Risk-taking and Imagining "As If" Worlds

Ali was too cool for music class.  Too cool for school.  Too cool for life.  At only eleven years old, she was 5’ 7”, had the body of a sixteen year old, and the blasé attitude of an adult.  Her jeans were tight and her necklines low.  The boys loved to be close to her.

I had known Ali since she was in kindergarten.  Back then she was quiet and shy, rarely participating in music activities.  Sometimes children begin kindergarten reserved and reluctant but gradually grow to trust me and their surroundings, eventually enjoying their participation in music lessons.  Ali never did.  By third-grade she was not only quiet but also sullen – having perfected the fine art of eye-rolling, teeth-sucking, and huffy-sighing.  The girl was formidable in her body language – she would look you in the eye defiantly, and then slowly look away.  Johnstone contends that status is not established by staring itself but rather in the reaction to staring (1).  Citing various studies examining eye contact between strangers, he finds that the person who looks away first is actually the dominant one.  In Johnstone’s view, “breaking eye contact can be high status so long as you don’t immediately glance back for a fraction of a second.  If you ignore someone, your status rises; if you feel impelled to look back then it falls” (p. 42).  Based on Johnstone’s findings, Ali certainly exhibited high status in social interactions at school.  She began fifth-grade in the classroom of a male teacher.  By early November, the teacher had requested Ali be transferred into another classroom claiming her attitude and cleavage made him too uncomfortable.  Amazingly, this was not a young, inexperienced male teacher but a highly regimented, somewhat bullish, veteran teacher in his late fifties, used to dealing with the toughest students.

In January, another teacher and I began work on an after-school opera project.  Besides being a dynamic teacher, Tom is also a professional photographer and amateur actor.  He has a guileless manner and a phenomenal knack for getting students to open up and act without inhibition.  Students in grades 3, 4, and 5 were invited to apply for positions in the opera company:  writers/public relations; composers/musicians; set designers/stage crew; and actors (in the past, we had offered positions of electricians and carpenters but this time we did not have the resources to purchase the supplies necessary for those jobs).  The application consisted of a questionnaire, teacher recommendation, and parental consent.    Additionally, Tom and I scheduled after-school auditions for those applying for acting positions.

The first student application we received was from Ali, applying for the job of actor.  She handed it to me the day after we gave application forms to the classroom teachers to disburse.  I was surprised and intrigued by Ali’s interest.  The afternoon of auditions, the principal approached me and said that Ali had told her she had “butterflies” anticipating the after-school audition.   It seemed inconceivable that Ali would share such information especially with an authority figure.  My interest was piqued and I grew more curious about Ali’s upcoming audition.

The audition lasted one and one half hours.  Tom and I had chosen various improvisation exercises that would reveal students’ skills in imagination, pretend play, vocal production, etc.  We kept the students actively engaged in the fast-paced exercises for the entire time.  Ali performed surprisingly well.  More important, it was as though the child locked inside her came out to play.  One cannot be “too cool” whilst pretending to be a gorilla or a whiney three-year old in a supermarket.  Ali exhibited natural ability portraying different characters using body and facial expressions, and she was able to stay in character through an improvised scene.  Surprisingly, she giggled and laughed and her face lit up when she smiled.  It was pure delight to watch her.

Ali was “hired” as an actor in the opera company.   During weekly rehearsals she was an eleven-year old girl seemingly enjoying herself whilst working hard at the craft of acting.  Additionally, Ali became more willing to participate during music classes – she even asked to be a drummer in the West African drumming/dancing ensemble (an ensemble that rehearsed weekly during the school day).  Tom also noticed a change in her attitude when he encountered her mornings during his before-school duty – the eye-rolling, teeth-sucking, and huffy-sighing had all but disappeared.

I suggest that the opera project (and subsequently the drumming/dancing ensemble) gave Ali the opportunity to take the risk of dropping her “too cool” façade.  In her studies of authors, artists, scientists, and mathematicians, John-Steiner (2) found that the most successful individuals were those willing to take risks and make mistakes.  Such willingness to take risks leads to innovation in any field.  Greene (3) urges educators to encourage positive risk-taking and self-reflection in learning – to take the risk to break through the “cotton wool of daily life.”  Performing in front of others is a risk.  Putting yourself and your ideas out for public scrutiny takes a lot of courage.  Tom and I had created a safe space that allowed Ali and the other students in the opera project to take those risks and make mistakes without experiencing humiliation.

Unfortunately, by April Ali could no longer participate in the project.  For an unexplained reason her mother could no longer commit to picking her up after rehearsals.  (Fortunately, she was able to continue drumming in the West African ensemble.)  I think the space of the arts allowed Ali to try on different roles and imagine “as if” worlds and “possibilities” where she could find her niche.  And, as Greene suggests, imagining things being otherwise may be the first step toward acting on the belief that they can be changed (4).  I hope Ali continues to “release imagination” in middle school and beyond.

(1)  Johnstone, K. (1981).  Impro: Improvisation and the theatre. New York: Routledge.

(2)  John-Steiner, V. (1997).  Notebooks of the mind: Explorations of thinking.  Oxford:

              Oxford University Press.

(3)  Greene, M. (2001).  Variations on a blue guitar: The Lincoln Center Institute

            lectures on aesthetic education. New York: Teachers College Press.

(4)  Greene, M. (1995).  Releasing the imagination: Essays on education, the arts, and

social change.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc.