When you work corporate parties (especially in December) you will frequently encounter a dance floor between the stage and the audience. A lot of performers call this the “dance floor of death” because it’s really hard to connect with the audience when the first row is 30 feet away.
This moat between you and the audience isn’t exclusive to corporate gigs, I recently encountered it at a county fair that I was performing at. Here are two view, one is from the stage looking towards the audience and the other is from the audience looking towards the stage.
You can see my show set up on the stage, and since I was the first show of the day, I left my gear up there until just before I started to “talk up” my show. About 10 minutes before the magic show’s start time, I moved my gear to the floor and in front of the stage. That closed the gap between me and the audience.
Since the audience was seated in bleachers, I didn’t have to worry about people not being able to see things as I wasn’t on the raised stage. It worked out great and I filled the bleachers for both of my shows!
Being on the stage is a power position, but sometimes the floor can be more powerful!
-Louie