Play Space: A Manifesto

We are guided along by an invisible force along lines of least resistance. I call this force the pulse. Improvisation involves simply following the pulse down the paths that suddenly appear before us. Artist Frank Stella calls his canvas his working space. I think that a good name for the performance space is play space. Once we tap into the pulse we can feel it vibrate, zoom up and down and sideways at times, linger lovingly on the side at others, sometimes exploding, sometimes still, filling our play space, exploring its boundaries and everything within with a taut, endless continuity.

Far too many approaches to improvisation have made up rules, rights and wrongs. Many even have the cautionary TM label attached to them. I find such approaches limiting and stifling to the natural instinct to find the pulse and follow it.

Stella sees the work of painting in terms of the need to create dynamic space using a still and two-dimensional medium. I see the work of improvisation as the creation of play space, a space where our natural instincts can play. Anything less I find unsatisfactory. Anything more is too much like work.

May the pulse be with you!
Abhay

Image: Marcel Duchamp's playful masterpiece.