Guest Speaker
Today we have a guest speaker Kate in class and she gave us a really interesting lesson, which we made movements and tried to follow others movements. From this activity, I learned the importance to share your inner thoughts and express them with your movements. Kate said communication and connection with your partners play critical roles in one's creative life.What's important?
1. Indentify your creativity ritual.
Tharp starts her day by taking a cab to the gym. She says that having a ritual makes it a habit and for her, getting in the cab is the first very important step. She needs to be literally warmed up to get creative and her time at the gym does just that.
The ritual can be as simple as lighting a candle or putting on music. It is a symbol that it is time to do your creative work.
2. Combining Ideas.
3. Education and hard work.
4. Scratch ideas.
We often think that to be creative you have to come up with something brand new, out of thin air; something never done before. Yet, really those brand new things are often just new ways of combining or connecting what has been done before. Scratching for ideas can seem like you are appropriating someone else’s work (which of course you should not do), but there is a subtle difference. Others’ ideas can serve as inspiration for your own.Tharp cites Harvard psychologist Stephen Kosslyn, in presenting four ways to act on an idea – generate it (from memory or experience), retain it, inspect it, and finally transform it.
What's new?
1. Find a spine.
The spine we’re talking about here is the original thought or basis for your creative project. When you start to get off track, go back to the spine to help you stay on course. For Tharp, the spine is a tool. It is not the message, but it keeps her on message. She suggests finding the spine of your creative work with the help of a friend or co-worker, through music, or by remembering your original intentions and clarifying your goals.
2. Be aware of what distracts you and give it up for a while.
If you get your important creative work done first, there is usually plenty of time to do the rest of it. This requires deciding what the important work is, and setting realistic deadlines for it. Tharp suggests eliminating your persistent distractions from your life – temporarily at least, and see how your work is affected. For example, give up TV or movies or background music, whatever is your biggest distraction, for a week. How does it affect the quantity and quality of your work?
3.Know when you’re in a rut and know how to get out of it.
To Tharp, a rut is different from a creative block. It’s more like a false start. You know something’s not working, whether you want to admit it or not. This could be the result of a bad original idea, or bad luck, or sticking to past methods when new ones are required. To deal with a rut, the first step is to admit you’re in one. Often, spinning your wheels, or letting pessimism creep in, are signals that you’re in a rut. She suggests brainstorming as a way to come up with a new idea, and get past old habits. Also, challenging your initial assumptions and then acting on those challenges is another way. She warns against over working and over tinkering. Know when to stop for the day, always leaving something on the table for the next day.
What's to do?
Scratching and Approach.
