Originality's dance
| Objective: To wake up your creative and thinking energy with totally original moves! |
Duration: 1 à 15 minutes
Material:
- A timer
- Your body and mind
- Space to move
Instructions:
- Time yourself. Set a timer for one (1) minute on a watch, smartphone or kitchen timer! If you don't have a tool to measure time, don't panic! You can simply count to 60 in your head.
- Make original poses. Once the timer starts, make as many original poses in a row as possible!
- Think about your experience. After you catch your breath, you can ask yourself: How did it go? Was it easy or hard to come up with so many original poses? What does it actually mean to be original? Does originality exist? And if so, is it possible to be completely original?
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Bonus: If you still feel like moving, here's an extra mission! Inspired by the series of poses you've just invented, try to choreograph originality’s dance! For each movement you choreograph, think of a reason to explain or justify why it represents the concept of originality. For inspiration, imagine that you have to mimic the concept for another person to guess. What gestures could help them discover the mystery idea? |
| Tricks for tots: It’s difficult to know if you repeat the same movement if you can’t see yourself! To help you with your dance of originality, place yourself in front of a mirror and observe each pose or move. Then, for fun, ask a family member to act as your mirror. While facing each other, they should mirror exactly what you are doing! Do you think this is original? Why or why not? |
Tips for teens: Are you feeling uninspired to create so many original poses? What if you tried to do the opposite! Find a choreography online and try to reproduce it. Can we be original if we copy someone else? Is the process of recreating—through reproduction, remix, sampling, etc.—less valuable than creating? If so, what are the implications for "recreation" artists, such as hip hop dancers, graffiti artists or fashion designers? Is originality important to be creative? Why or why not? |
Share your creative reflections by sending them via email.
Include photos of your projects and notes of your thoughts, as well as your first name and your age!
