Live Arts for the Everyday – 90 Applicable Thoughts

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #8 – Experience

| María Ferrara

The Spanish idiomatic expression “to have boards” means that someone is experienced in being in front of people and dealing with a situation live, that is, in being onstage, because they were always made of wood. Someone “with boards” can usually save the show no matter what happens and can even turn difficulties to their own advantage to deliver an unforgettable performance. There are things that one can not learn by reading, observing or repeating. The ability to respond to unforeseeable challenges and make the most of them is only developed by standing upon the boards time and time again.

María Ferrara

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #7 – Instrument

| María Ferrara

In live arts the instrument (a musical instrument, the voice or the body) is the equivalent of the medium or material in other artistic disciplines. The performer’s sensitivity, ability, comprehension, awareness, memory, aesthetics and many more things interact with one’s instrument in order to make the art piece. The better one knows one’s instrument, its possibilities and limitations, the more one can get out of it. In life we are both performer and instrument. Sometimes we can feel that our instrument is not responding how we would like it to. We can’t change our instrument, but we can take care of it, tune it, learn about it and practise in order to realize its full potential.

María Ferrara

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #6 – Improvisation

| María Ferrara

Improvisation has always been used in live arts, either to generate material that is then set or as an approach to performance. No situation is exactly the same as a previous one and the most appropriate response needs to consider the specific internal and external circumstances at hand, rather than what happened in a previous similar event. That is improvisation. It’s not about acting randomly but about being honest with what is here and now. Considering the brain’s strategy of saving behaviour that has worked in an attempt to be energetically efficient and repeat the success, how much can we actually bypass our patterns and improvise? Conditioning is building up every day. Being true to the moment implies letting go of this buildup ongoingly.

María Ferrara

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #5 – Score

| María Ferrara

We are used to the idea that theatre, dance and music pieces are written and set, so that every interpretation is a reproduction of the original within a certain margin for variation. Notation can never capture every detail of action. The map can never be as rich as the territory. Already in the Baroque period, composers wrote scores that provided a backbone for musicians to improvise to. Wanting to perform a set script for our life is bound to bring frustration, because there is so much out of our control. However, we all have needs and preferences in life that we want to address. How about using a score to compose in real time in order to keep the essential orientation while remaining open and flexible regarding the way in which progress?

María Ferrara

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #4 – Performer

| María Ferrara

Performing means carrying out an action. I use the word performer to refer jointly to musicians, dancers, actors and all live artists. Their work is an action and not a physical piece and only if recorded will it leave a physical trace. The object can disappear, but the lived experience can’t. Possessions can increase and decrease throughout one’s life, but experiences only increase and increase and increase. Aiming our attention at this aspect of our life can be a secure investment in satisfaction.

María Ferrara

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #3 – Script

| María Ferrara

We are used to theatre, dance and music pieces being pre-written, so the performers know exactly what’s going to happen. Do you believe that your life has also been written in advance? If so, how does that make you feel? Are you aware of the many opportunities in which you are free to bend the script? In spite of scripts and directors, once the performer is on stage, nobody can stop them from doing whatever they want. If they don’t it’s because they have committed to making the show as planned. When one feels bound by some script in their life, it’s worth asking oneself if this is the show that lies close to one’s heart. If not, perhaps it’s time to ad lib.

María Ferrara

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #2 – Creativity

| María Ferrara

We are making choices every instant. We may be aware of it and choose consciously or merely choose by default and not use our creativity. Just like a performance is shaped by every single member of the team, every single thing one does contributes to what happens in life. You can act by default or you can take responsibility in your role as co-creator, you choose.

María Ferrara

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – 90 APPLICABLE THOUGHTS – Introduction

| María Ferrara

This series shows the usefulness of live-arts concepts and practices for everyday life. This view is not original and can already be found in notions like “All the world’s a stage” (Shakespeare) and Shiva’s cosmic dance that cyclically creates and destroys the universe. These 90 daily posts are based on these metaphors and offer practical inspirations to interact with life. You can find them all together under the category with the same title in the top right-hand corner of any blog page.