Students in an English Language Arts class had been reading, writing and discussing the concept of happiness. Their final task was to write a poem to describe happiness.
After struggling to write down their thoughts, these two students asked their teacher if they could perform a dance instead of writing a poem to express their ideas about happiness. The teacher agreed.
The students wanted to express the idea that “Happiness is a journey, not a destination.” This quote was the source of inspiration for their song choice, “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus, and their subsequent choreography. They drew on their personal experiences about happiness and asked themselves, “How much do we really reveal of ourselves to others?” and “Do we actually show our ‘true colours’ or do we fake being happy?” They decided their choreography should show an individual’s struggle to negotiate between inner and outer worlds.
They showed their initial dance to their teacher who said that the dance did not actually tell a story, that yes, it showed someone at school who was happy, but it didn’t actually portray the conflict that these girls were trying to show.
They scrapped their initial plan and started again. They said that their final piece took listening, re-listening and reworking the dance over several days. In the end, one dancer portrayed the individual and the other her conscious or inner voice. They hoped that their dance would influence and impact others in showing that it is okay to embrace how you are truly feeling and that happiness is really about how you live your life – the good and the bad parts.
They both described the creative process as fun but hard work. They said that dancing allowed them to self-express in a way that would not have been possible had they had to write a poem. They said it was the same amount of effort, if not more, to create the dance but they felt grateful that they didn’t have to sit down to write out their thoughts because they “don’t like sitting still.” They were very proud of their dance.
The girls have gone on to choreograph a piece to the song “True Colours” to show the girl in the dance coming to terms with putting up a front, and embracing how she is really feeling with her friends.
I can get new ideas, or reinterpret others’ ideas, in ways that have an impact on my peers.
I get ideas that are new to my peers. My creative ideas are often a form of self-expression for me. I have deliberate strategies for quieting my conscious mind; e.g., walking away for a while, doing something relaxing, being deliberately playful, so that I can be more creative. I use my experiences with various steps and attempts to direct my future work.