Performing Mindful Creativity: Three South African Case Studies

Abstract

This essay is grounded in the practical experience of three South African theatre practitioners who have all had some experience of mindfulness. It’s based on interviews conducted with a performer (Andrew Buckland), a director (Janni Young), and a designer (Illka Louw). The aim of my conversations with these three was to explore ways in which mindfulness continues to enhance artistic practises, seeing our dialogues as a springboard to exploring intersections between creative practise and theories about mindfulness. To assist me in this process, I also interviewed Rob Nairn – co-founder of both the Mindfulness Association (UK) and Mindfulness Africa (RSA) – about key issues highlighting convergences between creativity and mindfulness. Some of the issues which are addressed include: the artist’s relationship with fear, differing definitions of the value of conceptualisation, as well as whether or not the monkey mind (that is, the wandering mind) might hamper or help creativity.

Keywords

Control, Fear, Creativity, Presence, Mindfulness, Awareness

How to Cite

Krueger, A., (2017) “Performing Mindful Creativity: Three South African Case Studies”, Performance and Mindfulness 1(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/pam.2017.05

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Authors

Anton Krueger

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

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This article has been peer reviewed.

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