For me, Kissing really is a type of primal erotic communication- like a seductive dance or a dirty conversation without words! It's not something to be "performed" alone or a one-sided experience. I may kiss almost every gentleman I meet for an encounter with passion, but that doesn't mean that it's not "real" or that it's a "performance". Kissing is communication. And I am communicating EARLY in the session that I intend for it to be a passionate one. Not only that, but when I kiss a gentleman after he walks in my door I can see his eyes go wide thinking about what my talented tongue is going to do to other parts of him besides his mouth... which is quite frankly exactly what I intend to communicate!!
Kissing can set the mood so early on in an encounter. Have you ever kissed a lady and known IMMEDIATELY that you are going to have an amazing time starting from that moment until you and the lady part ways? Have you ever kissed a lady and felt her shyness or your own, knowing that there was real chemistry there but that a little warm-up and seduction was in order? We can tell a lot from the ways our lips meet and the chemistry that flows. I love to start with kissing because it tells me so much more than small-talk will. Kissing can communicate what words can not...
One of my least favorite things is when a gentleman does not share my philosophy about kissing. Again, this is not something to be discussed with words, but it can be felt in his style of kissing. Some gentleman kiss as though they are kissing an object rather than a human being, unaware of the dance that we can create together by following each other's lead, reading what the other person is enjoying, and teasing each other with our tongues and lips. Some seem to go into a meditative trance and think that french kissing involves sticking their tongue as far into my mouth as possible and wagging it enthusiastically as hard an deep as they can with absolutely no regard to whether I find this enjoyable or not. This tells me a lot right away about what kind of lover this gentleman is likely to be. If he doesn't care whether he is kissing me in a way that is enjoyable, you can bet he will have the same philosophy about DATY. Whether a gentleman shares my philosophy about kissing as communication or not, invariably some things are communicated, even if he is oblivious to them.
So yes... at some points the kissing can become a performance. It's usually at the point where I've already tried very hard to pull back, re-approach, and demonstrate the style of kissing that I enjoy, or even have gone the DATY route with the gentleman and tried to communicate what I enjoy to no avail. Then the kissing becomes preferable to the unpleasant DATY and I can only internally sigh and wonder who taught these gentlemen that shoving one's tongue into another's mouth as far deep and hard as possible is a form of true eroticism? But if the gentleman loves to kiss and isn't hurting me then the least I can do is give him his GFE fantasy that he came for. But it's at this point that the kissing becomes a performance.
The kissing when you walk through the door is just a jumpstart to the flow of chemistry. I don't need to talk to someone to know if there is there is chemistry. Looks are not exactly *irrelevant* to me, but they certainly aren't the end-all-be-all either. A deep kiss can tell me a lot about our chemistry. And if the kissing is good, because the gentleman understands that kissing is a two-way street, it can be one of the most powerful vectors for letting the chemistry flow...
I know there are some ladies who just "aren't into kissing", but for a lot of us, the kissing thing is YMMV in terms of whether we enjoy it or not. I don't need someone to have a lot of fancy skills to be considered a good kisser in my opinion. He just has to be open to the flow of erotic energy between us rather than one-track-minded regarding what to do with his tongue.
When a gentleman tells me I'm a good kisser, I almost always respond that It Takes Two to Tango, baby! And I really mean it. I love kissing a gentleman who is a good kisser. And while everyone enjoys a slightly different style of kissing, it's all about the ebb and flow of learning what your partner likes and giving them a taste of your own erotic style.