Speaker 1Hey Rockstars, Reggie Dawson, your host of the Being On Stage podcast. I'm going at this a little bit differently. I mentioned last episode I was going to be changing some things up. I'm not getting rid of the intro completely, but I figured, give it a shot, go right in, just start talking. So, I want to talk about the intention to perform. When we get on stage, and we're about to get on stage I guess, or even if you're just getting booked and you're just starting to plan your performance, every time you step on stage, you've got to have your mind in the right place. You have to step on stage with the intention to perform, the intention to entertain. And if you're not doing that, listen up, because that's something that you need to be doing. The audience is there for a show, no matter what you're doing on stage. Now listen, this podcast, let me do a little introduction. I kind of went for it here. So, again, Reggie Dawson here. I'm a stage performance coach. I love everything about performing. This podcast. This podcast was built for performers who are looking to improve their stage performance, increase their following, and just get noticed, and land more gigs, and really move forward with their performing career. No matter what it is, I'm not biased. All performers are created equal in my eyes. We're all after the same thing. We're all after the audience applause. We're all after just that great feeling you get sharing the talent that you have inside you with the world. Just letting that, really letting that creativity just flow. Letting it flow out of you on stage and kind of giving it out there to the world. It's an amazing feeling. So this, this podcast is for you. But when you do step on stage, whether it's your first time, your second time, your 10th time, or your thousandth time, no matter how often you perform or how many times you have performed or how long you've been performing, each time you get out there is a separate night. You know, each time is a separate performance and you have to treat it that way. You have to have the intention of going out there and showing your audience a great time, giving them the entertainment that they came to see. Now, I know for some of you, maybe you get booked as background music while people are eating, and that's all well and good. But it doesn't mean that you can't have the intention to entertain. Because even background music is entertaining. Even a performer that plays a piano in the corner while people are dancing. Or even a DJ who's quote-unquote just playing music, which I know that's not the case. DJs, calm down. All of this, everything I'm mentioning here, is a performance. And when you get out there and you are performing, you have to entertain. That's the point of what we do. Listen, I'm going to kind of take a left turn here. Sometimes, life is going to get in the way. You know, you could be sick. You could be, I don't know. You could have some family stuff going on. It doesn't matter. Something is always going to be going on in your life. And as a performer, one of the greatest things that you can work on and one of the greatest things that you can do to develop yourself and further your career is learn that separation. And have the ability to separate what you do on stage from the rest of your life. That is going to be crucial. That is going to be crucial to your career. Because, listen, things are going to happen. But when you have a gig, you have a commitment. It's just like having a job. You know, when you have a job, sometimes you have to go to work even though a family member is in the hospital. Sometimes you have to go to work even though you're a little sick. Sometimes you have to go to work even though your dog died. And this sounds cruel to say, but I've seen a lot of people, you know, cancel a performance is probably the worst thing you could do. Because no matter what the reason is. I mean. I mean, barring like you're injured, you physically can't perform like there are exceptions. But in some instances, man, it doesn't matter what it is. You're not showing up for your people. You're not showing up for your fans. You're not showing up for the people that promoted you, the people that came out to support you or the people that pay you. I mean, so canceling the show is like the worst thing you do. But the other thing I've seen is, you know, when things are going tough in life, when things are happening and things are being thrown at you and you're tough. Times, financial crisis, doesn't matter what it is. When you're going through crap. OK, I've seen performers kind of give like a dumbed down version of their performance, like a detached, almost like they're detached on stage. There's no real connection there. You can almost see it's almost like a like performing in a fog, if you will. And from the audience perspective, when the performer is not quite 100 percent in it and not quite there to perform and to entertain. It's one, it creates a distraction because in the back of the audience's mind, it's like, hmm, I wonder what's going on. Like, why isn't this this doesn't seem like it's happening the way it's supposed to. Something's going on. It becomes a distraction. You see, they start to, you know, do the human thing and process what's going on with this other human. So that that separation and is something that if you can master that and I shouldn't say master it because I don't think you can ever truly master being able to. Leave a part of yourself behind. But if you can get that down to where you can at least do it sometimes and and separate yourself, then you're going to be able to go a little further than than some of us. Having that separation is going to be crucial down the line because you have to have the ability to go on stage and entertain no matter what. When you're on stage, nothing else matters. It's like the whole world stops and the primary focus. Is what you're doing on stage, what you're doing to entertain the audience from the stage. That's that's your job. Sometimes you're going to have to work through