photo credit: purpleslog

If you have been visiting this site for any length of time you know that I love improvisation. In fact, I’m beginning to realize that quotes from a number of disciplines are applicable to dance.

Perhaps this is because dance is life…

In this post I dissect a quote that reveals the key to improvisation!

Abraham Maslow is an important figure in the world of Psychology. He is most famous for studying man’s “hierarchy of needs” which posits that as lower order needs are satisfied (food, safety, etc.), people move on to working on filling higher needs (ex. self-actualization). While traveling to New York to tap dance recently I was reading his book entitled “Toward a Psychology of Being” when I came upon this statement:

“Only the flexibly creative person can really manage future, only the one who can face novelty with confidence and without fear”

This statement seemed to leap from the page for me. He could just as easily been referring to the characteristics necessary to engage improvisation. After all, improvisation is also an attempt to “manage the future” in a way!

The first thing inexperienced students say when asked to improvise is “I don’t know what to do”, as they are overwhelmed by the limitless possibilities.

Unwittingly Abraham Maslow has laid out a framework for dance improvisation; creative flexibility, openness to novelty, & courage.

“Only the flexibly creative person can manage future…”

Rigidity is not helpful in improvisation. When you’re first starting out, rigidity will limit your improvisation and sap your confidence eventually causing you to quit. Experienced improvisers must also guard against rigidity less they communicate that rigidity to their audience and appear slightly uncomfortable in performance.

On top of that, rigidity can lock dancers into repeating steps and rhythms over and over again, impairing growth and possibly leading to creative burnout.

“Only…one who can face novelty with confidence…”

Novel ideas are one of the first fruits of dance improvisation. The more free you become in your dancing the more likely you are to stumble upon steps and ideas that are new to you as well as your teachers. Embracing this novelty requires confidence as you will likely be tempted to judge rather than embrace what you are discovering.

‘Only…one who can face novelty…without fear.”

Fear prevents more dancers from improvising than any other factor. I always like to tell people that “the reason you can’t improvise is because you don’t”. The only thing that separates those who do, from those who don’t is the willingness to experiment in their dancing.

By attending to these three aspects of dancing creatively, you will grow as a dancer and experience this art form as freedom! Your audiences will then experience the same!

I have written a series of articles designed to help you move past the fear of improvisation and am currently putting the finishing touches on a training DVD on the same topic.

The exercises I share helped to move me beyond the fear and I know they can do the same for you.

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 8:13 am and is filed under Dance, Performances, Tap Resources, Tap/Life Lessons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.