Contact Improvisation

Stepping into the room with the realisation that this was the last lesson of this module hit me. Not only this, but it was duet assessment day, which is why I was nervous as the hard work that Zoe and I had put in was being shown as a mini performance, in front of Kirsty and the rest of my classmates.

At the beginning we started off by showcasing our contact improvisation duets. I was looking forward to seeing how other partners choreographed their duets and what material and techniques they incorporated into them. Zoe and myself specifically asked to go first to perform our duet. In previous years I sometimes found myself panicking when watching other people’s performances before my own, because I start to compare and doubt my decisions within the choreography. So I felt asking to go first would eliminate this worry, which would mean when I was performing I would have a clear state of mind and hopefully perform it better.

When performing my duet I felt very confident and safe with Zoe. After all the practices I have developed a lot of trust with Zoe and feel like our connection when dancing has grown stronger. I feel like the duet went well and nothing in particular went wrong. This was a great feeling as one of the lifts we performed had not been always a consistent success in rehearsals. This involved me balancing on Zoe’s back and lifting both my legs up into the air whilst the only point of contact were the back and the hands. This lift required a lot of balance for Zoe, as she had to stay completely still to support me and I had to remain balanced to keep my legs straight and still. In the performance the energy made up perform the lift successfully. Throughout the duet I feel our connection remained strong as we always tried to keep in contact with each other. This was one of the aspects we practised a lot in our rehearsals, because this was one of our points from Kirsty after our first section of feedback a couple of weeks ago. Kitsty said we needed to have more connection and choreograph some different movements that allow that to happen. We then took this feedback on board and changed our duet by adding more techniques with more connection such as surfing and rolling, using different anchor points and weight bearing lifts.

Throughout the rehearsal process the routine kept changing. I felt this reflected our knowledge of contact improvisation and how it improved over the course of this module. I believe this was because every week we learn new techniques and then wanting them to incorporate them into our duet. For example our routine was more complex on performance day than from what it was at the beginning of the rehearsal process.

The second half of the session involved us taking part in the Underscore by Nancy Stark Smith. This was the first time we all as a class we have participated in a structured score together. This experience for me was too restricted, as my movements felt trapped within the stages of the score. After each stage of the score I felt like I wanted to explore it more but then we were told to move on to the next section of the score. However I did enjoy working through the different stages of the score as this made me more of the different starting points in which I could initiate movements and the many different dynamics I could move with. From looking back at the first lesson of this module I didn’t improvise with many dynamics, as I didn’t even believe this would make a big change to my movements. I am not ashamed to say this, as my previous training has been very classically based and I had a fixed fluid dynamic throughout all my movements, so I didn’t know any different. After this module I have learnt how very wrong I was from my initial perceptions on dynamics. I can now see how dynamics can impact movements and how they internally can make you feel when dancing. I am beginning to rely on dynamics to initiate my movements when improvising. For example, when I am bored of the movements I’m performing I sometimes think to myself I am now going to dance with a sharp and fast dynamic. This enables me to experiment and let my body have a purpose with the movements I’m doing. Restricting my movements makes my body move in a less habitual way and discover new movements I would never have done if I had not restricted myself to these dynamics.

Looking back to the modules we completed in the first year and in this semester, I believe this is the module in which I have made the biggest improvement within myself from the very first to the last session. At the start I was very nervous and had no self-confidence dancing to something that has not been choreographed. Not only this, but I was nervous to make contact with others, as this is a concept I had never been trained in. Looking back at the first videos that Kirsty recorded in the first session, it was obvious to me I looked very unsure on the movements I was doing and therefore tended to switch to habitual movements. However, in the more recent lessons the videos have proven to me that I have become more confident in my movements as they look stronger and more purposeful.

A quote I referenced in my blog post after week one was by Steve Paxton ‘Improvising can not be taught, though it can be learnt’ (Paxton, 2003) I feel this quote sums up my practice through this module. Even though we have been taught many different techniques of contact improvisation, my experience in the jams has been the biggest learning curve for me. I feel like the jams have made me more open to the idea of contacting with others and have made me more confident in doing so. After every jam I felt like my movement showed more maturity as I was becoming more aware of the movement possibilities my body could do. For example as the weeks went on I started using different dynamics, exploring different kinesphere’s and playing with what initiates my movements.

