Q. I am a performer and would like to use short video clips (from YouTube) as part of a performance. Does this fall under Fair Use?
If the clips you intend to use are under copyright you must follow YouTube's Community Guidelines. Under section 4 of these guidelines, it specifically states that permission must be gained from YouTube if you are selling access to the service. In the event you are selling tickets to the production, it could be construed as selling access to YouTube. The Guidelines also say that the use of the videos is for your personal use only.
It might be best if you contact YouTube to gain permission to use these very tiny clips from the videos. Please be aware that YouTube may not have the ability to give permission for videos that were posted without permission from the original copyright holder, such as clips from television shows or videos that include copyrighted music as background. In this case, you will need to contact the original copyright owner for permission.
To determine whether or not the use is covered by Fair Use, there is an excellent starting point for analyzing any common copyright issue known as the five-step Fair Use Evaluator, which is a tool developed by the Michael Brewer and American Library Association Office for Information Technology Policy. We recommend that you use this tool to conduct your own analysis to determine if the use is fair. This may inform how you phrase your query to YouTube or the copyright owner if you choose to contact them.