Performance??

What would you define as a performance?

When i was first asked this question my imediate response was anything you do with the intention of others seeing it. To me this seemed to be not only the obvious but the correct answer, so when people disagreed with my description of a performance it is fair to say i was a little taken of guard. i was surprised by the fact that some people seemed to believe that a performance needed to have a predetermined meaning and/or reason.

the reason that i was surprised by this is that i wouldn't consider a performance that was purely for fun or to entertain as having a definate message but would still happily class it as a performance.

Today in my 'virtuality and performance' seminar i read an article titled 'Perform or else' by Baz Kershaw, 1999. On reading this article it became apparent to me that the term performance is not as simple as it may at first appear, and in fact has several meanings.

The definition from Dictionary.com states preformance as:

1.	a musical, dramatic, or other entertainment presented before an audience.

2.	the act of performing a ceremony, play, piece of music, etc.

3.	the execution or accomplishment of work, acts, feats, etc.

4.	a particular action, deed, or proceeding.

5.	an action or proceeding of an unusual or spectacular kind: His temper tantrum was quite a performance.

6.	the act of performing.

7.the manner in which or the efficiency with which something reacts or fulfills its intended purpose.

When considering all of the interpretations that this list of definitions could lead to it is not at all surprising that when asking the question, What is performance? people disagree.

another interesting point Kershaws article raises is the role of performance in todays increasingly mediated society. with such an abundance of personal information and thoughts on sites such as youtube, facebook and myspace are we even aware when we are performing anymore? and if so what is accepted as a valid performance??