Why We Must Perform

We have to make art, it is an integral part of human culture. Self expression is primal, like hunting for food or finding shelter. Sure, if you follow Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the expression of self rates last but it is vital.

Why do I think this? Well, what were the core values of ancient human cultures? What did they prioritise? Food, Shelter, Physical Safety, Raising offspring. These activities were vital to continued existence and took up the largest portion of energy (and when you must catch and kill your energy source, you can’t waste energy). Activities outside of this meant giving up time and space reserved to providing for the herd/pack/tribe.

So when our ancestors gave someone the job of painting the walls of their home with a visual record of their activities, they prized this expression and the artist doing it enough to excuse them from the ‘essential’ work in order to paint the walls. Only a culture that prized artistic expression as an important activity would allow this to happen. The artist excused from the grind to use their skills to benefit the group must be considered special indeed.

Art, or self expression is a vital human activity. Performance is an extension of that, a group of artists excused for a time from the essential tasks to reflect the life of the group through movement, sound and story.

It’s as important job as any others in our tribe. Of course there are those that disparage the ones excused from life’s essential tasks to represent the tribe artistically, but we cannot do without them.

So when you wonder about why you love to perform and if you feel selfish (you are but don’t worry about it), don’t forget that your place in the tribe is necessary. Not everyone should do it, not everyone can do it, but if you are chosen from the group, it is an honour, and you should commit yourself to it with heart, body and mind. You must.