Creativity Boost Tweet Tips

 

Last month, I did my fourth “tweet tips” series of daily tips for belly dancers. July’s theme was creativity boosts. These are quick exercises to help you shake things up and think more creatively.

Now that the series is over, I thought I’d share the full series in one place.
 
 
 

The tips:

 

1) Take a combination you know, and try it backwards. What does it take to fit it to the music?
 

2) Choose a combo you know & adapt it to VERY different music. What does it take to make it fit?
 

3) Play dress-up: try on another dancer’s signature. Extra credit: tweak it to suit *your* style
 

4) Choose a move/idea/body part that you rarely use, and build a combo around it.
 

5) Play with speed: try a movement idea medium, fast, super-fast, slow, and super-slow.
 

6) I forgot to post!
 

7) I forgot to post!
 

8) Create a combo emphasizing your feet. The rest can dance, but make the feet the star.
 

9) Create a combo emphasizing your fingers. The rest can dance, but make the fingers the star.
 

10) List 3 qualities of your personal style, then try on the opposite. Usually demure? Try brazen.
 

11) Step outside your musical comfort zone, and dance to something out of character.
 

12) Make up a crazy “backstory”, ex: you’re a spy trying to ID your contact in the audience.
 

13) Make a list of your 5 most-used moves. Then dance for a whole song without them.
 

14) Revisit your list of your 5 most-used moves. Then dance for a whole song with ONLY them.
 

15) Play with one detail that inspires you in another dancer. Ex: the use of head angles in http://bit.ly/18k2IXW
 

16) What ONE word best describes your style? Put on some music, and exaggerate that quality.
 

17) Take yesterday’s ONE word that best describes your style, and try on the opposite quality.
 

18) Flashcards! Make a deck of moves, variations, moods, etc. Pick 2 at random, and create a combo.
 

19) Play in other art forms occasionally. No pressure to apply it to belly dance, just play.
 

20) Take a combo you know, and swap out each move for a different one, one-by-one.
 

21) Dance a message to the audience. Specific is best, ex: “I have a secret & I just might tell”
 

22) Nap. Seriously. Napping boosts creativity: http://ow.ly/ncVrT (also muscle-memory)
 

23) Do an etude: choose one thing (move,texture,idea) & do a study in it. No pressure, just play.
 

24) Take a class series or workshop in a different BD style. BUT keep it goal-free play.
 

25) Repeat a move/idea WAY more than usual. Melt into it. Variations are ok, but no new “stuff”.
 

26) I forgot to post!
 

27) Pretend to be someone famous & dance as them. (Extra credit for someone hard like Queen Victoria)
 

28) Dance badly for a day. Shamelessly. Bask in everything you try to avoid.
 

29) Fallow periods are part of a normal creative life (& freaking out about them doesn’t help)
 

30) If you usually “see” your dance from your perspective, picture it from the audience’s, or vice-versa
 

31) No matter the stakes, just play. Don’t “dance” or “perform” or “try to be good”. Just play.
 

Your turn

Were any of these ideas new to you?

Which are your favorites?

Did any of them give you trouble?

What other creativity boosters do you have to share?

Share your thoughts in the comments.
 

How to get more

I’ll be doing another set of daily tips next month too. August’s topic will be what I call “compositional skeletons”. These are like Mad Libs, but instead of plugging in words to make funny stories, you plug in moves to make interesting combinations.

To get those, you can follow me on Twitter, like my page on Facebook, or search for the #BDmadlibs hashtag on Twitter.