Commentary on Free Play IMPROVisATION in Life and Art

The author Stephen Nachmanovitch writes about his insights into the life of an artist and the general processes that we all go through. The theme of this book is the way in which artists explore playing inside of their art form; what it means to let loose and be open-minded. There are four main points that are expanded upon, which are ‘The Sources’, ‘The Work’, ‘Obstacles and Openings’ and ‘The Fruits’. ‘The Sources’ is about finding inspiration and knowing when you have found it. ‘The Work’ is how the artist goes about working with the material created through inspiration and improvisation. The ‘Obstacles and Openings’ is about overcoming personal internal (potentially negative) conversation with one’s self. ‘The Fruits’ is discussing self-reflection through many examples.

An idea that is new to me is that everything that is improvisation has personal enclosed history from our evolutionary past, which comes from the chapter ‘The Vehicle’. Even though 12 dancers may be doing the same movements, it is the style of the individual that makes it different from each other; ones’ movement cannot be exactly replicated due to the difference in evolutionary past. ‘Briclage’ is a term that means a childish way of playing, through using any objects around, and giving it a new imaginative meaning (Nachmanovitch, page 86-87). I recall doing this activity when I was a child. Distinctly I remember from my own childhood, my brother and I would take bed sheets and make a carriage out of them and we would imagine that we were riding through the town. Through these limitations of object we work against this obstacle and become innovative. This book will help me in the future with choreographing and dancing by learning how to take concepts further and more in depth with quality. I believe that reading this book again in a few years will benefit me even more because I will pick more novel ideas from a second read.

Nachmanovitch, Stephen. Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art. Los Angeles : New York: J.P. Tarcher, Inc., 1990.