Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver, BC, Canada
I have very vivid memories of a conversation I had with Andre Vincent about twenty years ago about the importance of giving due respect to the venue you’re playing in. We were performing at the Edmonton Street Performer’s Festival together and we got to talking about the various venues a variety performer could play at. At that time I’d already been performing for about eight years or so and mentioned that I though that perhaps I’d move on to trying my hand at Film and Television. It was then that he stopped me dead in my tracks and made a point that has stuck with me ever since.
The Street is just as valid a performance venue as the screen (be it the large screen or the small screen) or the stage and treating it with anything other than the respect it deserves does a disservice to both you and your audience.
Something in the tone of his voice, the focus look he had as he said this to me and the deliberate nature of the show that he performed on the street really left a huge impression on me and it’s something I’ve passed on to many other young performers who might perhaps be looking at ‘Street Performing’ as a stepping stone to ‘Bigger Things.’ That term ‘Bigger Things’ is all in the eye of the beholder. It may well be that ‘Street Performers’ are considered by some as second-class citizens in the world of variety artists, but wasn’t it a small band of street performers in Quebec who founded the Cirque du Soleil? The imagination and ingenuity it takes to make it on the street attracts a special bread of performer and I can say from experience that they are some of the most interesting and innovative performers I’ve ever met. Well the ones who treat the venue with the respect it deserves.
There’s no doubt that it’s not the venue for everyone, and I’ve certainly had my share of dabbling with other venues (Cruise Ships, Trade Shows, Theaters) but this past week of performing at the Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts reinforced how great a venue the Street is. Being able to create something where there was nothing, to take a open sheet of concrete or asphalt and craft it into a performance venue, one where people are lined up to see what the excitement is all about – there’s a magic in that that’s beyond compare.
