Annaleigh Ashford Quotes

Being in front of all these people staring at you and it helps you to dig down and become more emotional and get lost in it as you're feeding on people's energy.

When you're on stage you have a very strange knowledge of what the audience is. It isn't exactly a sound - it's a hum, like the streets.

My live performance, it just comes from feeling an energy and emotion from the crowd.

A performer needs and craves a live audience.

People, when they go on stage, tend to be animated and try to force things out instead of relaxing and bringing it in.

There's nothing like performing in front of a live crowd and just having people literally react to whatever it is you do, and there's nothing better than when you get that connection with the audience.

As scary as it is, I like making real, direct eye contact with people from the stage. In a sense, it's like modeling: that feeling of locking in and projecting some kind of emotion to try to captivate people.

I grew up on the side of the stage. I never had a fear of an audience. I never felt like they were separated from us. We were all in the living room, and it happens to be a big living room. I continue to operate on that assumption.

Just me onstage with a mike having an intimate relationship with the audience. I don't get nervous for that. I just get excited.

You play with the audience, and they play back with you. They get into it, and then everybody gets into it. I don't want to be like a monkey on stage and just go through the motions because then it wouldn't be fun anymore. I just pay attention to the audience and appreciate the fact that somebody wants to see us. That gets me psyched.

I don't get stage fright, I actually love the energy, I love the spontaneity, I love the adrenaline you get in front of a live audience, it actually really works for me.

Why do you act? You act for an audience. In the theatre, you're in their presence. Film stars don't know what it is to have an audience.

You've got to be like a fan at your show, just wild out. I make eye contact. I get in the crowd and kick it with 'em, stage dive, mosh. I make 'em laugh. I go out there and turn up, have fun. There's no set list; I don't have rehearsals.

When you get onstage, you can see everyone in the audience's face, down to the detail. You can see who may or may not be yawning.

Being on stage makes me come to life. When all eyes are on you, they're watching every move you make.

I just feed off the energy of the audience.

Being onstage is just a feeling that you cannot duplicate anywhere else because the energy that the audience is giving you forces you to give more energy. It's such an output and exchange of energy. You can't do that anywhere else.

There is an intimacy about the Opry Theater that gives an entertainer a special charge.

Once you step on that stage, to me, that's where I feel most comfortable - performing live. So that's something would do each and every day of my life if I could.

But I love the hot sweat. I think overheating onstage is invigorating. It's better than being comfortable. I think being comfortable is the death of a show.

Playing a stadium is a big adrenaline boost for me and I dig it. It keeps me on my toes and makes me revamp everything I'm doing and not get stagnant with how I approach every show, which is something I like.

Honestly, live is my favorite way of performing. Every show is a completely different energy.

The live setting is always better for me. I usually thrive at live. I feel like having a band behind me and being able to interact with the crowd helps boost my energy up.

I get such joy out of performing for people, and you can tell whether they like you or they don't like you the minute you walk out on the stage. And they don't even have to tell me that they had a good time. I know they had a good time.

There is no buzz like performing for a live audience.