Augmenting lifelong performance with deliberate practice

With Will­ing Spir­it, a Reprise for Ailey Dancers (The New York Times):

• “The voice on the phone belonged to Masazu­mi Chaya, the asso­ciate artis­tic direc­tor of Alvin Ailey Amer­i­can Dance The­ater, and he had a star­tling propo­si­tion. Would she — Eliz­a­beth Rox­as-Dobr­ish, 55 years old, for­mer Ailey super­star and cur­rent arti­fi­cial-hip own­er — come out of retire­ment to dance at a spe­cial per­for­mance on New Year’s Eve? …“Are you kid­ding me?” she respond­ed. No, he was not kid­ding, and even­tu­al­ly the answer was yes, she would do it. And it was yes, too, for a hand­ful of oth­er Ailey alum­ni who received sim­i­lar calls…
• Robert Bat­tle, Ailey’s artis­tic direc­tor, said the dancers were of course being held to a high stan­dard, but the spir­it was just as impor­tant as rel­a­tive per­fec­tion. “Maybe they might feel that they can’t do it exact­ly the way they did, but maybe that’s not the point,” he said. “The point is to be where they are.”

Relat­ed articles:

• Enhanc­ing Trad­er Per­for­mance and The Psy­chol­o­gy of Trad­ing: Inter­view with Brett N. Steenbarger
• In the Age of Google, Should Schools Teach Mem­o­riza­tion Skills?
• Are we intel­li­gent about devel­op­ing human intel­li­gence?