ANST - Performing and Documentation

[Craig Shupee']

Greetings,

  I have heard alot about what is expected of a performer latley and 
feal I need to comment. Here goes.  What I here the most is that 
performers are afraid to document their pieces because an audience will 
not listen and will not respond.  I here the excuse that we do not have 
a period audience to perform to, and so we must resort to song or such 
that appear to be modern folk songs.  
  It is our duty as performers to teach the audience how it should act.  
This is the same problem that costumers and cooks have started to deal 
with, and so should performers.  Costumers subject us to good works so 
that when I see a woman's knees underneath her hoop skirt I feal 
embaraced.  Same with cooks who try and teach us that a period feast can 
be enjoyable.  As performers in the SCA it is our duty to do the best 
works we can in a close to period style as we can.
  Many do not understad how you can document a peice.  And are most 
likely not wanting to put forth the effort.  You don't have to do a 
complete job (No one does anyway - we all skimp I am sure) but do the 
best that you can.  Read over some period stories to get the feal of it, 
don't just start writeing what you think.  You are not period and 
neither are your thoughts.  You need to bend your creativity to be as 
period as you can.  A good effort would be to mimmic the langage and 
style and movements.  Why not try by describing an event in period. 
  Also, written documentation should not be a deterrant from a 
performers work.  I do not belive that it would hinder creativity.  And 
don't give me the reason that it wasn't done in period either.  People 
who produce garb are expected to document there peices, when in period 
that same person may not have even been able to read and write.  
  Once a performer starts documenting their pieces their whole act will 
get better.  You do not have to find new primary sources over and over.  
As time goes on, your knowlage will grow and you will become closer to 
the dream.
  Then again, this is just how I feel about performing adn 
documentation.

Your servant to command,
  Philip White

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.