BECOMING COMFORTABLY CONFIDENT
- EGO VS. INSTINCT
speaker or presenter and be able to move your audience
with a skillful ease and certainty that, while you do so, you
feel yourself in the “zone,” unaware of yourself to the point
that self-monitoring is non-existent, you are tapped-in and
connected to your audience and everything just flows. This
magical state, led by your instinct (your know-how, your
experience, your culmination of practice, rehearsing and
timing that is second nature to you) is also known as the
peak-performance state. Perhaps you’ve experienced it
before: you finish an hour-long show and feel, literally, that
the time passed in minutes - a “natural high” by-product of
your natural instinct state. To an audience, watching a performer in this state is indescribable. They know they’ve just
witnessed something amazing; someone incredibly great at
what they do and who does it with irrefutable ease - natural
comfortability.
Crossing over that very fine line, however, into the state
in which you are leading with your ego vs your instinct, is
incredibly easy to do. So easy, in fact, that many performers
do not know they have already slipped over and wonder
why they are not received as well as they could be. Their
work is outstanding but the intangible communication,
the energy, between them and their audience has become
incongruent, distant and uncertain.
MATTHEW FALLON
Going back to the basics
is an incredible resource
that can reacquaint you
with your instincts.
“You’re so natural on stage.”“You look very comfortable while
performing.”“You are definitely in your element.” What wonderful compliments to receive from your audience, the very
persons for whom we all do what we do. To be comfortable
on stage is a gift, a return-on-investment, for time spent
practicing, rehearing, training, studying and performing
for real audiences. Comfortability on stage exudes a warm
confidence telling your audience you’re the go-to guy or girl,
the expert, at your craft. Yet, mysteriously, comfortability on
stage can also portray a passive or dismissive attitude to your
audience. This can appear as though you’re phoning it in,
as said in theater work, and can be interpreted as a “watch
me, aren’t I great?” kind of arrogance. A very fine line exists
between the two types of comfortability on stage, indeed.
Which side of the line are you on? How can you tell?
A healthy dose of ego (self-esteem, your opinion of yourself)
is absolutely necessary to be great at what you do, to make
a memorable impact with your audience. You must have
a confidence that supersedes that of the common public
10
and out, backwards and forwards. If interrupted during
your performance you must be able to immediately and
smoothly pick up where you left off and not act as though
you hit a speed bump and dropped your carburetor!
If the stage is the goal for one to make their living (or simply
play) upon, be it the street, a restaurant, small parlor or the
largest of theaters, theatrical and improvisational training
is a must. Finding security in clinging to your script/props
or discomfort in reacting in the moment to your audience
can lessen with real world performance experience but
solely going that route can be slow and sometimes painfully
embarrassing. A rigid performer, verbally or physically, is
a tell-tale sign of a green performer. Minimize the rigidity
with confidence-building in your overall person throug
theater and improv classes. Even the jitters surrounding a
new routine or effect will be overshadowed by confident
speech, interaction and movement culminating in a confidently comfortable stage presence.
An ego beyond the healthy dose of positive self-esteem
(that which gives you the confidence and certainty in
your work) births an uncomfortable, forced and contrived
confidence. You may be able to recall such an experience:
watching someone do something, relay a story or behave in
a manner in which you just knew something was amiss and
maybe even a put-on. Your audience picks up on this as well.
A number of reasons exist to explain why a performer leads
more with their ego than with their instinct. One clear reason is that relying on ego on stage is easy. It takes minimal
work, practice and rehearsal to get the job done. Relying,
or more correctly being able to rely on instinct takes time,
training and repetition. What is important to master is an
awareness of both driving mechanisms and the ability to
balance yourself on the spectrum of ego and instinct. Like
alkaline to acidity, a pH balance in your onstage persona is
necessary to guarantee you a performan