Re-posted from Yasmin's blog:
Conversations on Dance: Inspiration, the Creative Habit, and the Artistic Journey
I just realized that inspiration is a synonym for inhalation. Never quite thought about it that way.
1. (noun) inspiration
arousal of the mind to special unusual activity or creativity
Synonyms: divine guidance, breathing in, intake, aspiration, inhalation, brainchild, stirring
Note to self: Next time I'm feeling uninspired on my creative journey, take a deep breath.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Miwa Matreyek's Glorious Visions
Re-posted from Yasmin's blog:
Conversations on Dance: Inspiration, the Creative Habit, and the Artistic Journey
Miwa Matreyek, I salute you. I salute your imagination. I also salute your uncanny ability to share the world within your heart to anyone who is fortunate to see your magic.
To those who have not seen the creative mystery of Miwa Matreyek, take eleven minutes to watch this video of illusion and reality, of movement and shapes within the medium of experimental animation, video projection, music, and performance art. Even after multiple viewings, Matreyek continues to strike me with her imagination, presentation and storytelling. The goddess spirit in her glorious vision reminds me how it was, how it is, and how it can be.
The video projection technique Matreyek uses and the process of inserting herself in the animation and story is fascinating and fantastical. Imagine how utterly amazing this technique would be to tell the stories within One Thousand and One Nights. I also am inspired to incorporate this projection technique into a performance of belly dance to enhance the dance movement with luscious colors, organic shapes, stories, silhouettes, and far away memories.
Yes, this is another TED talk. I've said it before and I will say it again: TED, how I love thee!
Conversations on Dance: Inspiration, the Creative Habit, and the Artistic Journey
Miwa Matreyek, I salute you. I salute your imagination. I also salute your uncanny ability to share the world within your heart to anyone who is fortunate to see your magic.
To those who have not seen the creative mystery of Miwa Matreyek, take eleven minutes to watch this video of illusion and reality, of movement and shapes within the medium of experimental animation, video projection, music, and performance art. Even after multiple viewings, Matreyek continues to strike me with her imagination, presentation and storytelling. The goddess spirit in her glorious vision reminds me how it was, how it is, and how it can be.
The video projection technique Matreyek uses and the process of inserting herself in the animation and story is fascinating and fantastical. Imagine how utterly amazing this technique would be to tell the stories within One Thousand and One Nights. I also am inspired to incorporate this projection technique into a performance of belly dance to enhance the dance movement with luscious colors, organic shapes, stories, silhouettes, and far away memories.
Yes, this is another TED talk. I've said it before and I will say it again: TED, how I love thee!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Amy Tan on Creativity
Re-posted from Yasmin's blog: Conversations on Dance: Inspiration, the Creative Habit, and the Artistic Journey
Oh, TED, how I love thee. Technology, Entertainment and Design. Three of my favorite topics merged into, among other outlets, annual conferences and a free online video website of short talks by domain experts that make you go 'hmmmmm." I could peruse TED for hours on end and get my mind and heart poked, prodded and inspired. The TED video in this post is Amy Tan's humorous exploration and explanation of her creative process.
Amy Tan is a Chinese-American writer who penned several best-selling novels, including The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God's Wife. Mother/Daughter relationships are a central theme in The Joy Luck Club and also a central theme in her TED talk about developing her creativity.
Other constants on her creative path include synchronicity, uncertainty, moral ambiguity, chance and experience. She poses open-ended questions about where creativity might come from. Could it perhaps stem from a muse chromosome, some cosmic enlightenment, experience from past lives, childhood trauma, identity crisis, and/or neurological quirks such as psychosis or depression?
Once again, creativity's shadowy companion seems to be some shade of fear. If you visit Amy Tan's website, you'll find a section called Anxiety Tip of the Day with the caption "Don't worry, Be Anxious." In the following two quotes from Amy Tan, her fears include The Internal Censor and Anxiety. Who hasn't felt these particular shadowy companions?
1. "When I say we, I don't mean you necessarily... I mean me and my right brain, my left brain and the one that's in between that is the censor and tells me what I'm saying is wrong."
2. "There are at least eleven levels of anxiety and they all operate at the same time."
She ends her talk with conviction in hints from the universe and the lack of an absolute truth. Uncertainty is a good thing, she says. This is supported by the title of Tan's website blog "Blur of the Moment: Lack of Clarity is a Writer's Truth." The more Tan is aware of serendipitous events, the more of them occur and the greater focus she receives as she searches for particles of truth. Not an absolute truth, mind you, but particles of truth.
Oh, TED, how I love thee. Technology, Entertainment and Design. Three of my favorite topics merged into, among other outlets, annual conferences and a free online video website of short talks by domain experts that make you go 'hmmmmm." I could peruse TED for hours on end and get my mind and heart poked, prodded and inspired. The TED video in this post is Amy Tan's humorous exploration and explanation of her creative process.
Amy Tan is a Chinese-American writer who penned several best-selling novels, including The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God's Wife. Mother/Daughter relationships are a central theme in The Joy Luck Club and also a central theme in her TED talk about developing her creativity.
Other constants on her creative path include synchronicity, uncertainty, moral ambiguity, chance and experience. She poses open-ended questions about where creativity might come from. Could it perhaps stem from a muse chromosome, some cosmic enlightenment, experience from past lives, childhood trauma, identity crisis, and/or neurological quirks such as psychosis or depression?
Once again, creativity's shadowy companion seems to be some shade of fear. If you visit Amy Tan's website, you'll find a section called Anxiety Tip of the Day with the caption "Don't worry, Be Anxious." In the following two quotes from Amy Tan, her fears include The Internal Censor and Anxiety. Who hasn't felt these particular shadowy companions?
1. "When I say we, I don't mean you necessarily... I mean me and my right brain, my left brain and the one that's in between that is the censor and tells me what I'm saying is wrong."
2. "There are at least eleven levels of anxiety and they all operate at the same time."
She ends her talk with conviction in hints from the universe and the lack of an absolute truth. Uncertainty is a good thing, she says. This is supported by the title of Tan's website blog "Blur of the Moment: Lack of Clarity is a Writer's Truth." The more Tan is aware of serendipitous events, the more of them occur and the greater focus she receives as she searches for particles of truth. Not an absolute truth, mind you, but particles of truth.
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