Get to know your Stage

Hey, what's going on, rock stars? It's your host, Reggie Daughson. I'm back with the Being On Stage podcast. It's been a while. I had a surprise this weekend. My in-laws came to town. So, torpedo of house cleaning and repairs that I've been putting off. Anyways, we are back. I will not leave you hanging. I want to talk about the different types of stages you may perform on. One of the reasons that I started thinking about this topic was when I looked at Justin Timberlake's Super Bowl performance that we talked about last week.

He used a lot of different stages. And I've watched a couple of videos on YouTube of different performers and seeing different stages and everything. And first and foremost, I want to put this out there, anything can be a stage. You don't need to have a formal, you know, four foot high and 10 feet deep and 20 feet wide and theater-style seating. You don't need to have a formal stage in order to be on stage.

Anything can be a stage. I watched a video of a performer that used, like, you know the fountains that just like shoot up out of the ground? We have a couple of them. I have a couple of parks around where I live that have those, but no, they shoot up out of the ground and they, you know, they may vary, you know, this one will shoot up and then that one will shoot up and then this one will shoot up and varying heights and varying various timing of when this water shoots up.

But yeah, I saw a performer use the fountains as their stage and I mean, they interacted with the water, with their hands, with their outfit, with their, you know, with their hair, with their head, of course, they got soaking wet, but it was all part of the show. You know, look at street performers. Street performers have to create their own stage every single time they get on stage. I saw kids that made the subway car their stage.

And no, I have actually seen the dancers on the subway in New York City when I went to visit. It's quite phenomenal to watch. Just to see the way they use the subway car and the motion of the subway car and how they use it into their routine is kind of interesting to watch. But anyways, the point is anything can be a stage. Whether it's, you know, a subway car. A concrete, like back in the 80s, the cardboard box, the break dancers would cart around.

Maybe you're on a formal stage. Maybe you're on a pop-up stage. Maybe you're on a box in the corner. Maybe you're on flat ground and you just got a bunch of people staring at you waiting for you to do something special. Anything can be your stage. It's all in what you do with it and it's all in how you use the space that you're provided. A couple of things to note, the varying heights of the stages, you want to take note of.

You know, if the stage is higher up, it's different to perform facing down to people than it is being on their level. Four feet up in the air is different from two feet up in the air, which is different than being flat on the ground. Being on a 4x4 box is different than being on a 10x12 stage. A handmade wooden stage is different than a professional theater stage or a metal stage. There's all types of different stages that you may end up on and some of them are sturdier than others.

To say the least, do your research when you're going to a new venue. Do your research. What type of setup are you going to have? What type of stage is there? Is there a stage first and foremost? And what type? I've seen the stage where there is no stage. Like I've performed in a venue where there was no stage and when you walked into this bar, you couldn't imagine a performance happening because not only was there no stage, there was no space at all.

You walked in and on the left-hand side there was a bar. And on the right-hand side, there was a wall. And somehow you were supposed to perform in this hallway of a bar. And I mean, we made it happen. There ended up being like eight performers that performed in this space. And it was a matter of just going out there and doing it. You know, your stage is actually the audience, which is an entirely different feeling.

Like it is a rush to be with the audience as your stage, to be risen up above them on a platform style stage. You know, four feet, two feet, whatever it is, that's kind of, it feels like you're being watched. Which don't get me wrong, when you're on stage, you want people to watch you. But it's an entirely different feeling when your stage is actually in with the people. It's a rush, man.

It's like you're all experiencing this performance and this art together. And you're not really sure what's going to happen all the time, but it's usually amazing. One of the main stages that I've seen people struggle with are the makeshift like pop-up stages. We do a festival. Every year here that I talked, I've talked about this before, we do a festival here every year. And typically we've had like a standard solid concrete outdoor stage for our festival.

Like it just, it comes with the venue. Last year we changed venues and we had to rent a stage. And the stage, it was a quarter inch or half inch sheet of plywood on top of a metal frame that would fold up into like a trailer for the back of a truck. It would fold up into like a box style trailer. And so I see these metal, you know, these metal trusses unfold. And then this plywood unfolds and it's half inch, three eighths of an inch thick plywood just on top of this metal frame.

And you got a ramp that hooks on the side and, you know, bars that go around to kind of keep you on the stage, like handrails that go all the way around the stage. But the interesting feeling is when you walk on this stage, there's a certain give underneath your feet. Depending on, I mean, of course, if you're like 90 pounds soaking wet, you're probably not going to feel very much anything as far as movement goes. But if you're like me and you're one of the bigger guys, you know, there's a give.

There's a serious give to your feet underneath your feet. And depending on what type of performance you're doing, that can impact your show significantly. Especially, I mean, dancers, anyone doing any type of body movements, dancers, burlesque dancers, regular dancers, break dancers, ballet dancers, contemporary dancers, interpretive dancers, any type of dancer, you're going to notice that give and that can impact your performance. Especially if you're doing one of these makeshift stages, whether it be a rented stage that's been used by hundreds of acts in the past, which ours was.

Ours had been used by, you know, 10 piece bands. It was sturdy. You just notice the give. There's, I've also been on metal stages that they kind of, they have a little give too. Any, any rented mobile stage usually has a little bit of give underneath your feet. And it kind of feels like if you jump really, really hard, you're going to fall through. You won't. It's been tested. I've jumped all over these stages, but also the handmade stages, any stages that's been handmade or like handcrafted for its environment.