I never thought I’d say the sentence that I actually can see and feel the improvement I have achieved since the beginning of the module. The techniques and movements I have learnt have not only made me improve in this module but I feel like my body is a lot stronger and more aware in technique and other practical modules. I am pleased that I challenged myself in this module and overcame the fear that I had at the beginning.

 

Paxton, S. (2003) Drafting Interior Techniques. In: Nancy Stark-Smith (ed) A Subjective History of Contact Improvisation. In: Ann Cooper Albright and David Gere (eds) Taken by Surprise: A Dance Improvisation Reader. Middletown, Conn: Wesleyan University Press, 175-184.

 

 

In this weeks session the main theme was scores. We looked into the basics structures of scores and how scores are used within contact improvisation. There are so many possibilities on the scores you can create, as there are so many different rules you could apply to the score to make it as interesting as possible for the audience. This is the first session that we have incorporated scores through improvisation since last year so I was keen to get back into dancing with a score. I particularity enjoy dancing with a score as it keeps me as the dancer challenged when improvising because of the restrictions and rules the score could include.

 

In the beginning of the session we started with standing in a space with closed eyes. I find this very useful for me, because being aware of my internal self leaves me with a more focussed attitude towards the session ahead. We then started to warm up by walking around in the space but then experimenting with different concepts of contact improvisation. For example making different points of contact with others, anchor points, weight-baring positions, manipulating someone’s movements and experiment contacting with different speeds and dynamics. Personally, I felt this exercise really helped me to be aware of my own body and get used to being in contact with others again. As the warm up concentrated on the specific elements I stated above, it made me have freedom in how I could contact with others. Instead of only concentrating on one way of contacting I was free to challenge myself with the many different options. This related to a section in the exercise where I had just come out of a weight baring position with Lauren, but instead of going into contact with someone else I wanted to be in control so I decided to manipulate phoebes movements by holding onto the back of her head. The freedom of this exercise made it more interesting to me and made me realise the many different ways I can make contact with someone which I was not aware with at the beginning of this module. This links into the jams and the many different options I now have the knowledge of doing with other people.

We then participated in some travelling exercises. The travelling movements we practised were the ones we got taught in our workshop in which we participated in and was delivered by Feet Off The Ground Dance Company. The travelling movements included movements I had never tried before the workshop, which involved headstands and walkovers. It was useful to practise these movements again so I begin to improve them so I can involve them in jams more often. Millie was my partner for this section and as a pair we worked well together. I think one of the main reasons that lifts and weight baring balances work well with Millie is because we are both the same height. This is an advantage as our backs are in the same angle and height when doing lift baring movements which makes it easier to me the over and under dancer. We then tried to incorporate all of these movements together by improvising a travelling sequence across the room. One of the main concepts Millie and I were concentrating on was always trying to keep connection throughout. The first couple of times we disconnected however the more times we travelled together the better our connection has got. I felt more and more confident that more times we did it even though every single time we did something new and that excited me. By keeping in contact I hope that the movement looked more seamless as I personally felt like I was very connected to Millie.

 

