My family is giving me a lot of heat for playing too much Pacman. But! Below you will find everything that I've learned about "moi" from playing endless hours of the admittedly old-fashioned game.
1. I love risk. I have learned that playing it safe will always lead to higher scores. But I can't make myself do it. I love congratulating myself for outsmarting the game and getting away with things -- even though I know that in the end, I will be the loser. Fortunately, my husband did not allow me to invest in the market last year ... otherwise I would have been a real loser. However, it is my love of risk that contributes to fresh ideas in the studio.
2. I love cleaning up. No, not my house, but the details of choreography. Dances need spotless transitions, detailed "finishing" from costumes, props, sets, and CLEANING. "God is in the details" (Mies van der Rohe).
3. I shouldn't overestimate the value of "thinking." (See 5 below)
4. I have a creative "zone." (See 5 below.)
5. Pacman is an excellent biofeedback training device. I am training myself to find the creative "sweet spot." It is that liminal space between thinking and feeling. When I plan my moves, I lose. When I go with the flow, I get a better score. This confirms recent cognitive findings that show there is a 2 second delay between when the brain knows something and when we become conscious that the brain knows something. Trust the body. Necessary for a choreographer.
6. i can do two things at once. Because I'm not fluent in reading music, I usually have to memorize the orchestrations of music that I'm using for choreography. As I teach my students -- choreography to the orchestration, not the melody, is usually more interesting. So playing Pacman, while listening to music (over and over again), allows me to learn the music, while not staring into space stupidly for hours.
So family. Don't bother me .... I'm working.
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