Playful Developments
When we first started experimenting with improvising our lives online, we were just publishing bad videos of us learning to use YouTube. We were just excited to be sharing our process live. It was raw and imperfect and made us laugh. But more than anything else, it didn’t really matter what the videos were of, but just that they were there. The more imperfect the more likely it will be posted. The point was just to get over being too self-critical, or conversely, too self-absorbed. To just be and of course, never plan anything. It’s a game. So far this has brought us to almost twenty countries, and countless awesome playmates.
Today we are sitting in a cafe in Amsterdam with our Canadian pals we made in Thailand, Paulina and William Clarke of A Thirst for Firsts. They recently wrote about us in a post about nomadic couples. But this amazing encounter was not planned. It just happened.
We started taking improv not only because we love to make people laugh but because it’s therapeutic. In the busy metropolitan city center of Toronto, we each were tethered to desks and screens. While that can also be playful, we needed more face to face interaction with humans. An improv class is a led experimentation in playing with strangers. A good improv teacher will inspire trust in his students and push them to take risks they otherwise would not, by relinquishing a bit of control to a hilarious hypnotist who drills you into being as playful as you can. It’s like a fitness class for your brain and heart, and before you know it you are making life-long friends.
Chicago was the birth-place of improv, and the first major city on our round-the-world itinerary for just that reason. We expected to continue our formal studies and take workshops like we did in Toronto. Our training in letting go of control is what led us on this unplanned adventure in the first place, so of course we found something even better to do. It was at an old fire-station re-appropriated as a workshop for grown adults to experiment with all kinds of technology. Such places are known as hackerspaces, and Pumping Station: One is one of the largest in the world.
There we joined the dream hacker’s club, led by an otherworldly being named Dash who we felt we knew from another life. We readily shared our recent and recurring dreams with the group and learned about techniques for lucid dreaming. We even shared a passion for improv. Dashiell Rose Bark-Huss is the founder of Advanced Play Labs and creator of Danceprov. Facilitating free-form flocks of flash-mobs, she leads her students through an improvised dance party on the beaches of Chicago. It was a blast. Here’s a snip of what happened in this video.
And here’s just one instance of Dash’s huge influence on us:
You’ve achieved success in your field when you don’t know whether what you’re doing is work or play.
- Warren Beatty
Any: What is Advanced Play Labs?
Dash: Advanced Play Labs is an organization that creates playful experiences for grownups and promotes a culture of play. We are currently based in Chicago.
Any: What is Danceprov?
Dash: Danceprov is one of the programs in Advanced Play Labs. It’s a synergistic dance party that uses dance improv games and lip-syncing to create collaborative, interactive dancing. Creative drills prompt you to move on your own terms and synergistically with others. It’s a hands-on lesson in playfulness through movement.
Any: What got you onto the practice of “attuned” play kick?
Dash: When I got older I saw a decline in extraordinary interaction between people, and an increase in conventions. The way adults socialize is usually the same- we go to a bar, drink, small talk. Even the more vitalizing activities- hiking, dancing, art- they become more skill based as we got older. We don’t often let ourselves have fun. Someone recently came to a Danceprov and told me that she “enjoys herself” a lot but she rarely has “fun,” laugh inducing fun. For her, Danceprov was the first time in a long time she did something that was actually fun and broke down her inhibitions. That’s play. Play is different than enjoyment. Play is an intense creative approach to the present moment. It’s vital to a thriving human brain, but we rarely give ourselves permission to play.
A few years ago, the lack of play in my life was taking a toll on me- putting me into a depression. I did some research and found that play is essential to the human brain and body and so many of the worlds problems stem from a lack of play. I decided to actively pursue play after that.
Any: Have you ever been accused of being “crazy” or “weird?”
Dash: Yes. I take being called “weird” as a compliment, and most people mean it that way. Exercise your right to be weird! I think it’s somewhere in the constitution. There are a lot of unwritten rules that you can have fun breaking.
Any: What is the biggest challenge in getting adults to just play?
Dash: So much is wrong with the adult world’s relationship with play. People equate “play” with “child’s play,” because they don’t even know adults can play. Adults can in fact play better than kids. We have more complex minds so we can play at a higher level if we let ourselves. It’s just as important for our brains to play, as it is for children. The biggest challenge is getting adults to break their bad habits of over-seriousness. People take themselves too seriously. They’re afraid to break inhibitions. I’m very conscious of this when I lead a play experience. I’ll gently ease people into a state of uninhibited play.
