How Advanced Play Labs Began

Advanced Play labs began in the summer of 2014 when I threw a boom box on a wheely cart and organized, what I referred to at the time as, a “dance walk.” This was after I read the book Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown on the importance of play at every stage in life. The book rang true to me. Being in my early 20’s, I was witnessing the decline of playfulness in my life the further I got from my childhood. There were still small flashes of play, but they came infrequently and seemed harder to attain than in my youth. But when these small flashes of play did come, I felt on fire. I felt alive. I felt something change in my body and my brain. This was all from the power of play and it’s lasting effects.

During long stretches without glimpses of play, I felt a dimness. A dim, dull, brain-dead feeling could easily slip into a darker place. I had days where I didn’t want to get out of bed or where I felt disconnected from the rest of the world. Sometimes sad, sometimes angry, and feeling both judged and judgmental. My story isn't special. This is what happens to us when we’re play-deprived, and play deprivation is an epidemic. These are the very real physiological consequences of play-deprivation.

Organizing “dance walking” was my solution to the problem. It combined outdoor exercise with dance improvisation. I put together a lesson plan of creative drills and got together some friends and their friends and we began our path down the Northshore Sculpture park. The experience was all I could have hoped for: It was exhilarating, creative, intensely engaging but stress free, socially connecting, and gave me a feeling that was out of this world. Everyone who came raved about it, saying it was like nothing they’d done before. They felt empowered, even especially my shy friends. It was true play and it made us feel alive. Since then, “dance walking” became known as Danceprov, one of the many extraordinary play experiences my organization, Advanced Play Labs, is providing to the grownup world.