HOW TO IMPROVE OUR CREATIVITY (From Callerlink 093 - April 1993)
By: Jeff Garbutt, Western Australia 

CREATIVITY

In our unique field of modern square dancing, creativity is a valuable, (some would say an essential), skill. The caller who can consistently invent clever and interesting dance sequences will always attract the attention of dancers. But what is creativity, and how do we gain this skill?

WHAT IS CREATIVITY?


Creativity or creative thinking is the relating of things or ideas which were previously unrelated. Creative thinking is a process which leads to many ideas, but not necessarily workable solutions - as opposes to analytical thinking which leads to one unique solution (or a few solutions).

Analytical thinking is logical and can be learnt. Creative thinking requires imaginations and must be "rediscovered".

We all have natural creative ability, but as we grow we are conditioned towards analytical thinking by our education systems and subsequent professional lives. Our creative abilities are buried and barriers are established which hinder us reaching our natural creativity.

BARRIERS TO CREATIVITY

In order to improve our creativity, we have to learn to recognise the barriers that do exist, and then remove them. The following is a summary of the most commonly recognised barriers:

(1) Self imposed: Difficult to recognise, barriers are put up by ourselves and can either be conscious of unconscious. ("I would never do that".)
(2) Finding one unique answer: We tend to look for one unique answer without looking for others.
(3) Conformity: Conformity to ideas or solutions previously established by colleagues. We tend to stick to the tried and proven techniques.
(4) Not challenging: We tend not to challenge solutions already established. (We have always done it that way.)
(5) Evaluating too quickly: We tend to evaluate on instinct and reject ideas that are slightly off-beat or new.
(6) Fear of looking a fool: Fear of destroying future "promotion" opportunities causes us to stick to well tried ideas or techniques. In fact, by our very nature, this barrier probably doesn't exist for most callers.


HOW TO IMPROVE OUR CREATIVITY

There doesn't appear to be a quick fix. One can't take a tablet to instantly "turn it on", and it can't be learnt. It must be unlocked from our subconscious and allowed to surface. One has to remove all the barriers holding it back and then let it flow. Once that is done, we have to ensure that we don't lock it away again. Having said all that, it appears to be an impossible task; but there are techniques but there are techniques we can use to attack the previously discussed barriers.

(1) You can do it: Most researchers tend to agree that the mind works on a type of "self fulfilling prophecy" principle. If you keep telling yourself you can't do something, there is no way you'll ever do it no matter how hard you try. So you need to be positive and tell yourself and tell yourself that you are, (present tense, not future tense) creative, otherwise everything else is a waste of time.
(2) Don't conform: For instance how many times have you tried to work out some choreography by working forward? Why not start at the end and work backwards? Or from the middle and work out to the start then the finish?
(3) Brainstorming: This is a technique which involves collecting many ideas, then examining those ideas to find solutions. The key to this technique is collect many ideas without evaluating them - no matter how off-beat the idea it should be noted.
(4) Sleep on it: Sometimes one need to put a problem to the side and on other things. The problem will go to the subconscious which will "dream away" at the problem. Some researchers believe that the subconscious is more creative than the conscious mind.
(5) Stimulate the mind: Sometimes one needs to sow the seeds of a good idea. For instance, make a list of all possible moves that can be done from a given choreographic set-up, then look through that list for previously untried combinations.
(6) Challenge yourself: Having come up with one idea, ask yourself if there is another way.

The above list of techniques is certainly not final, but by being "creative" it should be easy to think of other ideas to improve one's creativity.