Contact improvisation

So this week was our final week of contact. Time to perform our duets and participate in the underscore. To start off with I was very nervous due to us having to perform our duets, so much hard work had been put into them and I wanted it to go smoothly. After our duets were over my nerves had gone and I was ready to perform in the underscore. From improvisation last year we had already touched on the score so I knew some of the terms already, but bringing contact and extra components in was new and exciting to explore.

The duet which Claire and I performed tested both our skills in contact improvisation. We thought of the different levels which we could improvise with and tried to not improvise on our lower kinesphere as this is something which is a habit to us both. The different dynamics was difficult to interpret into the duet as this is something which I find hard when contacting with another person as I don’t feel safe lifting or weight baring when going fast. We struggled with the idea of not shuffling into the next movement because it was improvised and choreographed it was hard to make it fluid so the movements just fell into place, but with practice I feel like we overcame these worries. Overall I think our performance went the best it could and I am happy with the achievement we both made pushing our own boundaries in the duet.

Throughout the score I enjoyed dancing on my own the start of the score was done individually, getting to know your bodies and thinking about it internally. I enjoyed this as we haven’t had the chance to work by ourselves this semester as it had been contact. It was nice to bring our solo improvisation in to the score so I could see the link between the both. During the score I felt many different connections with different people which is different to how I have felt the past couple of weeks, maybe it was because it was the last lesson so I just went for it. I felt like I was improvising on my own a lot throughout, there wasn’t a specific reason for this I think it was just how my body felt during that time.

My thoughts and feelings on contact improvisation has changed from week one. I am more confident as a dancer as I feel like my movement material and knowledge has expanded and I have disappeared from my pervious training. As I was trained in ballet, I really struggled in contact improvisation, beginning to love the ground and to let my body be free is something which is avoided in ballet. As the weeks past and my confidence grew I let go of my body and allowed myself to love the floor, this helped me in my contact improvisation to make the movements with another dancer become fluid.

I hate going upside down. At the start when Kirsty told us to travel from one side of the room to the next doing handstands, cartwheels and low floor work it was my worst nightmare. I did not feel confident at all, which knocked my confidence in my improvisation. As we did these exercises mostly every week my arms got stronger which allowed my legs to get higher of the ground and slowing my pelvis was becoming to get off the floor and vertical. This is something which we had to put in our contact jams it was a way to get out of lifts for example. This was a big help in that way of getting out of lifts I thought was always sticky moment as the momentum and connection would go, but when incorporating these lifts the sticky situations would go and made everything so much easier.

Contact improvisation was a demanding and challenging module. If my mind wasn’t in the right place for contact I had to work through that and make it work. This became particularly important, especially when we began to work with other people, where we became in control of lifting another person. Sometimes it was hard to get out of this mind set. I did enjoy the module as I have learnt many different aspects about my body which I did not know before and also about my peer’s bodies and how they react and improvise with me. The connections we have all made through doing contact is something which I will never forget. Sometimes improvising with certain people did not work but that did not matter as sometimes mine and another peers body might not have connected like others did, but when the connections was made with people it was mesmerising to be in. It will be something which I will remember for a long time. I hope to come across contact improvisation in the future and see if my thoughts will have changed or still be the same.

This week was our second to last contact session and I think over the past few weeks my confidence and movement vocabulary has grown. Especially from week 1 and 2 when I did not enjoy contact at all, to where I am today my thoughts have completely changed for the best. To start off with we ended up doing a jam straight away it was unusual but was great.  As it was unexpected the movements were non habitual as I did not have time to think about which movements was coming next, or to think about who I was going to work with as we was all in the space. The movements which I created I enjoyed dancing and especially creating the connections with different people. Maybe this was because we had a contact class on Saturday our connections with each other are stronger than ever allowing me to have complete freedom in my movement choices. I thoroughly enjoyed this exercise.

When Kirsty announced we was going to revisit some of the contact work we learnt on Saturday I was excited. As I had the opportunity to be both the under and over dancer  this pushed my boundaries of having the fear of going upside down, having the chance to look at this again allowed me to refine the movements. From doing this I started off quite nervous as going upside down is something I am not confident with but once I had done some of the exercises a couple of times I felt an adrenaline rush go through my body due to the speed which my body was moving. Rebecca and I worked well throughout this process and felt really good to revisit it all. The next exercise included us improvising incorporating the small weight baring lifts we had just completed. Once we had done this exercise Rebecca and I found this extremely difficult as we lost the connection and found it difficult to get back into the movements to make it flow. Once we had the chance to go again and understand where we was going wrong the movements were fluid and they were coming naturally to us even the lifts felt good doing this across the floor. We noticed that if we held the connection throughout the exercise our movements would come naturally and we would not get stuck. We was both so happy with ourselves at the end of this exercise as we both felt like we had achieved something which would have never expected we would have been able to do which was a fantastic feeling.

