Skip to main content

Performance and Art

With the recent release of Lady Gaga's new album, ARTPOP and the performances she has done in order to promote that, I've been considering what role performance and art play in our lives. I've mentioned before that I have grown up surrounding myself with books and stories and the magical idea of imagination and believing - that's lead me, to a certain extent, to be able to perform in everyday life. I can assume a role a lot easier than I really thought I could. Take, for example, my blog name: practically Alice; this is a reference to the Alice that you would find meandering the pages of Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, my favourite book. I have a sense of comfort when I assume a role or fall into the pages of a book.

As I've grown older, though, I've done this less and less because my confidence has grown - here at university more than ever before. I feel more comfortable being Claire and being a little less Alice than before. It is only when I consider the idea of Gaga and her performance persona that I can really see that when I dress a certain way, or wear make up, or feel like I want to dance like a loon in the kitchen, or laugh, or cry or just feel the emotions I'm feeling and let them out - that's all me. Just as Gaga with a wig is the same as Gaga without a wig, I'm Claire with her guard up or without. I can perform a role to make myself feel more comfortable and I'm still me, though I rely on it less now.

The vulnerability that losing this performance persona bring is sometimes, and now for me, needed. Because being vulnerable - and by vulnerable in the situation to which I'm referring is being more honest about myself and my feelings - is how I need to act at the moment in order to grow, move on and really experience things. I find that I'm more creative when I open up and let myself still be positive (when am I not positive?!) but also sad or angry or upset. To experience, and I mean really experience, these feelings in a more vulnerable state (as long as you are surrounded by people you trust) isn't always a bad thing.

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." - Lewis Carroll; believe and dream and hope and perform and love art, and best of all, though, experience things (and eat jam tarts, they're good too.)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

"Teens don't read"

Earlier today Maureen Johnson pointed out that the view of "teens don't read" in the UK is deeply entrenched (which is a word that I now love  and had never heard before). As a teenager in the UK, the stigma around reading seems to be - to me - it's "uncool", it's "geeky", there "aren't any good books out there". I think the fact that a lot of teenagers in British schools are exposed to older literature or, perhaps, not that popular literature in lessons and forced into over-analysing and spending countless hours on 'what the author meant'. A point that was raised in this twitter discussion was that people didn't want to be seen reading, or didn't want to be seen reading certain books. It's made me realise that I never   ever ever  see people reading in the older years in my school ( ever ). Perhaps the odd year 7 (12 year old) or year 8 (13 year old) will read, but - from experience - they will probably be ...

Expectations

I haven't even attempted to write this blog post until now because I haven't really fully contemplated the goings on of this past week. To say they have been crazy, mad, bonkers... dumbfounding even would be a slight understatement. After spending the last three days recuperating and avidly watching season 2 of Gilmore Girls I have finally realised that I, Claire Margerison, have just left school. I have four exams and a results and that's it. Kaput. Done. Bam. Gone. Poof. Weird. My last day and leavers' ball (prom, whatever you may call it) were sublime - and I genuinely mean that. Other than the nearly fainting and having to leave and getting laughed at in the leavers' assembly, it was utterly perfect. I spent a majority of my prom catching up with teachers and just talking to them about the future, about the past, about my ex-boyfriend in particular (hah, sorry Michael - suffice to say I think you enjoyed the conversations too!). It was amusing and fun and ...

Books and other musings!

I love books. If you know me, you probably know that I love books, because I am now on a leaflet that is advertising Young Volunteering over however a larger area. It's rather disconcerting (and, to be quite frank, the picture could be nicer too!) that people can see my face whenever they want to... not that they can't do that anyway, what with making the YouTube videos and what have you thingy ma bob. This book to your *works out left and right in head* right (? I have no idea... my brain is sleepy) is the book that John Green recently recommended and I have also recently purchased because of this recommendation. I learnt last time ( Anna-and-the-French-Kiss- last-time) that John Green is pretty damn good at book recommendations! I run a reading group with some of the people I volunteer with at my library and we're just  getting started. We've had three people turn up so far ( I know. ) but we're working on it! I'm currently annoyed because I wrote a lovely...