Presenter
Dr Debbie Bright
ICDF Network Coordinator (Academics, Writers & Researchers)
Paper
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Abstract
Dancing in the Creator’s footsteps: Linking creativity theory and our life as Christian Artists
Discussions on creativity in the English language are dominated by western theorists and western philosophical understandings. These understandings emphasise individuality, innovation, the rational, and the necessity of a creative product, as proof of creativity. However, feminist, non-western and indigenous theorists assert the importance of culture, community and the non-rational, such as the spiritual, and place less emphasis on creative products. A Feminist Participatory approach, informed by Indigenous Peoples’ worldviews (FP-I) provides a lens through which creativity may be viewed with an appreciation of the wider lived experience of the creative person. For a dance practitioner or researcher, this wider lived experience may include rational and scientifically verifiable elements, but also the non-rational elements of spirituality, relationship, community, culture, and the natural world. The Bright Creative Life approach arises out of an FP-I worldview and includes preferring, practising, selecting, finding quiet spaces, laying creative work aside, and ritual, prayer and meditation. For the Christian artist, the connections between God and our creativity are natural and obvious.
In this paper, I present The Bright Creative Life, linking this approach with my understandings of our Creator and the creative life He has called us to. This presentation includes a mixture of listening, watching, and doing for the participants.