Critique Is Creative: The Critical Response Process in Theory and Action

by Liz Lerman, John Borstel

Overview

A thorough introduction and lively exploration of a widely recognized method for giving and getting useful feedback

Devised by choreographer Liz Lerman in 1990, Critical Response Process® (CRP) is an internationally recognized method for giving and getting feedback on creative works in progress. In this first in-depth study of CRP, Lerman and her long-term collaborator John Borstel describe in detail the four-step process, its origins and principles. The book also includes essays on CRP from a wide range of contributors. With insight, ingenuity, and the occasional challenge, these practitioners shed light on the applications and variations of CRP in the contexts of art, education, and community life. Critique Is Creative examines the challenges we face in an era of reckoning and how CRP can aid in change-making of various kinds.

With contributions from:
Bimbola Akinbola, Mark Callahan, Lawrence Edelson, Isaac Gómez, Rachel Miller Jacobs, Lekelia Jenkins, Elizabeth Johnson Levine, Carlos Lopez-Real, Cristóbal Martínez, Gesel Mason, Cassie Meador, Kevin Ormsby, CJay Philip, Kathryn Prince, Sean Riley, Charles C. Smith, Shula Strassfeld, Phil Stoesz, Gerda van Zelm, Jill Waterhouse, Rebekah West

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780819580825
Publisher:	Wesleyan University Press
Publication date:	07/05/2022
Pages:	266
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

LIZ LERMAN (Tempe, AZ) is a choreographer, performer, writer, educator and speaker, and the recipient of numerous honors, including a 2002 MacArthur Genius Grant. She is the author of Hiking the Horizontal: Field Notes from a Choreographer, and Institute Professor at the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. JOHN BORSTEL (Silver Spring, MD) is an artist working at the crossroads of photography, performance, and text, currently working as an independent consultant following a 20-year career in programming and development for Dance Exchange.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments        ix • The Critical Response Process xi • Introduction • Opening Circles, Liz Lerman        2 • Introduction 4 • Section I: The Practice • Chapter 1: Framing Feedback • Framing Feedback 13 • From Your Beginnings, Liz Lerman 15 • Living Feedback: A Short Memoir of Critique Experiences, John Borstel 17 • The Broadest Possible Interpretation of Creativity, Mark Callahan 24 • Reimagining Feedback, Liz Lerman 30 • Chapter 2: Roles & Steps • Roles & Steps 38 • Practice, Practice, Liz Lerman 40 • The Critical Response Process in Brief 43 • The Roles        47 • Step One 54 • Step Two 70 • Step Three 87 • Step Four 108 • Section II: Applications • Authors' Note 121 • Chapter 3: Learning & Teaching • Learning & Teaching 123 • Interrupting Authority, Liz Lerman 132 • Rigorous Nurture: The Critical Response Process and Adolescents, Elizabeth Johnson Levine 134 • Engaging the Vital Power of Your Peers: CRP in Jazz Education, Carlos Lopez-Real 150 • Developing the Artistic Voice, Gerda van Zelm 155 • If the Artist Asks, It's Our Job to Answer: CRP in the College Dance Composition Studio, Gesel Mason 162 • Unleashing Autonomy, Cultivating Leadership: CRP in Advanced Music Education, Sean Riley 170 • An Adaptation of CRP for Peer Review in Small Seminar Courses in STEM, Lekelia Jenkins 180 • Toward a CRP Pedagogy, Kathryn Prince 186 • You Are the Teacher, Liz Lerman 199 • Chapter 4: Artistry & Institutions • Artistry & Institutions 207 • Critiquing and Caring, Liz Lerman 214 • Mentoring and Facilitating in the Visual Arts: CRP at Women's Art Resources of Minnesota, Jill Waterhouse 217 • Process and Ethos: CRP for New Operas at American Lyric Theater, Lawrence Edelson 226 • An Accommodating Blueprint: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on CRP, Rebekah West 230 • Getting Where We Need To Be: CRP in Organization, Collaboration, and Production at Dance & Bmore, CJay Philip 238 • CRP on Yourself, Liz Lerman 247 • Chapter 5: Communities & Change • Communities & Change 251 • CRP in a Time of Reckoning, Liz Lerman 258 • Out of the Shadow Side of Niceness: CRP in a Mennonite Seminary Worship Lab, Rachel Miller Jacobs 261 • Learning a City, Resisting Erasure: CRP in Community and Collaborative Process, Bimbola Akinbola and Cassie Meador 266 • Advancing Equity: CRP at Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario, Charles C. Smith, Kevin A. Ormsby, and Shula Strassfeld 278 • Human Works in Progress: CRP and Personal Change, Phil Stoesz 289 • Civic Dramaturgy: Undoing Racism Through Critical Response Process, Isaac Gómez 295 • Critical Response Process: Aesthetics of Time, Cristóbal Martínez 304 • Closing Ritual, Liz Lerman 322 • Author and Contributor Biographies 327

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Liz Lerman and the CRP were critical to my introduction to Alternate ROOTS. The woman and the process have been core to my artistic development and to my ability to build community. This book is an essential tool for that development to continue."—Carlton Turner, co-founder of Sipp Culture

"The Critical Response Process® has transformed my work in developing new opera, helping to swathe robust criticism in grace and equanimity. Critique Is Creative is both an invaluable practical guide and a fascinating chronicle of the process in action."—Cori Ellison, Faculty, The Juilliard School, American Lyric Theater

Editorial Reviews

"Liz Lerman and the CRP were critical to my introduction to Alternate ROOTS. The woman and the process have been core to my artistic development and to my ability to build community. This book is an essential tool for that development to continue."—Carlton Turner, co-founder of Sipp Culture

"The Critical Response Process® has transformed my work in developing new opera, helping to swathe robust criticism in grace and equanimity. Critique Is Creative is both an invaluable practical guide and a fascinating chronicle of the process in action."—Cori Ellison, Faculty, The Juilliard School, American Lyric Theater

From the Publisher