In this weeks reading Some considerations when structuring an improvisation by Jamie Stover informed me of different questions and ideas I should consider when making a score. ‘How does my dance fulfil or not fulfil existing contextual aesthetic expectations and parameters for dance? (Stover, 1989,185) This reading then linked in with the task we were asked to do which was to prepare a score for our classmates and to trail it in this weeks session. In my group we created a score ‘The mouse Trap’ which focused on spatial awareness and awareness of others. The space was divided into four squares and the dancers had to travel around the squares clockwise. The rules were that everyone had to enter from the top left hand corner and only dance in the first square until the fifth dancer entered the space meaning the next square was unlocked and free to dance in. This rule carried on so when the ninth dancer entered the space the third square was unlocked and so on until all the dancers were dancing in all four squares and then finally left the space through the top right hand corner. This rule made sure that all dancers had to work their way through the space to exit it. Not only this but also this score made dancers be aware of others as they had to be aware of the exact number of dancers in the space. We had to pick one member of our group to observe and the rest of the group including me had to participate in the score. It was fun to take part in a score that I had partly created as it was putting our creations into practise. Millie who was the observer of this score noticed a few key points by watching. Firstly she noticed that dancers were hesitant to enter the space. This might be because of the nature of the score as they were familiar with the rules but because they had never tried it before were nervous to take part. Secondly Millie observed that even when everyone was present in the four squares she could still the divide very clearly within the sections. This linked to how I felt in the space as when I was in a certain square I felt like it was my home for a while and wanted to explore movements in that particular square before I moved onto the next one.

We also participated in our classmates scores as well which was interesting to see what they decided to base their scores on and what rules they wanted to include in their scores. Each of our scores was very different from each other’s and that made them more exciting to take part in. Some scores involved dancing in different parts of the room for example ‘The half way score’ involved the spectators standing in a straight line in the middle and having each side of the line performance space. This meant you could pick which side of the line to perform in. This also felt unusual to have the audience in a different position rather than in a circle in which I am used to.

Throughout this session I started to reflect on my practise of contact improvisation and how I feel like my dancing as changed and improved throughout this module. Even though I still feel quite vulnerable doing this practise I feel like I have learnt how to trust myself more. This is not only in lifting people and being lifted but trusting myself to be more confident.

Stover, J., 1989. Some Considerations When Structuring an Improvisation (to be seen by an audience). In: V. 14, ed. Contact Quarterly’s Contact Improvisation Sourcebook. Northampton : Contact Editions , p. 185

In this weeks session we not only participated in others groups research lab’s but lead are own as well. This is the second research lab we have done in this module so I was looking forward to how this differed from the last research lab we did a month ago. The main two objective’s for our groups research was firstly looking into how to transition in and out of lifts or weight baring positions and secondly identifying how many dynamics you can incorporate into your movements instead of using the same throughout the jam.

 

In the first exercise we wanted to explore different types of dynamics that could be shown within the movements. We wanted to show how many different dynamics and options you could do to make your movements more visually interesting. This exercise would also make you aware how much the dynamics can change how your feel internally when practising these. ‘These bursts serve to heighten a sense of excitement’ (Keefe, 2003, 231) This quote shows us that dynamics can make a huge impact to the audience and make it more interesting to spectate. The exercise began with all of the class standing in a circle. When each new person enters the space they come with a different dynamic. For example if one person comes in dancing with fluid movements they would keep dancing with the dynamic until someone else joins them. If the next person came in with a sharp dynamic the original person would have to change to the new dynamic. Our intention of this exercise was to make people change the dynamic of their movements quickly. It also meant that the other people in the space had no control of the new dynamics. This forced them to become more creative and to think about the movements, which fits into the dynamic which is present in the space. Another important aim of this exercise was for the dancers to be aware of other dancers in the space. They had to keep close attention to others to be aware if anyone new entered the space, as they would have to identify the new dynamic and then adapt their movements accordingly. ‘Activities only triggered by the outcome of choices and actions of others’ (Keefe, 2003, 231) This quote relates to this exercise as the dynamic choices that the dancers choice changed the outcome of the other dancers movement and choices.

 

After watching the exercise it was clear to me that some people found it hard to adapt their movements to the different dynamics because they showed uncertainty emotions. We received a variety of different feedback from our classmates regarding this exercise which we were interested to know. Firstly Zoe felt rushed during some parts of this exercise. She explained how she was reluctant to change her dynamics as she didn’t feel like she had explored the previous dynamic in enough detail. This relates into thinking about how in a jam situation, someone can manipulate your movements and how you choose to either follow through and dance with them. Or imposingly how you could reject the conversation and points of contact.

