Living Art

“Lights. Camera. Action,” says the director to the actors and actresses. “Five, six, seven, eight,” calls the choreographer to the dancers. “One and two and three and four,” whispers the orchestra conductor to the performers as he waves his baton. Each of these phrases is an example of the gears of performance that turn in order to convey a specific story to an audience. Performance art is a form of art typically characterized as “living art” because it is created to present to an audience. Dance, music, drama, and spoken word are all elements of performance art.

There is a common misconception that art is only visual because it is typically what people think of when they hear the word “art.” However, this is far from the truth. Art is divided into two types: visual and performance. Visual art is present everywhere, including home, office, streets, and other everyday places and has been throughout history. According to history, painting dates back to 40,000 years ago when Native Americans painted on the walls of caves (Prehistoric Art). Visual art is art created from various materials for visual perception such as paintings, sculptures, photography, print, advertisements, etc. (Esaak). Performance art became popular in the 1960s when the futurism movement began and spread as time passed (Sprinkle). Performance art uses the human body as a material to create art to present to an audience, such as dance, music, theatre, opera, spoken word, etc. (Akers)

First, one of the earliest and most popular forms of performing arts is dance. Dance has been a form of expression since early history when Native Americans used dancing as a ritual to call on different gods to bring what they needed at the time. They had specific danc...

... middle of paper ...

... speaker performs for an audience. It is commonly forgotten when discussing art, or seen as “easy” and “weak.” However, spoken word is more than reading a poem off of a sheet of paper. When someone performs spoken word, they convey their emotion in their words and body language. The speaker uses his or her posture, facial expressions, hand gestures, etc. to express what they are saying with such power that the audience is able to feel the emotions within the poem. When a poem is performed through spoken word, it is a powerful example of performance art.

In conclusion, performance art is any art that is created to present to an audience. It can be live or recorded, a group act or solo act, technical or improvisational. Dance, music, drama, spoken word, and other forms of performance art create “living art” that ignites a fire in the emotions of the audience.