Month: November 2015

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.

Personally, I was nervous for this lesson. It wasn’t like a ‘normal’ contact improvisation lesson as we had never been able to lead parts of the class ourselves. This was all linked to our research labs which involved working in groups and coming up with questions around contact improvisation we would like to explore in more depth. When we were coming up with ideas last lesson I contributed the question ‘How can I fully relax, when giving all my weight to someone else?’ The background idea to this question relates a lot on my own practise. In lessons I find it hard to fully give my weight so by exploring that question it could help me in my own practise by applying some of the findings from our experiment.

 

After discussing the questions we all contributed we decided on two questions. Firstly ‘How much would the experience of contact improvisation change if you took away one of these senses? (hearing, vision, touch, smell) and secondly ‘how to initiate points of contact?’ After exploring these questions we came up with two different activities for the class to participate in. The first activity was having a few pairs in the space improvising with their eyes close. A few other pairs were watching them improvise and then the rest of the pairs had their back towards the space and could not see them improvise and after a while they swapped so everyone got a chance to experience each station of the activity. We made the task like this so everyone could get the chance to experience their vision taken away from them whilst dancing and also spectating. The task was to mainly focus on senses and consciousness and how if one of them was taken away how that would change you experience.

 

In the discussion after this activity we asked the class how they found improvising with their eyes shut and how it made them feel? We got mixed responses with some people saying it was uncomfortable because they were not sure on where about their partner was but then others said they enjoyed it as it made them to sway away from habitual movements. This activity relates to the quote ‘display to the public the bodies innate ability to respond physically to its environment’ (Lepkoff, 2008) This linked because it was the dancers job to respond with their bodies instead of their sight as their sight was taken away from them. When I trailed this activity the other day with my group it was an odd sensation as I wanted to create interesting shapes and balances but felt that was restricted because of the loss of my sight. However it felt more natural doing it, which again showed me how I should focus less on what I believe it looks like and focus more internally what it feels like. This relates to a quote in A Question by Daniel Lepkoff (2008) he states ‘rather than formulated within ones verbal mind is formulated and resides’. (Lepkoff, 2008) I found this quote relatable to my practise because you normally ask questions and answer them vocally but this is stating its possible to ask questions internally within the body and answer them through your actions. I believe through dancing with my partner with no sight we were forced to ask and answer questions through our actions together internally. This made me feel slightly more connected to my partner as we were focussing on what we were both feeling rather than what visually the contact looked like.

 

The second activity was slightly different and involved going into pairs. One person would stand there still and the other would create points of contacts on different parts of the body. For example tapping on different parts of the body. At the start of this activity a lot of the class were hesitant to give contact to their partner as they were lightly tapping on the other person and not giving very much meaningful contact. We then stated that vary the amount of pressure in each touch and try and find points of contact, which are more vulnerable than others. We then saw a difference in the force that they tapped their partner resulting in it looking more meaningful and direct. The second part was in partners experimenting with how much pressure you can give someone without them falling or collapsing because of your weight. This exercise was designed to see how much pressure you can apply on others when dancing. It was also to make people more aware to not be scared to apply pressure whilst improvising. In my practise personally I struggle to apply pressure as I am scared to place all my weight on someone else just in case they can’t take it. But by completing this exercise with my group before the lesson it made me realise how much weight I can give people without making them fall over which gave me confidence.

 

By doing these research labs, it has enabled me to create exercises with my group which has helped our research into finding answers to our questions. The research labs have been interesting to find the results of our questions and it was helpful to get so many opinions and different types of feedback from are peers.

 

I also found it enjoyable to take part in the other groups research labs as it was fun to see my peers lead parts of the class. Throughout the lesson I feel like as a class we all supported each other and gave commitment and enthusiasm throughout each activity that was thrown on us.

 

Ravn, S. (2010) Sensing weight in movement. Journal of dance and somatic practices, 2 (1) 21-34.

Brown, B. (1997) Is contact a small dance? Contact Quarterly: Contact improvisation sourcebook, 1(6) 72-75.