Where in the world am I today?: Woke up in North Vancouver, on my way to Miami then on to Barbados
Years ago while performing at the Kingston Buskers Festival I had a conversation with Mike Wood in which he stated that he was very much a “Student of the Game” meaning that he still got out and watched shows because he still felt there was a lot he had to learn. The comment really resonated with me because it reminded me that to be at the top of your game you always need to be actively moving forward and trying to make yourself better.
For years I worked as a Street Performer/Festival Performer and after hundreds and hundreds of shows I got to a place of comfort and confidence that what I was presenting had a certain quality and would appeal to an audience. Right around that time I started traveling to Japan and had to learn how, what I did, translated to a different culture and a different language. These days I seem to be working a lot of cruise ships and although I’m back to working in english the stages I work on ships are a completely different from the spaces on the street or at festivals. Ship work presents a slightly different set of challenges and I make a point of going to see all of the shows I can when I’m on a ship so I can watch and learn how different performers use the space and how they interact with their audience.. To make my show the best it can be I need to be able to tweak things to suit the specifics of the space and the expectations of the audience.
I enjoy the challenge of taking what I do into a new environment and have learned that the things I pick up from one venue can often be transferred to another thus making my show in any venue stronger. The key seems to be to have an open enough mind to realize that just because your show works well in one situation doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll work as well in the next. Being able to have a certain flexibility, being able to listen to the feedback from others, being able to review video of your own show with a critical eye and make appropriate changes, all of these things will help.
My goal when ever I walk out in front of a crowd is to deliver the very best show I can and anything I can do to improve upon my performance is part of my responsibilities as a dedicated professional. Being a student of the game for me has little to do with how much I already know, but rather the vast amounts that there is still to learn. It’s part of what keeps the job exciting to me and motivates me to keep improving.
