I got distracted yesterday and forgot all about the 12 Days of Christmas blogging. Oops. Anyway.
Following up a bit on the previous two entries on breath and presence, here's one more bit of pondering/theologizing on what performers do.
A metaphor: The performer is the wick. Stage presence is the light and heat. The wick can be prepared and shaped for making more light and heat. The wick is tangible, solid. The light and heat are less so, but nonetheless real.
There are preparations and practices that make a performer ply their craft better. There are disciplines and rituals Christians perform in hopes of being better people. (I can argue that statement from a Lutheran point of view, but I'm leaving it alone for now.)
The effects of all the preparation and shaping and discipline are not as solid as the person going through the prep but maybe that's why we use terms like fire and heat and light to describe some things. A performer may light up a stage, for example, and if I contend that effect is somehow spiritual in nature (whatever the spirituality of the performer), I'll also circle around to the need for the physical person.
A wick has to be lit to give off light and heat, but the wick is needed. What I'm getting at is there's no spiritual without the physical. The spiritual will dissipate or simply disappear without the physical.
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