In this blog I talk about how teaching continually reminds me that creativity is not about following a formula or finding the “right” way to make art. In this blog, I share some reflections on teaching dance and visual art, the importance of embodiment in the creative process, and why encouraging people to trust their own instincts may be one of the most valuable gifts we can offer as teachers and artists.
Discovering a Creative Voice
When I teach, I try to create a space where people feel free enough to discover their own creative voice and develop confidence in their creative process.
As many of you know, I lecture on the Dance & Choreography degree at Falmouth University and teaching there continues to be one of my most rewarding experiences. I am so lucky to work with students who are curious, open and willing to trust ‘process’. Witnessing their growth as artists is incredibly rewarding. It is a joy to watch their physical technical development, and to see their confidence and imagination quietly flourish under the guidance of such an exceptional team of lecturers. What I find so interesting is that as the dance and choreography students become more physically connected to themselves, their creative and critical thinking deepens too. This is not surprising as physicality sits at the heart of all creative acts. Everything we create comes through the body first. Creativity begins as something felt before it becomes something expressively realised.
Lessons from Artists Who Remain Themselves
We have all experienced artists whose work feels completely alive and embodied. For example, listening to Jacqueline du Pré play the cello – you sense the emotion and movement of her body in the music. The paintings of Joan Mitchell carry such dynamism of physical expression, and the work of Jackson Pollock reveals the rhythmic splashes of paint created by the way he moved when he applied paint to canvas. I remember standing in front of Mark Rothko’s paintings at the Tate Modern and feeling pulled in by them – his red paintings are deep emotional inscapes. What connects these artists is authenticity and embodiment. They found a way to communicate something deeply personal and fundamentally lived in their work.
Their work reminds us that authentic creativity emerges when we trust our own experience rather than imitate others.
There is only one of You!
When I teach, I share knowledge, techniques and practical tools because they can support creativity. But that’s very different from giving people a formula for making meaningful work. Many aspiring creatives begin by believing the answer lies in learning one more skill, mastering a particular style, or following a formula for artistic success. But that path often leads nowhere meaningful.
We should absolutely be inspired by other artists – not by trying to imitate them, but by recognizing the courage it takes for them to fully be themselves.
One of my choreography teachers once said something that has stayed with me ever since:
“There may not be any new ideas in the world, but there is only one of you in all time.”
I remember hearing that and feeling something shift in me – only one of you in all time. What an extraordinary thing to consider. That notion sits at the heart of why I teach.
Whether in the university’s dance studios or while leading visual art workshops, my hope is to help people move closer to themselves and develop trust in their own creative voice.
And the truth is, we do not always know what that is straight away. Sometimes we are unsure of what it is we want to say, and so we have to simply keep showing up – keep making, moving, exploring and gradually something begins to emerge. Other times we know exactly what we want to say, but we do not yet have the language for it. Again, the answer is often the same: keep going and stay with the process long enough for the work to reveal itself.
Encouragement Over Instruction
For me, teaching is really about encouragement. It is about encouraging people to give themselves permission to play, to experiment, to make mistakes, and to enjoy the journey rather than obsessing over the destination – because most of the time, we do not actually know where we are heading.
And perhaps that is the point.
Often, we only recognise what we have created once we have arrived there, and even then, it can take time to fully understand it. However, saying that, I do not think there is a final arrival point in art or creativity. There are only moments along the way where we pause long enough to share a glimpse of what we have discovered – a snapshot of who we are.
Perhaps that ongoing process of self-discovery is what makes creativity such a powerful and rewarding part of being human.