A performance is a human-made event in which a work — theatrical, musical, dance, or otherwise — is organized, rehearsed, and presented before an audience. It persists as a structured practice through notation, score, choreography, and staging conventions that transmit the form across time and performers. [formal: exhibitio | substrate: behavior | horizon: a moment | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
performance
A performance is a human-made event in which a work — theatrical, musical, dance, or otherwise — is organized, rehearsed, and presented before an audience. It persists as a structured practice through notation, score, choreography, and sta…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made activity in which a work — theatrical, musical, dance, or otherwise — is organized and presented before an audience. Built to persist as a structured event with rehearsed components, stagecraft, and temporal boundaries, making it a repeatable human construct across cultures.
Names and aliases
- performanceen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Relations to this entry
- cms57aqjf013di9iqgykcyweb← INSTANCE_OF
curtain-call IS a specific kind of performance moment — a structured return to the stage for acknowledgment. The note pins the sense: curtain-call as a performance event/convention, not merely a gesture. Law 9: a competent speaker calls a curtain-call 'a performance' (specifically, the post-show acknowledgment performance).
- cmrclzsfo000r9kqsdd8rwd5o← INSTANCE_OF
Theater IS a specific kind of performance — a staged dramatic work presented to an audience. A competent speaker would call theater a type of performance. Per Law 9. Test: is theater a specific case of the general 'performance'? Yes.
- cms540de200tai9iq4b36s9ee← SERVES
An overture is designed and maintained for the sake of performance — it serves as an introductory piece that sets the stage for a larger performance. Law 8d: servant (overture)→master (performance). Purpose test passes: the overture exists to serve the performance.
- cms6nt1ya00ax106q17pkg3ro← DERIVED_FROM
Performance as a human practice predates improvisation as a recognized technique. Direction: performance existed first and fed into improvisation. Improvisation emerged FROM performance traditions in music, theater, and dance.
- cms6nt1ya00ax106q17pkg3ro← SERVES
Improvisation as a technique is built for the sake of performance. It exists within and serves performance practice across music, theater, and dance.
- cms3mblla0011l3bmocnmkcl3← INSTANCE_OF
Circus is a specific kind of performance art involving acrobatics, comedy, and spectacle. A competent speaker would classify it as 'a performance'. Nearest kind: performance (accepted). Epoch test: circus and performance are roughly contemporaneous but performance is the broader category.
- cms3mctww003rl3bmyqey7nv8← INSTANCE_OF
A concert is a specific kind of performance — a live musical performance before an audience. A competent speaker would call a concert a performance. Per Law 9, specific→general.
- cms57aqjf013di9iqgykcyweb← SERVES
A curtain call is maintained for the sake of performance. Its designed purpose is to complete the performance experience: to acknowledge the audience, signal the end, and create the shared moment of gratitude between performer and spectator. Remove the performance — the curtain call loses its reason for existing. The servant (curtain call) points at the master (performance).
- cmsuhind0006u3ilrv085tqa5← SERVES
A concert hall is architecturally and acoustically designed and maintained for the sake of musical performance; remove performance and the hall's purpose collapses.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 28, 2026, 8:58 PM UTC
- Content hash
- 64c46f92633b50beeac58879ae7c0f5e98e75761477916d1e488dde1b1d3be1d