A friend of mine, Matt, is a fan of all things interesting. He brought this to my attention. It's a theory adopted by military fighter pilots.
OODA LoopO = Observe
O = Orient
D = Decide
A = Act
The loop goes in that order, but always repeats for the person engaged in conflict. Here's the massive quote: "An entity (whether an individual or an organization) that can process this cycle
quickly, observing and reacting to unfolding events more rapidly than an
opponent, can thereby "get inside" the opponent's decision cycle and gain the
advantage."
Incidentally, another friend of mine recently brought to my attention that Bill Chott has a theory of improv as a zero-contact sport. It uses the same mental gears as sport, but without the hurting.
My mind is playing with a lot of ideas surrounding this. Sport is like combat. OODA Loop is a mental process for combat. Can OODA be applied to a highly non-combative, performance?
I think so, but to a higher level, actually, because "advantage" is often handed over to the "enemy" who is either another member of the ensemble or even the audience. The performer is sober, aware, and makes themselves highly vulnerable.
Gorgeous. We are not fighter pilots, but unfighter pilots. Peace pilots. That's so idealistic... I like it.
