Choreography as art: Analyzing the internal and external processes of creating a jive dance

Creativity and dance are oft-researched topics, yet it is rare that they are studied together from the interiority of one’s own mind and body. The reason for this is that dance and creativity are placed squarely at the center of the arts and, as such, have an unfortunate reputation for being subjective to the point of not meaning anything to anyone but the creator/performer. This paper attempts to add one more research project to the side of those projects that refute this claim. By using mainly auto-ethnography as research methodologies for this paper, it is hoped that the researcher’s subjective experience of dance and choreography sheds new light on the creative process. The various levels of creation - from ‘inspiration’ to ideation and from interpretation to execution – were studied in order to understand how ballroom dances, particularly Jive styles, are constant processes of creation. Dance also was examined as both a creative and a destructive force. In addition, the biographies of some great Jive dancers and choreographers were analyzed in order to give the paper greater weight. This also created a sound basis for the auto-ethnographic, narrative sections of the paper by tying up the experiences of the researcher/choreographer with the larger traditions of Jive and ballroom dancing. To accomplish this, data were gathered from various sources and all the data were coded and transcribed. These sources include a Vivometrics LifeShirt, Experience Creativity Questionnaire (ECQ) and Flow State Scale (FFS-2) to use for descriptive purposes only. In addition, the researcher/choreographer kept a journal for note-taking. This included the researcher/choreographer’s weekly journal that she kept over the course of one semester (four months). It detailed the researcher/choreographer’s creative process. Themes emerged from analyzing this journal: ‘Create and explore,’ ‘choreographer’s creation process,’ ‘dancers’ needs,’ ‘emotions as a tool to get inspired and choreograph,’ and ‘music as an inspiration.’