Circumstances For A Creative Breakthrough

Creative breakthroughs are a compelling phenomena. In Western culture, we celebrate the lone genius who unleashes a game-changing invention. At times, this adulation reaches a point where it seems that the innovation was solely created by the individual without any other notable influences. But that's rarely the case, right? Most creative breakthroughs are borne out of a hotbed of circumstances and influences. Often, there are several people who are working along similar paths leading to the same possible breakthrough. One person may receive the public's praise and recognition for the invention, but it's possible there was even a team of collaborators working with that individual to realize the breakthrough.

In the social networking arena circa 2010, Facebook reigns supreme. It has dominated online relationships after its predecessors - Friendster, Myspace, and a score of others - debuted. While a movie like The Social Network seemingly celebrates a lone creative figure like its fictional Mark Zuckerberg, the reality is that there were a number of college-specific social networks in place before thefacebook.com went online. And for Zuckerberg, even he acknowledges that it was his team of collaborators who made the operation feasible, not his lone efforts, as documented in the book The Facebook Effect, which is not surprisingly sanctioned by his company (as opposed to Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires upon which the film The Social Network is based on). So creative breakthroughs can be understood as the cumulative efforts of many.

But it often takes a leader to tie it all together, especially when you're working with a creative team. It takes someone with a unique perspective to unite the loose threads that have been floating around in the creative ether. Someone who sees an opportunity and acts on it. So the question for street dancers is: will we see a major new street style emerging in the next few years? As we train, we learn foundation from our teachers. We are inspired by the artistic exploration of our peers. And we are influenced, for better or for worse, by the plethora of online dance videos that are part of our daily digital consumption. Could there be someone out there who is cooking these ingredients into something new?

It can be argued that there's been more evolution in bboyin' and poppin' than lockin' in Los Angeles in the last five years. Krumping is still going strong. Strangely enough, there's little mention of jerking in mainstream media news these days. Meanwhile, in the collegiate choreography world, countless young dancers are fusing ideas that they're borrowing from various styles and melding something that's uniquely their own. It's hard to say if any of this creative exploration is going anywhere. Yes, it might make for a few interesting Youtube videos. But will be it become an artistic movement that spreads around the globe and inspires new generations?

The thing about creative breakthroughs is that it can't be harnessed or quantified. It's like catching lightning in a bottle. When was the last time you did that? What's feasible though is that as a community, we can continue to encourage proactive exploration among our peers. We can support our fellow dancers who are trying to do something different even if they make a lot of mistakes along the way. We can debate, criticize, analyze, and rethink the way things are done while valuing the simple wisdom behind established foundation. But most of us aren't having that kind of conversation. To be honest, our debates are rarely balanced and we're not usually thinking about taking a chance at seeing things from another person's perspective. It's too bad that this short-sightedness could be one detrimental factor that's choking our collective creativity. How do we break free from this status quo?