Even in the early stages of her career, the American ballet dancer and choreographer Liz Lerman was reflecting on how different types of feedback had different effects on her. Some feedback would be inspiring and make her want to get back in the practise room to try things out, while other types of feedback had the opposite effect. The tough critique culture that she claims is prevalent in artistic communities eventually became a problem for her – both as a recipient and as a conveyor of criticism. As a recipient she often found feedback to be insufficiently specific or meaningful, or it felt brutal. As a teacher, or a participant on judging committees and panels, she felt uncomfortable giving feedback without first gaining a better insight into the performing artists’ own processes and ideas:

«I even began to question the basic premises underlying my teaching of dance composition because I was troubled about the nature of my response to the work being created by my students. I had plenty to say. That wasn’t the problem. But I kept wondering why I was saying it: Was I truly helping my students find their individual voices or was I just trying to create clones of me?»
(Lerman & Borstel, 2003, p. 6)

Lerman therefore developed a method for giving and receiving feedback based on the idea that everyone acts as peers, as equals in the process. Together with her colleague John Borstel she wrote a book describing CRP, and she has since both used the method herself and taught it to others. I was introduced to the method at an ICONseminar in the spring of 2014 and then participated in a week-long course with Liz Lerman at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in autumn 2014. I have since met and kept in contact with her about my process to become a competent practitioner of CRP.

CRP is a method whereby a group of people work together to focus on an artistic performance or other form of presentation with a view to giving the person(s) performing new ideas, making them see new opportunities, further developing their material, enriching their creativity or acquiring new skills. The process involves four steps, and the participants assume one of three different roles: artist, responder or facilitator. The artist is the person or persons performing the artistic material that is the subject of the process. The responders can be friends, colleagues, fellow students or an audience, and they may be experts or beginners.

Which kind of responders to choose for a CRP seminar depends on what you want to get out of the process. For the process to work as intended, a facilitator is required to manage the feedback, comments and questions. The facilitator ensures that the dialogue is within the parameters of each step. The facilitator ensures that the participants stick to the topic at hand and steers the process towards the next step. The facilitator, who has been trained in CRP, can also guide the artist or the responders, help clarify ambiguities or gently put a stop to any feedback that does not benefit the process.

CRP is based on the learning principle that you learn better and become more motivated by discovering for yourself than by being told what to do. Dialogue will uncover opportunities, and when you ask for advice you are more receptive to learning than when you simply receive instructions. Through peer learning the artist should learn to discover and reflect and become motivated to work deeper and broader on his or her artistic expression.