the life stuff. And that's that's part of it because it's a job. It's what we have to do as performers to, well, to be able to call ourselves performers, really, and to be able to have this job. Sometimes you've got to work through the tough stuff and separate yourself and still go out there and give that hundred and fifty percent. To your audience, connect with them in in the same way, if not more than you have connected with them in the past. I talk about consistency in like in business or they talk about consistency in like athletic performance. Performers have to be consistent as well. When you're on stage, you've got to be present. You have to show up for lack of a better phrase. I mean, you can't just go out there and be the shell of a person doing this talent. You can't just go out there and do the talent. Like if you're juggling, you can't just go out there and juggle. You have to perform while you juggle. There's there's two aspects to what you do. There's the talent and there's the performance. And when you talk about the performance, that's that's when you have to show up. That's when you have to give the emotion and the energy and the feeling and truly parts of yourself and your own personality. You have to show that on stage to your audience. That's that's stage presence. That's what's going to make you consistent is that ability to show up for your audience. You have to. Take your focus and your energy and direct it into the performance, no matter what's going on in your life. Sometimes you'll be able to use your life like your life crap. I'm going to call it life crap. Why not? Sometimes you're going to be able to use that to get the emotion going for your performance or to fuel your energy or to fuel your focus. But you still have to be able to separate that and be the performer that you're known for being or be the performer that you see yourself being. Bob Proctor. He's a. Personal development specialist. He teaches based on think and grow rich is like his thing. And one of the things that he says in and I'm paraphrasing is, you know, act like the person that you want to become. And it's the same thing. You have to you have to be the performer that you want to become every single time you step on stage. That's what you have to do. That's what we all have to do. No matter what you do, you have to be the performer that you see yourself as and that you want to be that desire. That that performer that you see in your mind, when you picture yourself on stage, you just have to make the decision to be that performer and boom, it'll happen. So, again, nothing else matters. And it's a hard job. It's a hard job to to kind of let go of everything while you're out there on that stage. And that's why I talk about having a persona and having a character that you play, because it does make it a little easier having that escape from life, if you will. My my performing sometimes is my escape. From life. And sometimes it's how I express myself of what's going on in life. So there's there's all types of ways that you can get inspired and you can fuel your energy and your performance using what's going on in your life. But you still have to be on that stage to entertain and to perform. That is what you do. That is your job as a performer. So one of the routines I used to do to kind of like help me focus and help me get into my mind is I would pick a song, one or two songs, maybe three songs. And I would have like a little miniature playlist that I would listen to before getting on stage. And it wouldn't be my favorite songs, but it would be songs that are speaking to me in that moment. Sometimes it would be the song that I'm performing if it's one of those like fueled by life performances. But I would just I would be in the moment with the music and I would focus on the words and what they mean to me. And it's almost like a piece would wash over me in a way. And then I could go out and perform. That's that's just my routine. focus. I have to listen. to music. It motivates me and it inspires me and it keeps me going. And listen, if that's you, if music's the way that gets you going, I actually have a Facebook group where I share songs and videos that have motivated me and inspired me. I share it every Monday in my Facebook group, The Being On Stage Group. I know, original name. If you'd want to join and get that every Monday, you can go to beingonstage.com slash group. It'll take you right into Facebook. You can also search Facebook, The Being On Stage Group. And then Wednesdays, I take like a deeper dive and really talk about how the song motivates and inspires me and how you can use the words and the concepts and the meaning of the song to motivate yourself and inspire yourself as well. So check out The Being On Stage Group. Next episode, I'm kind of doing a two-parter. I'm going to talk about the importance of reflecting on your show and then also the importance of moving on from the not necessarily the music. The Good Shows. If you like what you hear and you want to check that out, go ahead and click subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you really like me, and especially those of you who haven't listened for a while, I'd really appreciate it if you could go into iTunes. And you may have to create an account. It's free. It's easy. But if you go into iTunes and find Being On Stage, you can leave a five-star rating and a comment for me. Let me know what you think. That would mean the world to me, actually. If you're looking for more ways to connect, I'm on Instagram at beingonstage. You can also shoot me an email. Reggie at beingonstage.com. So as I wrap up this podcast, I just want to remind you one more time. Show up for your audience every single time. It doesn't matter what you do on stage. It doesn't matter if you're a juggler, if you're a dancer, if you're a drag queen, burlesque performer, you name it. Mime, clown, acrobat, magician, comedian. Whatever you do on stage, keep on doing it, keep on rocking it, and keep on shining.
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