By David Smith, M.Sc., CSCS., SDL (He/Him)
What does sport have anything in common with the performing arts? I was asked as I stood at the front of a crowded room full of professors and seasoned artistic professionals looking at me. I shifted slightly as I considered the question, all eyes on me as clearly the odd one out. Afterall, I was essentially a dumb jock coming into the fine arts department at to speak to a bunch of theatre geeks. I mean, we were all professors at the same university, so those adjectives are relative of course. But I might as well had been from another planet because what I was proposing was clearly alien.
That is, how can the fundamental principles of sport psychology be applicable to people within the performing arts. Whether it be actors, musicians, stage performers, even stage crew, production and technical crew, pretty much anybody involved the production of a show and performance. After all, I’m used to working with athletes who are more focused on playing games, winning competitions, and [insert dumb jock joke here], what does any of that have to do with the performing arts?
Because that’s exactly what it all is, a performance. Whether it’s an athlete in competition, an actor on stage, or a musician in the pit; it’s all a big show. Athletes and artists spend hours, days, weeks, months, even years training their skills and refining their craft. Learning the intricacies and nuances of their specific focus, pushing themselves through countless practices and rehearsals to refine their craft. All of it to prepare for those crucial moments when they put all their hard work out there in a grand performance for all to see (and to judge) accordingly. A sports game as a contest of one’s athletic prowess against an opponent while a production as a display of one’s artistic embodiment of the source material. Whether athletic or artistic, both represent self-expression in its purest, most human forms.
“But the difference in sports is that each match’s outcome is unpredictable, but in theatre the show is the same. So how can athletes and performers be affected by the same stressors?”
For the same reason why, people will buy tickets to a show even when they know the ending. We are going for the experience, to see the unique interpretation of the show. Even when every show has the same ending, every performance is unique.
Performers (athletes, actors, musicians, stage crew, etc) are constantly endeavoring to improve, refine their skillset, maximize their strengths and develop their weaknesses. To be the best at what you do takes time, practice, and passion, which are qualities of every performer must embody to be successful.
Taking to the stage, whether it’s inside an auditorium, arena, or stadium is to perform in front of an audience. The audience may be a group of people (ticket holders, judges, teammates, opponents, family, friends, etc.) or something more… inanimate, such as a time clock, scoreboard, microphone, or video camera. Regardless, the psychological effects are often the same.
What actors call “stage fright” athletes call “the yips”. Both of which is performance-based state anxiety that becomes so overwhelming that the performer finds themselves suddenly stuck and unable to perform. All performers hope for a flawless performance but must consider when things go wrong. When you have a bad performance, how do you stay motivated to move forward? Whether it’s a bad review from your show, or a disappointing loss against a rival; you are judged more by how you respond and your ability to overcome adversity than anything else. After all, we are all faced with situations we can’t control, but we can control how we respond to them. Artist or athlete, that’s what it means to be human.
At the end of this meeting, I found my room full of performing arts professors spinning with ideas. When it comes to the principles of performance psychology, there’s more in common between the dumb jocks and the theater geeks than what separates us. It turns out there’s so much we can learn from the other.
In a true moment of nerdery, consider the following scene analysis from one of my absolute favorite artistic productions, Grease Live! In the 2010s a series of Broadway musicals were staged as live television broadcasts. It was a unique approach that essentially combined a theater stage show with a live sports broadcast. The medium hit its peak in 2016 with two specific productions, Hairspray and Grease. Both productions expanded the concept to involve multiple stages and sets stretched across a large studio backlot. The result being a very complex production of a show that combined the elements of staging a Broadway musical, filming a movie, and a live televised sports event all into a one-night performance being broadcast all over the country.
For much as we see a scripted and choreographed performance on screen, there is an even more complex choreographed performance happening behind the scenes. This video of the musical number “Greased Lightning” shows the televised broadcast (what the audience scenes) combined with a view behind the scenes in the broadcast booth. In the booth we see Associate Director, Carrie Havel on beat in calling out the transition cues and timing with the control booth operators to cut to the right cameras at the right time (according to Carrie’s cues) and the camera operators themselves knowing exactly their choreography and movement as it directly aligns with the stage choreography.
As an associate director, Carrie’s performance here is absolutely crucial. She must maintain a very high level of mental focus to stay on rhythm and her memorization of the specific cues and their timing is key to the success of the entire production.
Especially remarkable is when the cameras pivot away from the car at :56 for about 12 bars where the stagehands quickly move in to apply the red panels to the car while the dancers undergo a quick costume change to the shinier costumes and change the lights to match for when she calls out “whip” to cue the camera for the transformation. There is so much that happens within that 30 seconds that all must be timed down to the split second for the effect to work.
Mind you, this is all happening live, no second takes or anything. What we see on screen is a fraction of what it took to make this show successful. Especially if you consider that they had a live audience during this production as well, and then you add in that it was shot partially outdoors (and in the rain) on a huge studio backlot in multiple locations. Taking into consideration the complexities of lighting, sound (especially mic-ing up the actors with wireless), various camera angles and set transitions (such as the gym and the garage sets). All of this as it is broadcast over live television. Furthermore, Rizzo actress Vanessa Hudgen’s father had passed away only hours before the show started. Choosing to move forward with the show, how does a performer cope with such an emotional tragedy while able to maintain a high level of performance? Hudgens herself channeled her emotional energy into her performance, which she dedicated to her father. By channeling her emotions into her performance, she expressed the best of who she is to elevate the show.
For this production like this to work requires intense mental focus for all performers (the entire cast and crew), based upon hours and hours of rehearsals, confidence, leadership, goals, vision. Most importantly it takes passion and courage to take on such a monumental challenge and see it through.
stonewallperformance.com 