The purpose of this essay is to expand the conceptual content of folkloric performance as a communicative phenomenon, as spoken art. Performance is seen as representing an interpretive frame, whose nature may vary. This framing is accomplished through the use of culturally conventionalized metacommunication (communication about communication), which will vary from community to community; the task of ethnography of performance is to uncover these means. The metalanguage employed in the evaluation of performance, and the esthetic standards expressed therein, constitute another essential consideration in the ethnography of performance. The association of performance with particular genres is a significant aspect of the patterning of performance within communities. Another key aspect of performance systems is the manipulation of conventional systems to fashion novel ones. The emergent quality of performance resides in the interplay between communicative resources, individual competence, and the goals of the participants, within the context of particular situations. The three kinds of structure emergent in performance are text, event, and social structure. Finally, performance by its very nature has implications for the creation of social structure in performance. This final consideration opens the way to additional considerations concerning the role of the performer in society. (Author/AM)