Performance describes the act of bringing into physical 'real' life an action or activity that you had intended to carry out. In any performance, the questions arises as to how one could achieve the best and most effective outcome.

Performers devote considerable time to physical practice as well as mental rehearsal and planning. However, even after allowing for their present physical condition and for an objective assessment of their current state of practice, almost all performers recognise that there often remains an execution discrepancy, or execution gap, between what they had intended and their actual achieved result.

There are also times when the actual achieved result, a breakthrough experience, far exceeds what was intended or expected. The territory where the performer deals with performance gaps and breakthrough experiences presents to him or her one of the toughest navigational challenges. For performers, the Alexander Technique provides excellent tools for successful navigation of this difficult territory, leading to increasingly consistent performance in terms of dwindling performance gaps and frequent breakthrough experiences.