The overall creative process for students

In Chapter 5 ,1 suggested that the construction of a knowledge base could be seen as the preparation phase o f Wallas’ (1926) or Craft’s (2000) models o f the creative cycle.

As the observations progressed, I increasingly began to question whether creativity, at least creativity as constructed for students at the Cloud Gate Dance School, took such a simple straight-line or cyclical form, at least with such clearly delineated stages.

In one sense the structure of lessons and teaching strategies was cyclical. Following the setting o f each task, the students experimented with the concept or idea, trying out various approaches, sometimes persisting with one, sometimes changing direction in response to Chu’s guidance. Then, when they had gained an understanding o f the concept, a new element was introduced that extended what had gone before and that introduced an additional issue for them to deal with in a new activity.

For example, lesson 14 (‘Follow the Sound of the Piano’) focused on rhythm and pitch and included various activities that guided the students to recognise and react to them in different ways. An early exercise required the students to walk around the studio as Chu repeatedly played a single note on the piano, then freeze “like a statue”

when she stopped. Next, she sometimes used one key, or two together, the students having to walk and freeze, alone or with a partner. Then, she played one, two or three keys randomly. The tasks, and challenges, explorations and discovery of multiple solutions continued apace as Chu added high and low notes to the range she played.

the students having to walk, then freeze in high or low positions, singly or in groups, as appropriate. Each task presented the students with a new challenge but used the outcomes from the previous one as a starting point. Each problem was explored with a number of solutions devised, but the end of each task simply signalled the

introduction of a new element and the beginning o f a new cycle. An important difference from most models o f creativity was that each activity or problem ended not with a single visible, tangible product that could be further refined, such as a dance phrase, but with an understanding o f the best way or ways o f solving that problem.

There are parallels to the idea of understanding being an outcome o f activities in the Pre-professional course. Although students in Basic level 1 learn a number o f set exercises, the focus is very much on gaining an understanding of the body rather than the exercise per se. For example, during the ‘Swan and Ball’ exercise, the emphasis is not on each position within it, but on understanding how to achieve it and why. This was equally true in the Senior level 1 course. Although this focuses on a combination of basic codified ballet and Graham technique, many of the teacher’s comments and explanations in the lessons observed were not about what to do but about how to do it and why.

As already demonstrated, lessons were never isolated from one another. Chu often explicitly made a link to what had gone before, as, for example, when she reminded them about ‘up’ and ‘down’ before the various activities in lesson 17 (‘Poem Dance 1’). Such references were, however, always to the concept, theme or process; not to specific, visible outcomes.

Life Pulse has different temporal dimensions for the student and teacher. While Chu considered how past concepts discovered by students could be used both in the present and the future, the focus for the children was very much on the present, with, as

already noted, each experiment in an activity approached as if it was the first time.

This contrasts strongly with the emphasis on both the past and future, within the generic creativity literature and much o f that which is dance-specific and linked to the idea o f honing ideas and narrowing down outcomes towards a final product. There was, for example, no allowance for taking time away from the problem, a phase

within both Wallas’ (1926) and Craft’s (2000) models. Wallas referred to this as

‘incubation’, whereas Craft saw it as a time in which potential solutions were narrowed down and individual possibilities focused upon. The National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (1999,91) similarly suggested that

“time away from a problem may facilitate its solution.” Significantly, Abbs’ (1989) model o f creativity in the arts does not include such a stage, but instead has a time when the artist works with the medium, which parallels what happens at the School where the understanding o f concepts is facilitated by continuous experimentation in movement that is spontaneous rather than considered.

While there was no formal allowance for incubation within Life Pulse lessons, there was some evidence o f it taking place, particularly by the one boy in the class. Both Chu and I noted how he quite clearly thought about actions and suggestions before making them. For example, when everyone was sitting around the circle either discussing an activity or offering suggestions for a present task, most o f the students immediately raised their hands to speak or even just began to call ideas out. The boy was more considered. He was never the first to speak, preferring to think and to listen to everyone else before speaking up, often with ideas or movements that were

significantly different from the others. During activities, he sometimes watched others, thought about and revised ideas as in the activity when the studio was being measured with different parts o f the body described previously. Indeed, on this occasion he explicitly told Chu he had watched and thought about what the others were doing before arriving at his own solution. The literature tends to imply that incubation is over a lengthy period, but there is no reason why it cannot just last a few seconds as here.

Incubation is encouraged between lessons. For each lesson, the parent-student booklet contains suggested activities based on the lesson that students should do with others in their family. Following lesson 7, for example, the students are asked to observe how different kinds o f animals move; and observe different kinds of natural phenomena such as the wind, waves, clouds or the moon, the way they move and the shapes they make. This encourages them to revisit themes or ideas later. Chu sees such activities

as very important, primarily because it gives parents an understanding o f the course and encourages them to do activities with their child. It is a form of incubation and the students did sometimes arrive at the next lesson with new ideas based on what they had done at home. The book also contains two or three student self-assessment questions that they complete at the end of the lesson. For example, for lesson 7 there are two statements: “I can use many different kinds o f pathways” and “I can imitate different animals or people in different situations.” For each the student has to fill in a circle that represents “Good,” “OK,” or “I need to work more,” which encourages reflection and self-criticism.

The position of evaluation in the creative process at the School also differs from that in many models. Chu was constantly making judgments on what the students were doing as activities proceeded and as outcomes were produced. The students were never asked publicly to comment about experiments that were particularly successful or to remember outcomes for later presentation and assessment. This approach has some similarities with Hanstein’s (1993) cyclical model, in which there is a conscious attempt to defer judgement, with the dancer continuing to explore new ideas even if particularly effective ones have already been found or developed.

