This weekend, I was lucky enough to watch Vaivén Circo's 'Do Not Disturb' as part of Appetite's 'The Homecoming', a free event in Newcastle Under-Lyme. In this theatrical performance, four characters were tasked to build a machine without any instructions and without any idea what it was supposed to look like.
During the show, they worked together to arrange the 'loose parts' in all sorts of different ways, solving risky problems of balance and counter-balance. They used their imaginations to turn these arrangements into exiting adventures such as a boat on the sea, a horse they could ride, and all sorts of balancing games. They were playful and inventive.
Like child's play, the audience wasn't always sure of the characters' intentions.
Towards the end, one character begin to dance around in circles, chalk in hand, swooping, drawing arcs on the floor. This seemed to spur on the idea to fit the parts together like a wheel. To the audience, this seemed like it may have been the finale- they made The Wheel, the final product, the 'Most Important Invention in History', but the character's had other ideas. The 'wheel' was turned into a magnificent Ferris Wheel. They cheered and laughed. It was fun. This was not the end.
The characters then went onto improve the wheel, adding extra parts, bits of metal and scaffolding, making the 'wheel' look more like a kind of spinning top. The grand finale was to use the 'spinning top' to crack nuts for their lunch, which was surprising and rather unexpected!
This performance spoke to me to the heart. It reiterated that how by giving children instructions, or showing them the 'correct' way to do something, we can undermine their creativity. Instructions can suck the fun out of play and prevent inventiveness and initiative.
I strive to remember this in my work. Never concentrate on the 'product'. If I have an agenda, I try to remember that my agenda may not the same as the child's agenda. My ideas are not superior. Creativity can only flourish with freedom.
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