The Art of Performance

An Activity Based Workshop

Who should participate?

Singers, Songwriters, Instrumentalists, Poets, D.J’s, Public Speakers, etc. Anyone whose art/skill will benefit from increased confidence, communication, awareness, honesty, sincerity, and an enhanced relationship with their audience and with their art.

What will participants walk away with?

§ A sense of how any performer (regardless of style, level, experience) can delve deeper into the emotional aspect of their piece and improve their performance dramatically.

§ Knowing that the application of a few very basic principals can free up an individual’s performance improving their creativity, keeping their performance fresh, and has the potential to impact many other areas of their life.

§ How to “get out of your own way”, overcoming fears, barriers, and other things that keep us from what we are already capable of.

§ Our art can be fun.

§ How to best utilize what we already know and have available to us right now.

§ Honesty, sincerity, and risk = Growth.

Topics to be covered:

§ Identifying your audience

§ Interpretation of your piece

§ Anatomy of your piece

§ Expression

§ Emotion & emotional congruency

§ Focus

§ Risk Taking

§ Interacting with your audience

§ Rehearsing

§ Keeping it fresh

§ Techniques for studio & live application

§ Exercises

§ And more…

How will this Workshop Meet These Goals?

§ Participants will be introduced to basic skills and concepts that will positively impact their performance art.

§ Participants will identify one thing about their performance that they would like to change, adapt, achieve, or learn.

§ Artists will be introduced to a series of exercises and techniques that they can incorporate into their rehearsal and performance routine.

§ Each participant is asked do his or her part to create a safe group environment; Developing a kind, patient, secure, and constructive atmosphere, which is key to the success of this course.

§ Each participant will perform one piece during the workshop.

§ Your peers and the Instructor will be the audience. You will be encouraged to incorporate principals learned in the workshop while performing. Your peers will use their experience and the information gained in this course to constructively comment on your performance and their observations of the Audience/Performer relationship that you have established.

§ Individually we will address the biggest issue(s) that would promote the most growth for the participant. Each performer will have approximately 10-20 minutes, which includes their initial performance, feedback, and subsequent performances that incorporate the feedback, suggestions, and changes.

§ The key to working in a peer group is that we will see others experiencing similar, if not the same, challenges, changes, feedback, and lessons.

§ Observing how others incorporate what they learn into their performance lets us see how others might approach things differently, and gives us a different perspective on how we might apply it to our own skills.

§ The repetition of hearing the same things said in a different way to different persons, gives you the chance to hear things you might not have heard when you were the focus of the groups feedback.

§ You will receive a booklet that provides an in-depth look at the principles introduced in the short course including exercises to reinforce information discovered in course.

Course Tracks

3-Hour Short Course:

Maximum attendance 10 persons

§ Participants are introduced to each other and the course objectives.

§ A brief overview of the course booklet, touching on the principles and exercises that are used throughout this course.

§ We address any issues the performer has identifies as wanting to improve or finds problematic.

§ Participants perform their piece to the peer group.

§ In a supportive and positive manner the instructor will discusses and suggests style and technical variations, based on the course goals and the participants goals, as well as their abilities and level of comfort. . (10-20 minutes per performer)

5-Hour Extended Course

Maximum attendance 10 persons

§ Participants are taken through the course booklet and topics are thoroughly discussed and demonstrated.

§ A broader range of topics are covered and participants actually go into the performance activities with more insight and a better understanding of the principles that would normally only be briefly touched upon in the short course.

§ Exercises will be reviewed, demonstrated and practiced by participants.

§ All Short Course activities will be covered.

§ We will address any issues that you identify as wanting to improve or find problematic.

§ Participants perform their piece to the peer group.

§ In a supportive and positive manor the instructor discusses and suggests, style and technical variations, based on the course goals and the participants goals, as well as their abilities and level of comfort. (10-20 minutes per performer)

§ Wrap up and Summary.

2 Day Course

Maximum attendance for 2 Day Course 14 persons

This is two-day course, 6-8 hours per day.

§ All activities from the Extended Course will be covered

§ Participants will have multiple opportunities to perform and incorporate the skills they have learned.

§ Participants will have more time to experiment with what they have learned.

§ Group exercises will be conducted for a more in depth focus on the anatomy and interpretation of their pieces.

§ Each Topic will be covered more intensely allowing for longer discussions, active participation, demonstration, and review of the how each individual can use these principals to meet their own needs.

Participant Expectations & Requirements:

Contact Information:

Kim Acuna

Email: booking@kimacuna.com

Contact for Booking and Fees

Instructor Bio:

Kim Acuna’s music is a rich complex blend of original acoustic rock, blues, and jazz. Resonating with audiences long after the performance, Kim's charismatic style captures audiences everywhere she plays, with a voice reminiscent of k.d. lang and a unique guitar style that brings other guitarists, in awe, to the front row of her shows for a closer look.

Kim's performances are about communicating emotion, bringing an idea to life and sharing it. Audiences can always count on something fresh and powerful. “I want to bring the listener into that special place where it’s just my guitar and me alone in a room having a new song pour through me. This is the most vulnerable, most wonderful place; it is an elusive place that can’t be made to happen- it must be allowed. My work is not to perform or act, it is to “be” – that is when there are no bounds, no time, no critics; just flowing creativity, free evolving, ever changing, and not about me. This is the gift of music.”

Kim a performing songwriter based in Anchorage, Alaska and has been performing professionally since 1993. She has developed a faithful following throughout the West Coast, and other parts of the U.S. Kim has shared equal billing with such acts as Karen Pernick and HBO comedian Georgia Ragsdale. She has opened for John Gorka, Tracy Grammer, Willy Porter, Fruit, and others. Kim also writes and records commercial projects for local and national media, has produced and engineered her own album as well as those of other independent artists.

In addition to her own work, Kim is an active songwriters' advocate. She founded the Alaska Performing Songwriters Group and teaches workshops on songwriting, the Art of Performance, self-promotion, guitar techniques, and Web Design & Marketing for Independent Artists.

Kim has been professionally developing and teaching educational training curriculum for over 15 years. Developing corporate, city, state, and industrial courses specializing in teaching adult learners and has taught many young people as well.

The Art of Performance is a culmination of Kim’s many years of experience, training, and performance, as well as her own educational pursuits for continuing education and self-improvement.

Kim has trained professionally to develop and teach educational curriculum for over 15 years. She has been developing corporate, city, state, and industrial courses for adult learners in addition to young people. The Art of Performance is a culmination of Kim’s many years of experience, training, and performance, as well as her own educational pursuits for continuing education and self-improvement.