Performance Concept

The concept of my final performance is my first day at Holderness. I remember being 14 years old, driving north to school. It was my first experience at boarding school. I remember feeling extremely nervous, because the entire situation came very abruptly. I never planned on attending a boarding school, but after I won the USASA national championship, my mom and dad realized Holderness would be the best place for me to find success academically and athletically. This event is significant to me because not students throughout the country attend boarding school for all four years of high school. It is very common for students to repeat this freshmen or sophomore year at a boarding school, so they have matured a little before leaving home.

Every college student remembers the first at school. For many, it is very emotional because they are being dropped off by their parents, and won’t see them for awhile. However, my first day at college could not have been easier, because I had been going through this experience for four years. The transition was extremely easy. A few emotions I hope to instill on my audience is the excitement of their first day of college, but having that feeling at the age of 14. At the age of 14, I was much more nervous to be dropped off at school. I want to invoke the emotion of going to a new place, and not knowing anyone. Every student remembers meeting his or her roommate, but I was assigned a roommate I had previously known. I immediately lost the excitement of meeting a new person that I would be living with for the year.

I feel an effective way to instill these emotions on the audience is by having everyone close their eyes and really focus on that first day of college. I want everyone to feel that excitement and nervousness. Then I want to combine that emotion and confusion into a high school setting, of a 14 year old. I could also find sounds of students moving into the dorms to help instill the emotion of moving into a dorm. Overall, I want the audience to feel the nervousness and excitement of that first day of college, but adding the confusion and eagerness of the first day of high school.