unleashing your creative beast
How many of you guys actually want to maximize your creativity as a dancer?
I beg the obvious because some people are perfectly satisfied with doing the body movements over and over again and using a set of “cool moves” to use out in the nightclub -over and over again.
If that’s the case, this is not for you. This is for those not satisfied with the basics of dance and want to actually express their creative being.
The good news is that we are all creative by nature as human. But socialization creates a set of rules we begin to live by as we age. You react a certain way in this situation, you stand this way when this person is around, don’t express emotion in public, don’t dance that way, people are watching etc.
Socialization itself is a good thing. You can’t throw a temper tantrum in the middle of Wal-Mart because they ran out of Twinkies. Thank goodness.
It seems like society gives you the rules to express impulses and along the same lines, your dance instructor gives you another set of rules. Don’t let the aesthetic guidelines of a dance become sub-conscious habits.
And don’t try to fool me in class by saying “I am aware of what I am doing.” You see, that music shifted 20 times and your movement style stayed the same. I caught you in the act because I know you and I know you come to class to get better. You came to Paso and you want to be a complete dancer, not a robot.
Warning: Unquestioned habits will kill you as a creative dancer.
Fear not. Becoming a creative dancer involves nothing more than removing assumptions that you have grown comfortable with.
In one of our intermediate classes the other day, I watched first hand as I questioned and tore down their assumptions about how they move their body:
“Why do you have to move both shoulders?”
“Who says, you have to start your dance with two hands?”
“Who says you can’t dance stiff?”
“Who says you must dance upright?”
“Who says your arms need to be in front while dancing”
“Who says your close position needs to be like that?”
Stripping off all of these assumptions, the movements that resulted were amazing! I was watching real dancers in action. They fell out of habits -”basic steps”, mundane shoulder movements- and begin to change everything at will.
I now understand that most people don’t even realize they are moving the same way because they just don’t even realize, period!!
Questions to help take you out of the box.
#1 “With the way I am moving my body right now, what assumptions am I making?”
#2 “What can I do to give myself more options?”
Give it a try.
There is nothing wrong with the rules, patterns, and structures of dance. They help create context and a unified language. In the beginning, they are VERY useful for learning the foundations.
But dancing with the same steps, texture, facial expression and posture without being aware of it can wreak havoc when it’s time to be creative within the limits of your particular style of dance.
All of you have tremendous potential as creative dancers, but YOU just need to be made aware of it.
Related posts:
- what are some good and bad habits in dance?
- how to be creative with a gun to your head.
- musicality made simple: becoming aware of change.
