crea Where is the tivity ? Where is the Creativity?

     Perhaps it's located in the title? Is "creativity" physically surrounding the title of my blog post?

     Where is it elsewhere? Hidden within the works of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, T.S. Eliot, Martha Graham and Gandhi? Or rather who is creative instead of where is the creative work?

     In Howard Gardner's "Creators: Multiple Intelligences," he thoroughly examines the ideas laden within the notions of creativity, but he approaches them in a, well, creative manner. Instead of pondering who is creative and what exactly creativity is, he asks where the creativity lies. As he claims, we've evolved to think about different content: it is a way of being. Creativity does not comprise of random bursts of inspiration, but rather it is a cohesive mindset. He focuses on the seven genius minds of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, T.S. Eliot, Martha Graham and Gandhi in his paper. However, Graham was someone who stuck out to me.

     Since I could walk, I was in love with the art of dance. As I grew older and became exposed to modern styles of dance, I constantly found inspiration in Graham's choreography, dedication and overall talent.

     "Dancing is no longer a step child of the arts." — John Martin on Graham.

     Her dancing transcended society's perspective on what it truly means to express yourself through music. Following Gardner's chart, Graham mastered in bodily linguistics, but not logical thinking. Thinking on her strengths and weaknesses, I've reached a conclusion:

     Martha Graham is not creative.
     Martha Graham's creativity is located in her limbs.

     If Martha Graham were not creative, she would be using the logical thinking that flowed from her brain: The "who" in this equation. But rather, Graham is using her body to allow her creativity to burst through the stage lights: The "where" in this equation.

     For that reason alone, Graham is truly creative. I can see exactly where her creativity springs from just by looking at her, which is why she has always been such an inspiration to me as a dancer.

     Dancing has truly become a respected art because of Graham. There were countless days when I would find myself in a studio just begging for some sort of way to vent my emotions over a terrible day, or just to tell a story for a song I was passionate about. Locating the creativity from Graham was what ultimately pushed myself and my dance company forward through the years. It was not studying her life, her aspirations, or even who she was as a person.

     It was discovering where we could find the talent of creativity.

     Like Graham's style of dance — telling a story through the music and movements — it is easy to pinpoint where the creativity is coming from. My choreographer from my dance studio followed her story telling techniques as well, allowing me as the dancer to help my instructor and the audience find where exactly this tale is coming from. Both Graham and my teacher allowed the creativity to wind up on the stage: To let the art flow from our limbs and not just from our minds.