This week we created our own scores, our score was called the halfway score and the audience were stood in a line down the centre of the room with the two spaces either side. The rule we had was that you could only enter with a partner not individually but once you was in the space you had the freedom to do what you wished. We played different types of music to see how our bodies would react, as I was involved in the score I did not let the music lead my movements which I found difficult as this is something I normally do. As I was in this score I felt confident and enjoyed working with other people. I never seemed to be observing for longer than 30 seconds which is unusual for me. The score was ten minutes long but it felt like it flew by, this could have been because I was always in the space either improving on my own or with different people. As we had two sides of the space open it felt less daunting as I didn’t feel like everyone was watching me as the audience was stood in the middle they could choose which side they would want to watch.

When participating in other groups scores depending on what the score was about I didn’t feel as comfortable all the times. When giving restrictions and working on my own I felt open in a way that I was out of my comfort zone and this is something which I don’t like. So when being told to work in either side of the space and only allowed to have two couples in the space with everyone else improvising on their own, I felt like this took away the fluidity as I had to concentrate on who is in a duet and who isn’t. Being in the round I found easier than normal as I feel like this is the most exposing space to be in, maybe as my confidence has grown massively I found it less daunting. I tried my hardest to push my own boundaries throughout all the scores to be more involved in them and work by myself using dynamics and speed as a stimuli.

This week I personally feel like I have pushed my own body and gone to a place in contact where I would have never thought I had been before, doing lifts, going upside more often and creating a connection with my peers. I have learnt more about my own body then I thought there was possible and thoroughly enjoyed the module. I am looking forward to next week which is our last session where we get to show our duets and participate in the Underscore.

Compared to the second week of contact improvisation I feel like I have grown more confident as a contact improviser. The trust and connection between me and my fellow peers has improved drastically over the past few weeks. This week was all about conducting your own research labs again, the question which we wanted to further discover was

• How speed and dynamics affect improvisation?

The exercises which we demonstrated to the class included them to improvise on their own increasing their effort/speed by different percentages such as 10% being slow and 100% being full speed. From observing I noticed that the lower the percentage they used their lower kinesphere and when the percentage gradually got higher they instead used their higher kinesphere more. We decided to use imagery to help obtain this task and it was very successful. The most successful one we used was imagine your cells are racing against each other. This made the dancers move as fast as possible and the movement material which was entering the space was non habitual which made it interesting to watch. The changing of levels and fast sharp dynamics was prominent here. Another successful use of imagery which we used was you are racing with a snail and the snail is winning. At the start confusion hit the room and everyone stood still once we had explained it more they started to move with the intention which we wanted even if they didn’t know what they was doing. Their movement was slow and sustained it was like watching a film on slow-motion. This use of imagery was more about the percentage of effort which they was putting in rather than the speed. As we put limitations on this task without the students knowing less habitual movements came out of this task.

The second task involved them repeating the exercise again but with a partner. At the start of this the movement was very slow and we had not given a percentage yet. Once among themselves they chose who the fast and slow dancer was. It was prominent that it became more of a conversation rather than a contact duet. This maybe was because of the speed they was going at as they did not have chance to establish any points. Again using imagery helped with the speed/effort increase. The two which helped the most was imagine you’re on the moon and weightless, to watch this happen between two bodies was mesmerising as the connection was strong and it showed between them. The second imagery which helped was to imagine that you was in wrestling match which your partner the room went mad, the dancers in the space were everywhere it was interesting to watch.

From observing it was clear to see that people’s perception of 80% was the same as 100% as nothing changed between these two percentages, even though there could have been an extra 20% effort/ speed change. Some feedback which we was given and also observed was that higher the percentage the less contact was made, the dancers were hesitated to contact with each other in case they caused injury to themselves or their partner, this lead to missed opportunities such as lifting. The imagery was harder to interpret as a duet due to people having different interpretations on this. The imagery overall helped the students change their dynamics and speed and it also gave them a purpose to change it. As a group I feel like our research lab not only benefited us but the group too.

