Knowing and not knowing

I found one of the most succinct and intelligent comments about the creative process in today’s Globe & Mail in an essay by choreographer James Kudelka about his new work based on Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth which has just opened in Toronto.

“What I have learned in my years of making dances – and making narrative dances in particular – is that, like the pragmatist, you have to know what you are trying to accomplish; but like the idealist, you have to be open to many ways of getting there. … You have to look like you know what you are doing but you have to make sure that you don’t. … And believe me, it takes years to perfect this. But that is where the inspiration lies, somewhere between knowing and not knowing.”