion
of a curtain,

of spectators,

the end of mainstream

to

over a void

Western

In the per-

genres,

lowe~

the stage lights up, raisin r

mark the start

of a performance.
the dimming

and the actors

perforrnances.

The clos:--

of stage lights. -~
taking bows man
At American

spor::

events, the singing of the national anthem precedes the

of a game. For every genre, in every culture, there are usuai;

lfe, on

takes place on the

is no easier

in Chapter 2. I note

or opening curtains, and other procedures

and

political , personal

arts

a perforrnance

every kind of performance

ritual,

A "public performance"

is whatever takes place between a fi

- even, sometimes,
the houselights

perforrner

,,-=.-

an endless list. But what is

frorn culture to culture, epoch to epoch, and geme to ge-~

A batter in the batting

a particular

purposes,

beginning and a marked end. This marking, or framing, vari

in her mind exactly what she will say and do.

each suiting

there are so ~

that at best one can refer

other kinds of performances

plate. A mother getting ready to scold a child may rehearse

of warm-ups,

Even in theatre

kinds of performances

to specify than was "is" performance

For example, a baseball pitcher

circle will swing his bat a few times before approaching

different

"public performance"?

and meditate,

will throw a few balls before each inning, or go through more

extensive

I wil! not linger here on what constinr

a public performance.

is, for all practical

before

both body and mind for the contesto Even during

a game warm-ups

ances. Therefore,

very clear markers

performance.

240

signaling the start and finsh of a pub~-