Students were making private judgements about their own work, which were sometimes articulated during an end o f activity discussion. These focused almost exclusively on the student’s voice, and on what they felt and what they particularly liked about the activity. Although Chu almost always gave encouraging and supportive comments during activities, she never looked back and gave individual post-activity feedback.

On one occasion, student judgement during an event was very clearly evidenced. In lesson 8 (‘Forwards Together’), the children were measuring the width o f the studio using their hands. Everyone began by placing the heel of one hand against the fingertips o f the other in turn. However, the boy in the class decided to restart, not only using the hands sideways but also being very careful about accuracy. He subsequently explained to Chu that he had started again in direct response to what he

had seen the others doing, saying that he wanted to do it differently and thought his new way was better.

Such opportunities and the ability to critique one’s own work is a vital part o f the creative process. McCutcheon (2006,375) considers critical thinking as part o f routine self-reflection produces learners who are more intentional in their work and gives them a greater sense of ownership, and thus relevance. She also notes how students evaluating their own dance-making can refine their domain-general critical thinking skills, especially where that evaluation is made verbally. At the School such self-criticism is usually private, except at the end o f Life Pulse lessons when each student rates their performance in the lesson in their parent-student booklet. In the UK, Smith-Autard (2002) similarly sees self-assessment, which she terms

appreciation, as important, making it clear that it constantly develops as the creative process proceeds and that includes creator-appreciation as well as viewer-appreciation.

Although cyclical models of creativity in the generic literature are helpful in

understanding the creative process, they are not a literal description of the process at the School. For example. Craft’s (2000) stages o f germination, when the idea or solution is conceived; assimilation, when it is finalised; and completion, where it is brought to fruition, are effectively simultaneous. Similarly, in Abbs’ (1993) model, three o f the five stages occur at the same time: working with the medium, realisation, and presentation and performance. ^

The same issues apply to models within dance education texts. While the processes within the separate stages identified by the Arts Council o f Great Britain (1993), Hanstein (1993), Smith-Autard (2002), McCutcheon (2006) were all present, their place within the overall cycle was blurred. Although these models focus on contexts where there is a completed dance work as a final product, the evidence from the School indicates that different conceptions of the process are possible.

In summary, while the component aspects o f a number o f cyclical models o f creativity can be seen at the School, the process has an inherent flexibility and operates beyond a given structure. The temporal dimension is central. Most theoretical models of

creativity, whether spiral or straight-line, set out the process as a number of delineated stages that occur in sequence. In Life Pulse level 5, these often occurred

simultaneously or were difficult to separate. Odena (2006) reached a similar finding during his study of creativity in music composition. Common to Odena’s study and this was the improvisational nature o f activities, although his music students did have an end product, which was not the case at the School. The evidence suggests, though, that while the essential idea of a spiral may be appropriate to dance teaching, the position and application o f each part o f the process can vary significantly between contexts. I consider it may be useful for researchers to investigate further the

temporal element in relation to other domains, although different domains may have a specific time emphasis for domain-specific reasons.

6.6 Conclusions

The improvisational strategies found within the Life Pulse course involve a continual interplay o f movement exploration, use o f kinaesthetic and narrative tasks,

imagination and sensitivity to the environment. In both Life Pulse and the Pre­

professional course the focus is on the sensing o f the body by each individual and the gaining o f a sense of self-physicality. The relationships developed are primarily between each student and his or her body, and student and process, rather than with specific outcomes. Even within the Pre-professional course, students are guided towards what Bannon and Sanderson (2000,18) call ‘moving thinkers,’ rather than solely focusing on tangible, visible outcomes and principles in a particular dance tradition. The observed positive and varied outcomes, enjoyment and value attached to the School’s lessons by students and parents, the latter’s responses given in questionnaire replies, suggests dance educators might consider how such a sense of individualism can be promoted within their teaching and whether such an approach might lead to a lessening of negative feelings o f self-worth some students feel.

The studio strategies at the School challenge the traditional roles in the dance creation process. For example, evaluation and critical assessment is usually undertaken by an audience, whether in professional theatre settings, or in education where the observers are the teacher and the dancer’s peers. Those assessments are public. Here, while the

teacher was making an assessment, it remained essentially private. What was of prime importance was not what the teacher thought, but each student’s own voice.

The students were effectively taking on all four roles o f creator; dancer; audience, in the sense o f feeling what they were doing rather than seeing; and, to some extent, critic.

The view that each o f the multiple outcomes in an activity is a creative product appears to place divergent thinking at the heart of the process. Simultaneous

acknowledgement of task constraints and appropriateness is important as it transforms what Cropley (2006,398) calls ‘pseudocreativity’ or mere novelty into ‘true

creativity.’ It is this that makes it possible to explore, criticise, assess and identify the effectiveness of the divergent outcomes, whether that assessment is by the self or by another. There is always a compromise to be made between the creation o f new ideas and appropriateness. Where that balance lies will vary according to context.

At the School, student creativity is seen as individually formed. Yet the group is important both in creating the appropriate positive affective conditions described in Chapter 5 and for group flow. This suggests educators who use groups in the creative process should consider not only group creativity, but how the energy and

unconscious dynamic that groups can generate can be harnessed to encourage the creativity of the individual.

Although the boy and the older girl in the Life Pulse class regularly experimented more widely in their movement explorations, and the boy in particular appeared to give more consideration to his actions and comments, nothing can be deduced about the role o f age or gender in the creative process: the numbers o f children in this study are far too small. Baer (2005) affirms that that both have a part to play in creativity, and that the effect of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation may be significantly different for boys than for girls.

While taking care not to overstate the importance o f the Taiwanese cultural context on the findings, the evidence from the observations resonates with the conclusions made by a number of scholars, such as Averill, Chon and Hahn (2001), that tradition and the