Dynamic Performance

You’re presented with a challenge to spontaneously perform. You’re on stage, audience in place, no script, no rehearsal, only the connection to your imagination. What would you do? It’s an easy choice for people with honed recognizable talents. But think about the everyday stage where you are front and center and perform the art of yourself. Who writes the code? Updated, static, dynamic?

Keith Jarrett is a dynamic musical performer – one of my favorites. If you’re not familiar with him, he is renowned for his elaborate solo improvisations. He is also a classical and jazz composer. It’s his improvisation that captivates me. Captivates is not the only word I would use to describe his performance. His musical improvisation disorients, disassociates, disrupts standard patterns of listening and perceiving. It frees. You find your senses extended and suspended in a sense, as he shares his sphere of spontaneous creativity. It all happens in real time.

In general, dynamic means energetic, capable of action and change.  PCMag.com defines dynamic in technical terms and offers several examples.  “Operations performed ‘on the fly,’ which are based on decisions made while the program is running rather than beforehand.  The expression, ‘buffers are dynamically created,’ means that space is created when actually needed, not reserved ahead of time. The expression, ‘data are compressed onto the disk dynamically’ means that the compression algorithms are being applied when the data are being written rather than before.”   Too much information for this non-Geek (godlike respect).

My interest in dynamic (as a technical term) began with a redo of the LOG OFF website.  I was advised that search engines place importance on updated technology in their rankings, and it was time for a new look.  With some backstage technical assistance (thank you Weebly and Kellie), LOG OFF now has a new dynamic website – technically speaking.

As usual, my interest or obsession is using a technical term as an overlay for personal exploration. What if we allowed ourselves to be dynamic – to perform on the fly, base decisions in the present, not reserve space (internal space) with preset programs of patterned perceptions? How much mental and emotional space do we take up with worrying and projecting numerous situations that might go wrong, and questioning ourselves at every turn? We usually label these projections as rational, realistic, or responsible, and consider them good qualities. What about the default emotions we rely on when we are strategically buffering ourselves from real time engagement? 

But back to my question, what if we allowed ourselves to be dynamic?  What if in a present moment we naturally extended ourselves with a sense of adventure and explicit trust, allowing creative and spontaneous expression? What freedom it would be to move with unpredictable tonal values and rhythms of emotion, daring to dive into dissonance sensing the discovery would scale through to harmony.  What if we found the capacity for fulfillment, expression, dramatization, perception extended beyond our standard definitions? (REDEFINING) Do we live only to secure ourselves and survive? Do we define ourselves only by our responsibilities? Can we be more than mindful of the moment – can we be dynamic within it?

FYI, SELF Search shares dialogues I have with myself - some preachy, some rants, some just wonder around.  Yes, this one is a bit dramatic, and hopefully, more than a little disruptive.

The Search is on and so is the performance. Join me.