Stepping in

11 October 2013 0 By Viv McWaters

photo.PNGCreativity is not the clever rearranging of the known – Viola Spolin

 

Which raises the question of discovery – how do we find what we don’t know?

We go on adventures. Some of us go on BIG adventures, climbing mountains or cycling across Europe. Some of us prefer smaller adventures, like punting or trying a new food.

No matter what the scope, the common bit is doing something we’ve not done before. It’s also true for our work – just doing what we have always done is not an adventure. Adventures in learning requires us to take some risks, risks that we don’t know what’s going to happen, risks that we might be wrong, or unsure, or uncomfortable. Viola Spolin knew this when she was teaching people about improvisation. She would invent a game so that people could discover the ‘learning moment’ for themselves. She would invite her students to step into their fear, and while venturing into the world of improvisation games, make their own discoveries and have fun. Who wouldn’t want that?