The Creative Brain
After reading Jo Morris' blog post about an article in The Guardian about Twyla Tharp, it got me thinking about how an amateur dancer is able to be more creative than a professional as they are not bound by the ideas, styles and techniques taught when we train to become professional dancers.
Tharp has made a career by working with mostly classically trained dancers of very high calibre. Would she have had such a successful career if she had only every worked with amateurs? Or would she be at even greater heights if she had? I believe her theory that "amateurs make the best dancers" runs true in the sense of creativeity.
I was not able to leave a comment on Jo's blog, I thought that it would be interesting to see if Tharp created a work on amateur dancers and then transferred it to a professional company, how different the two versions would be and what limits/obstacles that two groups would meet.
Following this, I watched a Netflix documentary called The Creative Brain, which looks into how humans are evolved to be creative and that our brains need stimulation and challenge. In specialising our learning, we start to limit our creativity. As our specialisation becomes more and more precise, our ability to step outside the boundaries becomes harder.
I began to think about my methodology and how I have developed my way of thinking. Why have I become set in my ways and maybe, by being creative, I can have a better understanding of my specialisation if I firstly, look at why my methodology is so important to me and secondly, be creative to push the boundaries and see what else is possible.
The show had three tips to being more creative:-
- Try something new. Challenge yourself to get off the path of least mental resistance.
- Push Boundaries. Aim to create something that's new, but not too new, something unfamiliar, but not too unfamiliar. Somewhere in between.
- Dont be afraid to fail. Most genius ideas come from past failures.
Hi Jacob,
ReplyDeleteI think that being an amateur in something can bring new thoughts and new approaches that helps to keep the wheels of creativity turning. In the position of finding a specialization, the ability to approach your curiosity with a free and open mind does enable more creative thinking to take place but that’s not always easy when you feel like you are looking for answers.
Twyla Tharp is inspiring in her approaches to creativity and she really makes you think about how the whole process.
Thanks for sharing the link to the documentary.
It's an interesting take on how having fresh eyes can allow you to explore more possibilities. For sure its got me thinking about my methodological philosophies and how I can look anthem with fresh eyes.
DeleteHi Jacob,
ReplyDeleteI had an experience to work with quite a lot interesting and passionate amateurs who were sometimes more into the "thing" and the process, had that sense of creativity than some professionals. I was surprised in a good way how they can motivate me and gives me new and fresh ideas ans stimulate even my movement methodology. It is quite impressive work with them cause they somehow care, they are enthusiastic with the topic, discipline, cognition and maybe out of boundaries of every day drill who acquires a lot of techniques, , precision, conditioning, real hardwork and they are supposed to do exactly what they are asked for. I definitely agree that we need to step outside the boundaries and look from different angles to being more creative. Every single being is creative, and we as a teachers, leaders, instructors we ought to have kind of tool how to extract that from them. We need set up for a different toolkit, we need to explore, apply different skills, sometimes re-pattern the way of teaching and focus less on end product.
Hello Sandra,
DeleteInteresting to mention not focusing too much on the end product. I understand that focusing on the end product can limit us, however in the documentary they discuss how using a different method to achieve the same goal is also a method of being creative in an original way. In varying how you go about attaining the final goal you can possibly discover better ways to end up there. Sometimes viewing a problem from an amateur point of view allows us to see a more clear path to the end goal.
Hi Jacob,
ReplyDeleteAn interesting read, creativity can be displayed in many forms cant it. As professionals now, It is hard to remember in our working practices that we were all amateurs once. Thinking from that mind set is an interesting viewpoint. I believe you never stop learning and you can always see things from a differing perspectives.
Absolutely! We were amateurs, until we specialise to a point where we are restricted by the rules set by our technique. By using a different perspective we are able to create new styles of dance. As you mentioned in your blog about Jerome Robbins, in reinventing his style we create a new concept (as I'm sure he did when he choreographed a new work). It's about being brave to step outside the mould, even if it's taking a different route to get the same result.
DeleteHi Jacob, an interesting read and something that I have been thinking about as part of my research. If a dancer has trained to move to a vocational school with the ambition of becoming a professional, have they been restricted creatively by conforming to the requirements of a syllabus and subsequent exams? Maybe the amateur dancer has the passion for creativity and freedom of expression without the constraints of following a particular style or the rigidity of syllabus requirements or , indeed, the required style of a choreographer. There is a great video on TedTalks from Wayne McGregor where he discusses and demonstrates a choreographers creative process and uses two dancers to demonstrate. Although they may be professionals he gives them the freedom of individual interpretation of his ideas. An interesting concept.
ReplyDeleteHello Kym!
DeleteIt does get you thinking! I remember there was an episode of The Voice, where Jeniffer Hudson gave advice to a contestant who was vocally classically trained "to stop", because it "could be stripping you of your own originality". In vocational dance training we are taught to conform and yet we need the freedom in order to grow. Its a huge conflict that I have often wondered about, as some students were always taught to develop their own abilities (Normally the favourites). But is this a European method, as when you see other schools, for example in America and South America, students are trained to do what makes them both feel good and look good. They are trained to be stars.
Hi Jacob, an interesting read and something that I have been thinking about as part of my research. If a dancer has trained to move to a vocational school with the ambition of becoming a professional, have they been restricted creatively by conforming to the requirements of a syllabus and subsequent exams? Maybe the amateur dancer has the passion for creativity and freedom of expression without the constraints of following a particular style or the rigidity of syllabus requirements or , indeed, the required style of a choreographer. There is a great video on TedTalks from Wayne McGregor where he discusses and demonstrates a choreographers creative process and uses two dancers to demonstrate. Although they may be professionals he gives them the freedom of individual interpretation of his ideas. An interesting concept.
ReplyDelete