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“[Performing] makes me feel like the world is on fire, and everything is amazing”

Amare Swierc (left) and her mother, Susan Frauenglass Swierc (right).

As a part of the 2022 StoryCorps mobile tour, a mother (Susan Frauenglass Swierc) asks her daughter (Amare Swierc) how she feels when she performs.

Susan Frauenglass Swierc: How do you feel when you’re performing?

Amare Swierc: I think it’s hard to find words to describe it, because there’s no real... There’s no real feeling like it that I’ve encountered in my life. I mean, the obvious choice in my brain is: I have this very specific moment, when I was performing in the World Expo Dubai of 2020. And it was the last performance, and the crowd was very full, and I walked on stage to do my solo, and I just, you could just feel the energy flowing into you from the crowd, and all of the smiles, and the music is just drumming in your ears, and you just feel infinite. There’s no—there’s nothing to describe it. It’s hard to feel that way, but you just feel like you can do anything.

I mean, being seen is the obvious thing. Like, you want people to enjoy what you’re presenting to them; you want to you want them to acknowledge the way that you are conveying this emotion or this act, whatever you’re doing. It’s just—and then the feeling that you get when people actually do enjoy it, and they notice that you’re doing something amazing. It’s—it makes you... Well, it makes me feel like the world is almost like on fire, and it’s just everything is amazing.

Susan Frauenglass Swierc: Well, those are some beautiful words to describe it.

Amare Swierc: Amare Swierc: [Laughs]

Susan Frauenglass Swierc: That was great. Yeah.

The 2022 StoryCorps mobile tour is recording at the Missoula Public Library, giving Missoulians the opportunity to preserve their conversations and stories for future generations. StoryCorps Missoula is brought to you in part by Clearwater Credit Union, Partners Creative, and Montana State Fund.

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