The RSVP Cycles: Creative Processes in the Human Environment

What follows is from the introductory section of the now out of print book, The RSVP Cycles: Creative Processes in the Human Environment, by Lawrence Halprin (George Braziller: New York 1969). The book considers ‘scoring’ as a way in which to make processes visible and as a way of enabling participation. This work was developed with his wife and dancer Anna Halprin. She has utilized and extended the RSVP cycle extensively, using it to elaborate and structure interactions between people within, in particular, community movement practices. The RSVP score makes elements of the creative process visible and seeks to aid communication within artistic collaborations. As such it offers a significant framework for articulation, making accessible that which is usually hidden and implicit. Thereby editors felt that it was an important resource to include in this special issue, encompassing insights into the value of scoring, which might be seen as modes of articulation in their own right, and also because the RSVP cycles offer a way through which creative processes can be better understood.