Forums > Social Chat > Puke Factor Five

Posted: 3rd Aug 2001
I'm still amazed that you get stage fright.You've been performing for a decade now. One would think you'd be over it.But I'm not a performer, I'm just an attention hog, so it's different for me. You're going to do great tonight.------------------"Except for that Mrs. Lincoln, How did you like the play?"Pyromorph - Let the fire change you

FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB.

English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England. - Homer Jay Simpson

Posted: 3rd Aug 2001
the last show I did, I took the booking on monday for a sunday performance, and by about wednesday I was into fullblown "this is all a terrible mistake" mode.It's not what they really want, they'll hate it, they'll think I offered them something much better than what they're getting, they'll be cross, they won't pay, I'll be nervous and burn their house down, I'm no good at this really, I'll be in the burns unit tonight for sure, How can i get out of it, I'm too sick to perform, I'm suddenly unavailable the dog ate my homework...Nobody, but nobody can bullshit me like I can bullshit me.SO nearly didn't get out of bed that morning. SO nearly 'accidentally' took so long getting ready I'd miss the start, SO nearly couldn't find the venue.Panic when I got there, panic when I met the client, shaking while checking out the space, shaking while laying out the fuel dump, the lightup area, checking the equipment ...Tried very hard to concentrate on the preparation to take my mind off it all.Panic panic panic.dip. panic. soak, panic.Ignite.No more problems. Don't know why but I was very grateful. I guess with fireballs whizzing around survival instinct takes over and suddenly I was in total control again. Very glad I'd made it and having a great time.And maybe just maybe the panic beforehand added to the buzz during and after.So, empathy by the bucketload here. No trite 'just enjoy it' rubbish, just the reassurance, again, that it's not just you.mikeyB

Posted: 3rd Aug 2001
I have my first audience tommorow. It is only a friends party and another friend of mine is spinning too and breathing fire. There should be about 50 people so I will be well nervous. fortunatly I will know most of the people there which will help

handlebar moustaches are funny :)

Posted: 5th Aug 2001
While I continue to be amazed that a professional performer like Pele gets butterflies, I can certainly sympathize. Left alone with my own brain, I can really work myself up into a state. For the most recent paid gig I had, which was in front of a really big crowd, I was kind of freaked out the days before, but the actual day of the event, I had a lot of time to hang out at the place, and A) that distracted me, which helped; and B) somehow that de-mystified the situation--I felt on top of things, so when we finally went on, I was calm.I could be wrong, but getting nervous may actually serve a useful purpose--it may help focus us on what we're supposed to do. Which is certainly antithetical to the relaxed state that I generally think one needs for firedancing, but may not be such a bad thing for a performer. And at any rate, I've found that even when I had stage fright before a performance, in the critical moment I was able to really get into it.

Laugh while you can, monkey-boy

Posted: 5th Aug 2001
A small amount of anxiety or stress is very normal and even healthy before performing (be it public speaking, fire dancing or what ever). It's what keeps us focused on the task at hand, and not just wandering off....Having said that, I'll generally prepare by being very, very, very quiet, and consumed in my own thoughts (rehearsing moves, getting into the right head space etc). Then I'm normally still nervous til I hear the first appreciative noises from the audience - nothing like direct feedback to get you into it!ade

Posted: 6th Aug 2001
I get something like this but it's not stage fright I'm an attention lover, But what I feel is something more of a what if someone who hasn't talked to the venue like secutity or a band. Comming and telling me that what I am doing is so outa place and I shouldn't have lit them. Every time I light up for a band I see them over and over again in my head stopping playing and bitching at me in front of crowds of ppl, While nothing like this has ever happened I see it everytime I light up for a crowd, Sometimes it's enough to make me stop and rethink what I'm about to do, and I'll take a walk and miss a good song to spin to. But I normally build up the nerve with time to light up for whoever it is, And once they are lit for the first time I just keep burning into the night.------------------We are all in the cosmic movie. That means the day you die you watch your whole life repeating for eternity. So you'd better have some good things happen in there and have a fitting climax. --Jim Morrison

We are all in the cosmic movie. That means the day you die you watch your whole life repeating for eternity. So you'd better have some good things happen in there and have a fitting climax. --Jim MorrisonIt's going to come from a direction you didn't predict at a moment of chaos which you didn't see coming. -- NYC