“Do it again!” I can’t tell you how many times I heard that statement as a dance student coming up. It was even worse when I became a teacher. It was so common in the studio that I started simply saying, “Again!”
So as to bring my students into the process, I would explain what I was listening and looking for. They knew the aim. Although the aim was often communal – everyone dancing together – they could only concern themselves with their part in it. Their individual responsibility would be the most they could cover. If they began to concern themselves with the faults of others, they would often falter themselves. It was an interesting dynamic to bear witness to.
There seems to be a correlation between repetition and formation that is worthy to explore. Here my focus is to explore the general benefits of repetition, my own rule of three, and how repetition fuels the creative process.
Repetition is key in the forming of a creative practice. Talk to any creative about their process and they will describe the necessity of discipline, regular practices, and repetition in some form or another. There are at least two areas in which repetition serves a significant purpose – process and content. The repetition of process serves to establish a way of doing things with relative disregard for the thing that one is doing. Consider the preparation of a musician or sports athlete before they practice or perform. There is often an order in which they prepare that can begin many days, even weeks before the actual event. This preparation is generally the same regardless of the variations in music or game being played. Different set list or opponent and the preparation shifts slightly but is generally the same. Such regularities, if adhered to strictly can easily birth superstitions as is quite common in the world of sports.