This article analyses the meanings of performance for poor children and young people who are part of a governmental project of musical education, the "Projeto Guri". Performance gives visibility to the actors and to the institution. In performance, identities are defined. In and for performance, self-images are created. Performance is a space of transformation. Being on stage is an exceptional exercise of alterity. In Guri Project (Projeto Guri), to perform is understood as the main part of the pedagogical process, as a privileged moment to present what was learned, rehearsed and embodied. It's also, at the same time, an opportunity to know new places and persons, it's a "way out to the world", as said by young boys under custody of Febem, a reformatory institution, students at Guri.
anthropology of performance; music; performance; social intervention