(photo courtesy Creative Commons/riddle)

Slap! Thwop. Thwup. Floor, thigh, palm.  I thwacked a recyclable plastic bottle against different surfaces, composing a symphony of sounds. Who knew that one man's junk could be another man's funk?

I experimented with beats and noises at Stomp, a Get Your Hands Dirty with the Arts workshop taught by Joseph "Joey" Lettery, a University of Southern California dance instructor. The workshop is modeled after the acclaimed show Stomp, in which performers create rhythm on ordinary objects such as a kitchen sink. Lettery emphasized the spontaneity of rhythmic performance art, a do-it-yourself merge of dance and music requiring the simplest of instruments - any household prop and your body.

Lettery brought a random assortment of props. Maracas, plastic bottles, drums, tambourines, gourds, toy drums and a tube that whistled when you spun it in circles were all neatly arranged on the floor. One instrument I couldn't name: a cylinder with a single wire attached to the bottom, like a one-legged squid, made horrific noises when you shook it. I cringed when one girl demonstrated.

I picked up two maracas, both slightly larger than my outstretched hand. Sitting in a pow wow circle with 12 other participants, I shook my maracas in time with the 1-2-3-4 counts. Lettery believed in counting beats. It was a skill that helped him when he once choreographed "West Side Story" without piano accompanist for the first three weeks. "Let me tell you, it was not fun," he said. "I count everything."

Like a conductor directing a symphony, Lettery grouped us into sections. On the first beat, plastic bottles. On the second and third, maracas. On the fourth, tambourines shook twice. Each section built layers, adding depth. The structured counts kept everyone aligned. We had to learn the rules before we learned how to break them.

Encouraged by our frizzle-haired teacher, we were then urged to improvise. We passed our instruments to the person right of us. As we all loosened up and concocted our own rhythms, we let go of our inhibitions. Lettery said that children are the best audience to work with, because they are not afraid to try anything. They free their imaginations. I wondered at what point did I begin to chain my imagination to unspoken social rules. Here, like a 3-year-old, amusing myself while banging toys against the ground and my hands, I realized that I had to revert to the carefree state of a child in order to attain creative maturity.

The beauty of performances like Stomp is the idea that we create art when we let go of customary traditions. Who said that sinks and plastic bottles can't be instruments? By letting go, we enliven the mundane.