Any: What does it mean to be a Hacker?
Dash: A hacker is someone who takes something that already exists and repurposes it for another use. I’m part of a hackerspace, Pumping Station One. A hackerspace is like a school, only everyone is both a teacher and a student. We have clubs and facilities for creating and learning.
With play, you are hacking things that already exist into a new self-contained micro-counter-culture, all for the purposes of reaching a playful state. For example, my boyfriend and I had an ongoing playful streak where we would call the non-emergency number (3–1–1) to report almost anything. So when we saw a pile of feces on the ground we called 3–1–1 to report it. I ate the last piece of bacon while my boyfriend was away, and when he came back I kiddingly told him the bacon just disappeared on it’s own. So we called 3–1–1 to report the missing piece of bacon. In this “game” the micro-counter-culture was that you report as many non-emergencies as you can to 3–1–1. It wasn’t a game we set out to play, but we arrived at the game through being open and playful. We hacked these things that already existed (3–1–1, poop on the ground, etc.) for our playful purposes.
Any: What are some practices that can help adults bring a sense of play into their day-to-day lives? What do you do to keep play in your day?
Dash: An easy thing to do is to say yes to other people’s playful suggestions. When my boyfriend jokingly said that he was going to report that I stole his peanut butter cup to 3–1–1, we could have left it at that. Instead, I supported his playful suggestion and started calling 3–1–1 for every little issue that came up.
Another practice is to start a play journal. Write down the playful moments that happen to you everyday. This will direct your focus to playfulness and prime your brain for more play.
Any: How does the idea of community fit into the realm of attuned play? Can people still become more playful if they aren’t in a community that supports them in that? Do you think it is mandatory to have playmates?
Dash: It’s not mandatory to have playmates. You can play by yourself. Solitary play can be very fun and important for self-actualization. But there are more possibilities when you have playmates in your life. You can help those around you become more playful by supporting their playful suggestions. Look hard, somethings that you wouldn’t expect are good opportunities for play. I have been getting better at turning strangers into playmates, but the best playmates are my close friends. For me the absolute most important thing in a relationship or a best friendship is playfulness.
Any: What is lucid dreaming?
Dash: Lucid dreaming is the act of knowing that you’re dreaming while in a dream. After people know they’re dreaming, they often change the dream or use the dream state to their advantage. Some people use it as a time to have fun and do whatever they want in a virtual world. Some use it to explore their psyche in this altered state. Some use it for creative inspiration. The applications are limitless. You can learn to lucid dream through certain practices, as I have. There’s a lot of information online to help you. I’m part of a lucid dreaming club in Chicago. Having that community helps me keep up my practice. Lucid dreaming is an amazing tool and it’s available to all of us.
Any: How would you describe your lifestyle?
Dash: I live very purposefully, maybe that’s why people consider me weird- I don’t give much attention to conventions. I do what I find interesting. I like to treat my life as an experiment and explore the world around me and inside me.
Any: What does conscious living mean to you?
Dash: Approaching life with purpose, exploration, and striving to be a better person.
Any: What is your favourite food?
Dash: They are all so great, but I think Artichoke and garlic butter.
Any: What musical track always gets you to freak out in a good way?
Dash: Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush. It’s an acquired taste. There’s a video of me freaking out to it online. I also love broadway show-tunes.
Any: If you woke up drunk somewhere, not knowing where you are, what would you do?
Dash: As a lucid dreamer, I would do a reality check to see if I’m dreaming. I probably would be dreaming, so I would ask a dream character if they have an important message for me. I would create music in my dream and binge on cookies and brownies and ponder the meaning of life.
Any: Do you have any mentors or works that have inspired you?
Dash: I like the philosophy of Improv Everywhere, a New York City-based prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. I like that combination- joy and chaos. Play has a lot of joy and chaos.
If you want to learn about the importance of play, there’s a good book on play called Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown, who also has a TED talk on play.
This fall Anything is Popsicle will be joining Dash for an online course on the Importance of Play in Everyday Life where we will publicly play with strangers in the forums. You can join us there starting on October 19th.
