Exploring the embodied subtleties of collaborative creativity: What organisations can learn from dance

Abstract

This study illustrates the value of embodied subtleties in the process of collaborative creativity. Drawing on a sensory ethnography of two dance productions, we illustrate the fine-grained ways in which professional dancers negotiate creative processes behind the scenes. We identify three aspects through which collaborative creativity emerges from bodily subtleties: (1) moving beyond individual bodies towards collective ambitions, (2) relating to colleagues’ micro-gestures and bodily nuances, and (3) the role of ‘serious play’ between bodies in setting the scene for the first two aspects to occur. The findings will contribute to our understanding of the practice of collaborative creativity, which we treat as not only a mental but also a highly intimate bodily practice. We conclude that appreciating sensory micro-dynamics between oneself and one’s colleagues is crucial for creative collaboration, which is increasingly necessary for management learning in contemporary organisations.

Plural creativity: Overview, challenges, and perspective for academic production in Management

“…Collective practices are privileged for understanding the essence of collaboration, with emphasis on improvisation sustenance, sharing knowledge, leadership, and balance between challenges during collective processes (Kenny, 2014). To emphasize collaborative practices in the collective process, gestures and symbols are formed through which the collective transmits and shares creativity effectively, promoting the understanding of these forms of management practices, training, and team preparation (Satama et al, 2021).…”

Feeling your way as an occupational minority: The gendered sensilisation of women electronic music artists

“…of the individual human body as a biophysical entity, a thing-in-itself, but of the total field of relations constituted by the presence of the organism-person, indissolubly body and mind, in a richly structured environment’ (Ingold, 2000: 353). From the bodily micro-adjustments anaesthetists learn during surgical operations (Hindmarsh and Pilnick, 2007), the ‘sensual signifiers’ that construct and transmit organisational norms in office culture (Riach and Warren, 2015: 802), through the ways dancers ‘collaboratively create’ choreography (Satama et al, 2021) and the affective flows apparent in craft work (Bell and Vachhani, 2020), to the attunement that railway workers develop to safely dispatch trains (Willems, 2018: 27), these ideas have been empirically illustrated in management learning research on skills acquisition for a number of years. What my study adds to this body of knowledge is a recognition of the gendered sensory micro-politics of occupational exclusion because the senses are acculturated along colonial and heteronormative lines as well as patriarchal ones, and other power-laden fissures.…”

Exploring the Nexus of Technology Availability, Child-Friendly Interface Design, Early Childhood Digital Literacy, Cognitive Skills, and Creativity in Language Learning in the Context of Banten Javanese Language

“…Furthermore, creativity emerges as an integral aspect of effective language learning methodologies (AboWardah, 2020; Bao & Koenig, 2019). The incorporation of creative approaches not only fosters a deeper engagement with the language and cultivates an environment conducive to holistic skill development (Aprianto & Zaini, 2019;Sanders et al, 2023;Satama et al, 2021). Investigating how creativity can be harnessed within the context of Banten Javanese Language learning among young children holds the potential to unlock innovative pedagogical strategies that resonate with the learners' developmental needs.…”