In ancient Greece, the term Chaos was originally thought of as the abyss or emptiness that existed before things came into being. In current times we use the word chaos to describe the painful and frightening unraveling of our world around us.
I am so lucky and proud to be a part of a performance activist community around the world. We practice chaos making as a way to create something new out of the abyss. I just attended a workshop where amazing colleagues shared their recent work in post–war Serbia with educators, students, and the elderly and in Greece with refugees. They utilized play, performance and creating chaos as way to advance our humanity, compassion, and to perhaps discover what we can do together given the uncertainties of life.
How inspiring, you say, but what does that have to do with me and my life, as I go to work, raise my kids, complain about our political system, etc.? Well, everything, as we are all social creators of our lives, relationships and communities. We can use our sadness, confusion, anger, anxiety, and depression, to build something humane with one another. Playing together is one way to do this.
So I invite you to create chaos and build something new out of abyss: play with someone in a new way, perform differently than you usually do in an every day scene of your life, and by all means be silly and laugh.
Join the movement of performance activists! I host bi monthly adult recess workshops where we can play and be silly in all kinds of ways. Additionally there are wonderful classes and workshops to learn more about how to play as a critical tool for growth.