Live Vs Recorded

I do feel that I have a strong feeling that there is great difference between live and recorded performance, in terms of impact, excitement and passion.

I have personally never been able to reacreate the sort of connection that I get with live actors on stage or vice vera when performing myself the electricity that comes from an audience which enevitably makes every show exciting and different, when watching recorded performances.

For me there is something very stale about watching a T.V. programme or an internet video, its old and you can turn off the switch whenever you want. In a live performance the 'actors' must work hard to keep you drawn in and at the end of the piece you feel appreciation for their visable efforts. With the 'live' every time is different, mistakes may happen or spectators reaction may put a completely different spin on events.

When you watch a performance it is you and only the others sharing that experience with you, who will ever witness that event in that exact way.
There is something special about that, isn't there?

What Constitutes a Performance?

What a difficult question.........
It is something that i have been encouraged to think about for a few weeks now, and I am perhaps a little clearer about it in my mind.

I feel a performance is...........
* A group or individual presenting themselves in any form of time and space.
* Something which is witnessed by others
* An occurance or event which leads to some kind of provokation of thought for
spectator or performer

I feel a performance does not have to be.....
* A planned event
* Ocurring in any defined space such as a theatre or T.V studio
* Justifiable

It seems that Auslander believes that one should not attempt to distinguish clear differences between live and recorded performance. Rather he draws on their similarities. For example saying that much like a T.V. image can be there and gone in an instant so too can a live performance.
Auslander writes:
"On this basis, the historical relationship of liveness and mediatization must be seen as a relation of dependence and imbrication rather than opposition. Similarly, live performance cannot be said to have ontological or historical priority over mediatization, since the live was brought into being by the possibility of technical reproduction."