I've worked at a couple of clubs that had this where the stage was obviously made with plywood and it was handmade. It was very well done. You know, all the measurements were correct and all the corners were sealed and everything. It was pretty solid, but it was definitely a handmade stage and while there wasn't, there wasn't so much give, there were soft spots in the stage and there were certain things that were uneven.

There were certain quirks about it. Every stage has its quirks, by the way. If you perform on a certain stage, a number of times you start to learn its quirks, where the soft spots are, where the lights hit a certain way, where the smooth part is, where the rough patches are. So you, you kind of learn the quirks of the stage. But what I always recommend no matter what stage you're dealing with is feel it out.

Give it a test. Get as much information about the space that you're performing as possible from the promoter, the booking agent, the owner, the manager, anybody, entertainment coordinator. That's what I am. Get as much information about the stage and the space that you have as possible ahead of time. You want to get this information so that you can plan accordingly. Because if you're going to be raised up, you need to rehearse how to perform down at people and still engage with them.

Because it's entirely different than if you're level with them, you can engage with them a lot easier being level with. Being raised up, you have to push yourself to be more engaging than if you're just, you know, hanging out at their level, which don't get me wrong, both stages have their positives and their negatives. But if you're just hanging out at their level, you can engage with them a lot easier because they're right there. They're right there in your face.

You can't not engage. Also, you want to take into consideration the size of the space. Depending on the stage, you can engage with them. Depending on what your act entails, especially dancers, comedians, you guys move around a lot. Bands, you guys have to think about your space. You know, you want to look at the size of the space and the stage that you're going to be located on. You know, is there going to be a riser for your drummer?

Is she going to be flat on stage? Are you raised up? Is it big enough for all your whole band to fit on that stage? Is it too big for your choreography that you have planned? Is it too small for your choreography? Is it too short for your choreography that you have planned? Group acts, you've got to think about the size of the stage. Maybe you have four or five people singing all together and you're on a five foot stage.

You're going to need to get creative with how you utilize the rest of the space. Try and get as much of this information ahead of time. If you can't gather the information that you need ahead of time, please, by all means, you have every single right to show up to that performance early enough that you can take a look around the stage. You can get on that stage and experience what it's like to be on it before you have to get on it in front of the audience. of you know maybe it's not hundreds of people it doesn't really matter how many people it is the point is you want to experience being on that stage before you're on that stage if you know what i mean so get the information ahead of time if you can't get the information ahead of time plan on getting to the venue early so that you can spend some time on that stage you've got to know the space that you're going to perform on if you don't know the space before you get up on there on that for the show, you're going to be surprised with something.

Whether it be you're going to be surprised how close the edge of the stage is. It could be that you're going to be surprised how close the wings are and maybe you can't spread out as much as you guys thought you could. You're going to be surprised by the texture of the stage, by the feeling of the stage. You're going to find a soft spot. God forbid somebody falls off the stage because you didn't plan accordingly.

Things happen when you don't plan. Things happen when you stop yourself from gaining the knowledge you need to be successful. Make it part of your rehearsal to take into consideration the stage that you're going to be on. It is incredibly important that you plan ahead of time for the stage that you're on. There's nothing worse than getting on stage thinking you're going to be raised above people and you're flat in line with them.

You're on their same level. It's an entirely different performance. It's an entirely different relationship that you're going to have with your audience when you're raised up versus when you're on their level. If you haven't practiced or at least planned ahead of time, it can be disastrous for your audience. It could lead to a lack of entertainment. It could lead to a lack of amusement and ultimately it can cause your performance to fail.

My best advice I can give you is get on the stage before the performance. Walk around on it. Jump around on it. Do things on it that you may be doing on that stage during your performance so that you can quickly assess any quirkiness about that stage, any of its quirks, and kind of tailor your performance around that. Maybe you find a soft spot that you want to avoid. Maybe you find a rough spot that you want to avoid because, I don't know, maybe you like to slide around on stage.

Regardless what it is you do on stage, it is important that if you're not familiar with the space that you're performing in, you get there ahead of time and you kind of walk around it. Feel it out. So that you can feel what it's going to feel like. On these pop-up stages and these makeshift handmade stages, you have got to try them before you get on them because you are going to be surprised by something that is going to be a detriment to your performance.

Hop on the stage. Give it a try. Take it for a spin. It's like a test drive. Just get in and go for a ride and keep on shining. As I've said before, before I let you go, a couple of announcements, a couple of updates. One, the free book, Confidence On Stage, Navigating into Three Levels of Stage Fright, is dropping in about 18 days, March 1st. If you'd like your free copy, go to beingonstage.com, enter your email address.

You'll get a confirmation email letting you know that you'll, you know, the e-book will make its way to your inbox on the release date. Other than that, hook up with me on social media, Instagram and Twitter. It's at beingonstage. Facebook is facebook.com slash beingonthestage. Any questions, comments, suggestions, or if you just want to let me know how I'm doing, shoot me an email, reggie at beingonstage.com.

I'd love to hear from you. I do respond to all my emails personally, so that's a plus. And please, head over to beingonstage.com, get your free copy of my e-book. Even if you don't think you suffer from stage fright, it's a free book. Can't hurt to give it a shot. Take care, everybody. Hit subscribe, drop a five-star rating on iTunes, and have a great day.