Performance
by Jaap Voigt

In the podcast “De Kunst van het Mens Zijn" (The Art of Being Human) by Jaap Voigt, he dedicates an episode to the topic of performance. In this episode, he articulates what I have wanted to express for years: what is the magic that I and the audience experience? What is it that happens that makes us feel the way we do? I have transcribed his episode here because his knowledge is of essential importance for me to incorporate into the reflection of my master's study. These are the words of Jaap Voigt, and I want to credit him for all the knowledge shared on this page.

When we express ourselves, it can be good or bad. What are the principles that make something well-expressed? He begins the episode by discussing two distinct types of gods: Yahweh, the God who rests in Himself and is self-sufficient, and Elohim, the other God who expresses Himself in the world. These two Gods alternate continuously. Everyone strives for expression in the world. We could symbolically see these two Gods as a force present in us humans concerning expression. What is the relationship between the two, and how does it come through me?

An important first question we might ask ourselves regarding expression is: why do I want to say something about this subject? This "why" is an important element to consider to justify the subject that wishes to be expressed. After justifying it, I will say something about it, then I anticipate the subject.

The meaning of performance: letting a form come through me. "Per-" means through, "form-" means shape. What shape comes through me?

In 1528, a book first mentioned a study on performance. The study was initiated by the Medici, an influential family in Italy, who played a leading role in the arts in Florence as the founders of international banking during the 15th century. They wondered, "There are performances I always remember and performances I quickly forget, how is that? Because everyone does their best, right?" Which piece is connected to God? Which piece is divine? Which piece is passed on from unity? When is a piece expressed through personality?

The 1528 study outlines three phases in the process of expression that ultimately clarify when a piece resonates and when it is forgotten. I think this is essential for every artist to know.

The first phase is called decoro. It involves everything that is prepared, such as technique, training on the instrument, mastery of the instrument. Decoro is about being very good. It requires a lot of work; it doesn't happen automatically. But if something is only decoro, it is boring to watch because it is predictable.

The second phase is called sprezzatura. You are in the here and now; you can incorporate what is happening in the here and now into your expression. You master a degree of integration of what is happening around you in the here and now. Also known as: you learn to improvise. But, only sprezzatura becomes fragmented and ultimately lacks a line and remains engaging.

Even decoro and sprezzatura combined, I have prepared, and I can be in the here and now, still do not bring about anything with what you have to say. It is not Il Divino, it has no effect. It is not connected to God, so to speak. Il Divino is about when something has an effect, when something happens, and what is that happening?

Then the third element called grazia. Grazia cannot be forced; grazia happens when you are in a rhythm. That rhythm is the alternation of decoro and sprezzatura, which happens when you master both decoro and sprezzatura very well. At a certain point, you notice that something opens up, something comes through you that speaks and plays. At that moment, it becomes timeless. It feels like you start anew with each beat and see what comes through you. Then, something "works" (in Dutch, we have a beautiful word for what Jaap Voigt is referring to: "werking." It can be interpreted and translated as flow, movement, functioning, or resonance). It is a connection with the vertical line. It is grace, it is a gift, it cannot be forced.

What you can do is preparing yourself as much as possible for grazia. But with personality, you cannot force it. Herein lies the essence of the performer. A performer who understands this is also humble because he knows that what he truly brings about does not come from himself. But the performer is a craftsman; he has prepared well and can be in the here and now.

Jaap Voigt also shares something beautiful about the relationship between the audience and the performer. If the performer is busy with the audience, that cannot be Il Divino. That is the personality concerned with the importance of the self instead of unity.

The magic that can arise between the performer and the audience has to do with the performer being able to connect with the vertical line, letting that unity come through him and thus directing it to the audience. Regardless of where the performer stands, what is happening in the environment at that moment, and regardless of what is thought of it. If the personality becomes aware of it and sensitive to it, the personality takes over, and with that, the effect and connection with unity disappear.

What are you as a performer? You are three things: a servant of the work, a mouthpiece of the unnameable, and you receive the trophy on behalf of the unnameable. In the past, no one put their name under a work of art because the artists were aware that the true magic of their creation did not come from themselves.

How can we recognize that an artist attracts more Grazia than another? It is the melancholy as an emotion that the performer can touch. Melancholy is about integrating the suffering of the world into what you express. That touches.

Jaap Voigt introduces four roles of the performer: The artist, priest, healer, and lover, the one who loves. In timelessness, fulfillment and resonance occur, which is something you never forget, something happens there. What we want to achieve is to create a sacred space.

Thus, the performer calms the restless soul, the priest elevates the soul that has been calmed, the healer heals the things that are broken in that elevation, and finally, in the lover, love is brought in, so that what listens, what is the audience, participates and can identify with it and pass it on.