Fear and Trembling

If as educators we are serious about developing a performative pedagogy, then we must be prepared to embrace the full spectrum of emotions involved in aesthetic processes, including "negative" or unpleasant emotions such as anxiety, fear of failure and embarrassment, even sadness and anger. The following essay explores the role of such "negative" emotions in aesthetic processes, particularly where performance is concerned, and sketches out a conceptual framework based upon the anthropological notion of initiation, in which such emotions can be seen to have an important place in performative teaching and learning. The full and authentic embodiment of this understanding in the classroom, however, requires that teachers themselves be given practical, experiential training in aesthetic processes involving performance. Teaching itself, in other words, must first be seen in its correct light as a performing art. 1