 

Other comments we received from the exercise that sometimes it was hard to be constantly aware of the other dancers in the space. It was sometimes difficult to concentrate on the movements when having to always be aware if a new dancer entered the space. I feel like if I joined in, in this exercise I would feel the same. Sometimes in jam’s I am to engrossed within my own movements to even be aware what other dancers are doing around me.

 

However on a more positive note some of our classmates said that it enabled them to experience and try dynamics that they would never have wanted to try

on their own in a jam. In my own practise I tend to habitually move with a fluid dynamic to my movements but with this exercise if I joined in it would force me to dance and think about movements with unusual dynamics that I had never tried before.

 

The second exercise’s aim was to practise moving in and out of lifts whilst improvising. This was a concept that my group thought we all needed to improve on as a class. When we participated in the lifting lesson the lifts we tried all stemmed from a stationary position. However in a jam we are never static and therefore find it hard to communicate with another dancer without talking which lift you are aiming to do. Another problem that occurs is working out which lift you can do without a lot of preparation and breaking apart from one another to set and perform the lift. The point of the exercise is to practise flowing into each lift and weight baring position to give it a seamless effect. In my own practise this is what I am aiming for in my contact duet with Zoe. Our main objective is to run smoothly in and out of lifts, which is something as we become more familiar with our duet will come in time.

 

The exercise included one person improvising in the space and then someone would join them make contact with them and then perform a lift. After this happens that dancer would make their way out of the space with the other dancer still there and then another dancer would join them and perform a second lift. The idea was each dancer has the opportunity to be the over and under dancer. In my own practise I tend to be the under dancer as I am taller and find it easier to lift others than to be lifted myself. This exercise made sure that people who felt the same as me to have the experience of being lifted and to see how it feels to them.

 

The feedback we got given from this exercise was that our classmates felt rushed during improvising in the space. They explained how after making contact and performing the lift they had no time to explore the partnership in more depth, as they had to then exit the space ready for the next person to come in. After making the connection they would have liked to discover if any more lifts were possible and to see if more connection could be made. Another comment, which was addressed, was that they felt like the lifts were forced. This was most probably because of the nature of the exercise as this was our intention to incorporate lifts causing them to feel like this.

 

As an observer of this exercise I noticed a lot of lifts that were shown Kirsty had not taught us in class. It was obvious to me that people were experimenting with lifts, which was exciting to me as they performed raw and interesting material. By watching this it gave me ideas for my own practise and how I could incorporate different lifts in different contact situations.

 

After delivering these two exercises for our research lab we received a lot of feedback from our peers, which was extremely useful. After looking at the comments we have now found answers and observations to the idea of transitions and lifts in which we hoped to find out.

Keefe, M. (2003) What’s the score? Improvisation in Everyday Life. In: Albright, A. C., & Gere, D.Taken by surprise: A dance improvisation reader. Middletown, Conn: Wesleyan University Press, 229-237.

I was a lot more confident walking into this weeks session than the week before. Knowing that I had learnt the basis of a few lifts and balances has made me more confident when trying more challenging ones which I knew was the agenda for todays lesson.

 

We started the session by watching two videos ‘The play of Weight’ by Martin Leogh and Neige Christenson and ‘Contact Improvisation’ by Mirva Makinen and Otto Akkaen. After watching these videos it become clear to me that they both showed gender equality in opposite way’s through dominance. For example in ‘The play of weight’ (Christenson, 2009) the woman shows dominance by being the over dancer more frequently than the man. They both showed interesting types of lifts mainly always being the woman being lifted. The dynamics were sustained and slow. However the quality flowed nicely which consequently meant the movements looked effortless to them. This is one of my aims in my own contact improvisation duet with Zoe to make our movements look sustained and effortless to the audience. The next video we saw ‘Contact Improvisation’ (Omegabranch, 2011) showed faster dynamics with quicker movements and lifts. In this dance they did not use stillness and rarely slowed down. However in this video the gender roles showed equal dominance, which was different to the last video. They both performed the same amount of movements over and under which showed the strength of the dancers particularly when the women lifted the man.

