by dave brown | Nov 5, 2015 | Uncategorized
We shall never cease from exploration and the end of our exploring will be to arrive at the beginning and know the place for the first time. T.S. Elliot All performance-making projects have a starting point. I call it the “germinal idea.” It’s the animating idea that activates artful investigation. It’s represents the beginning of the journey. The launching of a paperboat! Warning Alert!!! The germinal idea is not a framework established to exert control; rather it is an invitation to open out and see what possibilities, experiences, ideas and happy accidents come from the seed. We know the seed looks nothing like the plant it gives rise to and so the performance that results from a germinal idea rarely looks much like its beginnings. The idea itself is not nearly as important as the content it generates. A question. If the Big Bang was the beginning of time what went before it? Yes - even though the germinal idea is the beginning that prompts investigation, there is a process involved in getting to the germinal idea to prompt those beginnings. So where does the germinal idea come from? If you’re going to make a performance, you have to convince others to be part of it - funders, partners, collaborators, makers, administrators, producers. There needs to be some kind of vision or dream … some kind of intent. More often than not, the divining of the germinal idea is the responsibility of a key person in the creative process. You could turn up on the day, with a bunch of artistic associates and collectively start from scratch on a...
