Igniting Creativity: The Power of Limits
Watching one of the couples competing on Dancing With The Stars last night provided yet another example of how limits can serve as the spark that ignites our creativity.
I have written in the past on the link between limits and creativity, and it remains be a topic of great interest to me. Read, for example, the following quote from a previous article of mine, Finding Flow on the Dance Floor, Part 2: Social Dance as Game:
This liberating feeling of spontaneous creation would not be possible without a structure. Social dance is based on the existence of rules, including the rhythmical structure of the music, the movement parameters of the dance, the unspoken rules that govern communication between leader and follower, and the spatial limitations on the dance floor when in proximity with other couples. Every dancer must begin with the basic rules and structure of the dance before they can progress to intermediate and advanced concepts. Even through the advanced level, however, there is a basic structure that must be maintained in order to make communication on the dance floor possible. This structure, instead of stifling the creative flow, actually provides greater opportunity for expression and creativity in the dance.
Stephen Nachmanovitch expressed this concept beautifully in his book, Free Play: “Structure ignites spontaneity,” he writes. “Limits yield intensity. When we play … by our self-chosen rules, we find that containment of strength amplifies strength. Commitment to a set of rules (a game) frees your play to attain a profundity and vigor otherwise impossible. Igor Stravinsky writes: ‘The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one’s self of the chains that shackle the spirit . . . and the arbitrariness serves only to obtain precision of execution.’ Working within the limits of the medium forces us to change our own limits. Improvisation is not breaking with forms and limitations just to be ‘free,’ but using them as the very means of transcending ourselves. If form is mechanically applied, it may indeed result in work that is conventional, if not pedantic or stupid. But form used well can become the very vehicle of freedom, of discovering the creative surprises that liberate mind-at-play.”
A wonderful example of this happened last night when professional ballroom dancer Derek Hough had to choreograph a paso doble from the ‘50s to perform with his celebrity partner, Nicole Scherzinger. The dance and the decade seemed to be at odds with each other, creating quite a choreographic challenge. Instead of giving up on finding a way to connect the two, as another professional dancer had done earlier in the show, Derek accepted the “limit” he was given and pushed through the initial creative block that is characteristic of creating through limits to choreograph a brilliant routine and give a thrilling performance (watch it through the embedded YouTube video above).
Since I started researching and meditating on this concept, it seems that I find it everywhere in the world of dance. This is one of many examples, but I enjoy how the opening scene captures the process that Derek went through. As talented and experienced as he is, he still finds challenging limits that serve to stretch him as an artist and perhaps even provide him with one of those exhilerating experiences of flow. No matter what level we are at in our own dancing life, we can surely do the same. Here are a few more words from my article to drive the point home:
The ultimate goal of taking on the challenges that the rules of dance present is not just to reach that balance [between challenge and skill] but to push the limits of what is possible for our bodies and our minds within our dance form. Susan A. Jackson and Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi, in their study of flow, found that a stretching of the individual and their limits was required in order for the intersection of challenge and skill to bring about a peak experience. Part of the magic of flow is the libration of feeling as though one is transcending the laws of the dance even while obeying them, of expressing oneself so freely even when – or perhaps because – one is given limitations to move and think within.
In Effortless Mastery, Kenny Werner wrote, “Don’t forget: music is just something we made up. It doesn’t actually exist as anything but a game for us.” The same can be said about dance, the body and mind’s response to music. Because it has a set of rules and provides a mental and physical challenge, and because it encourages a progressive development of skill and reaches for greater possibility within the boundaries, dance fits into the category of game. Viewing dance as a game, rather than trivializing it, actually elevates it to a path of self-discovery, expression, creativity, and transcendence. With rules and challenges to provide focus for our imagination, social dance allows the individual and the couple to push the limits of their potential to reach a higher level. That higher level, or flow, is the true social dancer’s endgame.
Here’s wishing all my readers and friends plenty of limits to fuel their creative fires. Enjoy!
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