 

We started the lesson with an exercise that we have never tried before. Instead of doing specific rolls or movements across the floor we were asked to improvise but with idea of basing our movements on spirals and rolls. This was interesting to explore, as I was improvising however still having to think of stemming the movements from the basis of rolls and spirals. It then occurred to me if I was ever stuck in a jam of what movements to do next I could think about different ideas to explore like spirals and use that as my incentive.

 

We then moved onto rolling and surfing. Previously I have been more confident rolling on my own rather than with a partner so I was keen to learn how to surf efficiently with a partner. Kirsty explained that momentum was key to keep and sustain the connection with your partner whilst rolling. I was keen to crasp this concept as rolls are an effective way of travelling with a partner in jams. My partner was Charlotte and from the first roll we travelled together I could feel like we both had a strong connection. I had never felt as comfortable with giving my weight to someone whilst doing rolls and constantly keeping the connection at all times. After the phrase ended Charlotte and I both had the same reaction which was excitement and ended with the saying ‘that felt so good’. I felt really happy with the rolls I did and was proud of myself and charlotte for achieving our intention of always having connection with each other. I feel this linked so a quote from our reading this week ‘any movement, they all have possibilities’. This relates to the rolls, as there are so many different ways we could move together and the many possibilities for new movements we can create.

 

I then challenged myself to do another type of roll called an aikido roll. My first initial thought was it looked tricky. I was paired with Zoe and I was nervous to try it. After trying it a few times it occurred to me it was not working as well as I was trying roll over my head instead of rolling over onto the side of my shoulder. Even after trying on my shoulder it still didn’t look as smooth as it could do. As Zoe is my partner I think we will continue to practise this roll so we could possibly include it into our contact duet. When Zoe was doing this roll on me I felt it easy to pull her around to finish the phrase. I think this was because Zoe had more momentum when she was doing the roll so that meant the momentum made it easier for us both to roll again to finish the phrase. This roll and situation linked to our reading ‘using the momentum of my partner as the force that moved me’ (Curtis and Ptashek, 1988, 158) I feel this relates well with my own practise because I am having to use Zoe’s momentum from her body to enable me to roll around. This also links into us working together and combining both forces from our body to be able to perform the roll successfully.

 

On the other hand I found the next section of the session rather frustrating. It was a certain counterbalance which involved standing back to back with a partner and one person would lean all the weight on the other which would mean their feet would rise off the ground. The hardest part of this lift for me was the scoping motion. I found it hard to stay stable because I had to bend down more to pick Zoe up the correct way. The main reason for this was the height difference. It is easier for two people to perform this lift if they were similar height but because I am quite a few inches taller than Zoe I found it hard to pick her up. This therefore frustrated me as I was trying to do it correctly but initially thought it was my fault it was not working. It was only after Kirsty told me it is normal for me to struggle on this because of the height difference between me and Zoe. I then tried this lift with Millie and performed it successfully first time. This gave me confidence as it made me realise I was able to take someone’s weight in this position and perform the lift.

 

Throughout this session Kirsty told us to focus on releasing muscular tension when performing lifts or counter balances. Through out the session I tried to relate this to my own practise by being aware of the muscular tension. I tried my best to eliminate it by moving my joints to initiate the movements instead of straining the muscles to perform the movements. This will not be an easy adjustment to my movements so I will need to work on this throughout the jams and sessions.

 

Curtis, B. and Ptashek, A. (1988) Exposed to Gravity. Contact Quaterly/Improvisation Sourcebook. 13(2) 156-162.

Omegabranch (2011) Contact Improvisation Mirva Mäkinen & Otto Akkanen. [Online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMLbWxujoGw [Accessed 16 November 2015].

Neige Christenson (2009) the play of weight. [Online Video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltq6y06E8ew [Accessed 16 November 2015].

‘Going up’

 

From all the sessions so far of contact improvisation I have to say this is the lesson that I have been most looking forward to. In the majority of the lessons Kirsty has someway or another referred to the ‘going up’ lesson by saying statements like in the lifting lesson we will do this or I will teach how to get into these positions/shapes later on in the module. So the thought of learning new challenging lifts and being in the air really made me excited and nervous for the lesson. I have always been the taller and larger girl throughout my training so I always had the role of a lifter so I was excited to see if in this session the roles could be switched and I experienced what it was like to be lifted. For the first time in my life I believed that It could be possible for the roles to be switched mainly because throughout the module I have learnt that I can give my weight to people and they will be able to take it.

