Deeper Understanding of Performance

Prior to reading Chapter 5 on Performance, I thought to myself, “How do I define performance”? My preconceived definition of performance basically consisted of attending plays or musical performances, nothing more than that. However after reading Chapter 5, there were a couple of ideas and examples that were presented in the chapter that have changed my “preconceived” ideas of performance as a phenomenon. To begin with, the text states that “Performance is an expressive activity that requires participation, heightens our enjoyment of experience, and invites response. In order for a performance to “happen”, a recognized setting must exist (we have to know a performance is taking place) and participants (performers and audience) must be present. If group members and audiences are not able to understand and interpret someone’s performance, then it may not be a successful expression of the performer’s ideas.” (Simms 128-129) The following examples I found most interesting in the text, are examples that are very subtle that I would have never considered as a type of performance phenomenon that folklorists study.

“Performances of folklore happen naturally within daily conversations and situations”. (Simms 128) The use of a proverb in a daily conversation would have never have crossed my mind as a type of performance. “A stitch in time saves nine” is a proverb that my grandmother or mother would use. I never really understood what they meant by that phrase but today I now know what that proverb is conveying. The just of the proverb is; it is better to spend a little time to deal with problems or act right now than wait. If you wait until late, things will get worse, and it will take much longer to deal with them. In order for the proverb to be performed successfully the proverbial saying must make sense. (Simms 132) Today if I have a conversation with someone and they say “a stitch in time saves nine” I now understand that proverb and the performer’s ideas were successfully expressed. (Simms 129)

Another example of performance that I found interestingly subtle is decorative symbols that represent something. The text used the example of a horseshoe above a door will bring good luck inside the home. When I was younger a decorative symbol that I had witnessed for many years was the arrangement of three crosses on or near churches. At the time I did not understand the significance of the three crosses until I researched the crucifixion of Jesus in the Bible. I now have a better understanding of this type of performance text. I discovered that two robbers were crucified at the same time of Jesus’ crucifixion. The displaying of the crosses is not performance, but the placement of the object is a “marker” of the idea”. (Simms 135) The crucifixion of Christ is an event that has been taken both literally and symbolically. When we read an object or practice like a cross in this way, we are in a sense analyzing its performance-what it communicates actively to the world, both within and outside the folk groups that created it. (Simms 135)

I discovered that there are many aspects of performance phenomena; I only scratched the surface of two of them from Chapter 5. The following excerpt from the text helps me to deepen my understanding of performance. “Performance enables us to understand ourselves as observers and participants, as part of the process of creating communicative art and making meaning from it. Most of all, studying performance helps us see people as an integral part of the folklore shared.” (Simms 173)

This Post is in response to Chapter 5 Reflection Question.



Works Cited


Sims, Martha and Martine Stephens. Living Folklore an Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2005.