A qualitative investigation of flow experience in group creativity

ABSTRACT

The role of flow experience in a group creativity task, contemporary dance improvisation, was explored through qualitative content analysis. Our focus was upon the creative process itself, rather than upon creative outcomes. Six dancers took part in an improvisation workshop, reflecting on their creative practice and any associated flow. We conducted individual semi-structured interviews with all participants supported by a video-cued recall of experience from the workshop. We interpreted their responses using qualitative content analysis. Effortless attention and enjoyment were predominant themes that emerged from the dancers’ reports while describing the flow. When experienced in collaboration, the flow was described as ‘becoming one with the group’. Dancers commonly associated flow with a highly creative state where they tended to find surprising, very ‘organic and natural’ movement solutions. Moreover, flow and group settings facilitated creativity through maintaining a desired creative focus for longer, lowering self-judgment and inspiring novel solutions. While findings concerning movement may be specific to dance, others are more generic to the process of group creativity. Our results confirm previous findings that associated flow with a state in which the person feels simultaneously cognitively efficient, motivated, and happy, and that these states can be facilitated in groups characterised by trust.

KEYWORDS:

• Flow
• group flow
• creativity
• improvisation
• dance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the FP7 People: Marie-Curie Actions [FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN-604764].

Notes on contributors

Klara Łucznik

Klara Łucznik, PhD, is a research fellow at the University of Plymouth. In her research, she uses improvisational dance structures as a laboratory for group creativity research, focusing on the role of attention, imagery and group dynamics.

Jon May

Jon May is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Plymouth School of Psychology. He researches the role that mental representation and imagery play in decision making and motivation in all aspects of behaviour.

Emma Redding

Emma Redding is a Professor of Dance Science at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. She develops dance science as a recognised field of study that combines a range of scientific disciplines into a flexible framework for dance practice.