 

At the start of this session we had to find a partner and jam with them. I was with Claire and at first it was hard to find connection and get back into it. After having reading week off it thrown me a little as I had to get back into the mind set of contact improvising with someone. However as the contact progressed the movements flowed better. As a pair we got complemented by Kirsty for our movements so that gave me a boost of confidence at the start of the lesson which helped my mindset through out the session. After that we then started to lead up to lifting by doing some smaller balances which involved going in the air. The first lift involved Ellie in table top position and myself leaning my back on her back and using my core strength and momentum to lift my legs up and flip over her back. The first few times I tried it I wasn’t finding it easy to kick my legs upwards. After discussing about the situation with Ellie we came to the conclusion that my back was not in the right place on her back and after I changed the position of my back the flip was easier to complete. This situation then linked to ‘contact is about communication and sharing’ (Woodhull, 1997, 48) I think communication is vital for lifting work because by both being aware of what the others thinking both people will have more confidence and knowledge. The aim was to land smoothly and with ease, which was harder than I thought. I found it harder to control the landing at a start but however got better the more I practised. When it was Ellie’s turn to do the same on my back, I was surprised at how much I didn’t feel Ellie’s weight. The next lift was the superman lift which involved Ellie lying down with her two legs up at a ninety degree angle with flexed feet. She then put her soles of her feet near my hip bones and took the weight of my body with her leg strength which then made me balance in the air with the only support being her feet on my hipbones. I was apprehensive before starting this however surprised myself because I managed to do the balance without the support of Ellie’s hands. I think this relates to the quote ‘when there is more than one point of contact the centre of gravity no longer has to be over the point of contact’ (Woodhull, 1997, 47). I believe this is suggesting that if you don’t fully trust the person you are improvising with, you are not giving them your full weight, meaning your centre of gravity might not necessarily change. However in my situation I felt comfortable giving all my weight to ellie so I didn’t think about my own centre of gravity as Ellie took that responsibility. Which made me more confident and then enabled me to do the lift with ease.

 

Throughout this session it was important to release the muscular tension in my body. This is a difficult concept for me as this is what I have struggled with in the previous sessions. In this session it was my first real experience of being lifted, as the session went along the more I started to release muscular and emotional tension (to have willingness to try new things) and because of that the lifts kept getting better the more I practised.

 

We then moved on to more weight bearing travelling exercises. Throughout the session the lifts and balances have been very static. Before we started these I thought these would be particularly effective to actively demonstrate in our jams. Also would be an affective to way to travel with someone else as before I have only travelled across the space in jams on my own. One of the ways we got taught to use balance and the momentum was an exercise that involved the strength to pull each other across the space. This involved holding on to each other with one hand and the arm out stretched whilst in a bent squat position leaning backwards. Then one person would pull the other person around you so swapping places but with strength force from the other person. This was a fun exercise and would be a good way to travel or enter a jam.

 

We then moved on to doing group lifts. This involved three people standing with their arms out stretched ready to catch the person running and throwing them selves in a straight pencil shape. I found catching the other girls fun as it was good to work in a bigger group. However I think it would be harder to incorporate this lift in a jam because it would be hard to organise on the spot without talking to each other in a jam situation!

 

Throughout this session I have learnt different types of lifts and balances. As the session went on I got more confident into giving and receiving peoples weight. Some of these types of balances I can now incorporate in the jams when I am contacting with people. However I can now not only do the lifts that we have done this lesson but now experiment with the points of contact that we have been shown today. Meaning I can do different shapes and types of lifts with the basis of knowledge I now have. I have really enjoyed this lesson but am definitely feeling the pain all over body today!

Woodhull, A. (1997) Center of Gravity. Contact Quarterly/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook I, 4, 43-48.