When I was performing in other groups contact labs about dynamics and speed. I found it difficult to keep my speed and effort at 100% at all times I experienced the loss of contact with my partner as I found it easier to move faster on my own. It was also hard as I feel in contact improvisation there needs to be moments of slowness as this is where sometimes the most interesting lifts/ connections happen. It also gives you time to think and prepare yourself for the next movement. I also found it uncomfortable to go at the fast speed and the connection was completely lost with me and my partner. I feel like this experience was useful in many different way I found out new ways which I habitually move as I move with a slow and fluid dynamics changing and speeding it up made me feel out of my comfort zone. This is something I am willing to work on so that in the jams I can use different dynamics and make my dancing more interesting.

Questions

Will we use different dynamics in our contact jams or will it just be a one off?

How much will a fast dynamic change the mood of the improvisation jam?

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.

From the last session concentrating on lifting I was interested to see how we could incorporate these lifts into our contact sessions. To say lifting isn’t my strong point I thoroughly enjoyed the session and learning about the different safe positions and points of contact between two bodies. At the start we watched two videos, from watching these there were many contrasts and similarities. In the first video, The play of weight by Martin Keogh and Neige Christenson. It was obvious who the other and under dancer was, the female was always the over dancer and the male the under. This is something which would typically happen in dancing which would involve lifting. The movement they produced was smooth and effortless. However after watching a Contact improvisation by Mina Makinen and Otto Akkanen, the difference was noticeable. The over and under dance parts were equal. To me this jam looked less choreographed and carefree unlike The play of weight.

After the two videos we started to move ourselves. The first exercise which we learnt was called surf and roll from watching the video on how to do this it looked effortless and easy, but when I tried it I found it harder than expected. Two bodies trying to stay close for a long period of time I found hard as our bodies would often get stuck in difficult positions and we would have to loose contact to then gain it again. After practicing this for a while and with different people I feel like I was more confident to use different levels and let my weight go and ground myself into the floor and my partner. The Akidio roll is a roll I watched and instantly wanted to try it was mesmerising to see how two bodies moved together in a controlled way. Claire and I was partners for this, I decided to be the one who rolled first but when it came to do it I didn’t feel comfortable enough so Claire decided to perform the roll and it worked perfectly. Momentum was a key point throughout it allowed you to work the roll numerous times in a smooth dynamic. Once we had got this it felt good to perform and the momentum lead the way.

We then revisited the lifts which we performed last week. As last week I came out confident with this I was looking forward to see where we would go next. The key factor throughout all of the lifts was down to come up which helped the under dancer get a good base and the time to prepare. The idea of not being able to use your hands on some lifts is a scary thought, especially the first time you have to do the lift, after I have completed it numerous times my confidence and trust with my current partner grew and the lifts got easier. The see-saw effect on the lift where one person laid on their partners back and then the partner swapped rolls it had to be smooth. Nicole and I worked on this and it did not work as of the height difference. As you had to place your pelvis in a certain position to get the lift correct because of the height difference between us we found it difficult as I had to pliẻ low almost to the floor to get our pelvis in the right position. Doing the paperclip lift and incorporating this to go up and to go down I found easier than last week. I worked with Rebecca and we worked well together to get this lift and land it with the height it needed. The last few lifts we were taught I found really difficult, the level was advanced and I struggled to grasp the lifts. I did not let this ruin my confidence as the lifts was an advance level. There are many anchor points on the body when lifting, some of these include the hips and shoulders, these places can facilitate most weight, when you recognise them it is safer and the trust between partners becomes more prominent. If I wasn’t on these safe points it would have been difficult to balance and hold the lifts.

Laying on the floor with another body on top of yours was interesting as I could feel their breathing and the weight of the body. It was difficult to get your breathing to time differently as your bodies breathing moulds into their breath as like the two bodies are one person. Steve Paxton’s Small dance is an internal feeling and this related to this exercise as we wasn’t moving it was our internal organs and our breathing which was doing all the work.

From this week’s reading Exposed to gravity by Bruce Curtis and Alan Ptashek. One quote which stood out to me was about the music and how this can initiate the movement you produce when contacting. ‘The body tends to move to the rhythm of the music instead of the internal rhythm of shifting weight, sensation and communication’ (Curtis, B, Ptashek, A, 1988, 158) as much as I agree with this the music to me makes me feel less exposed which I like and I enjoy trying to play with the different dynamics of the music and see where the music takes me.

Questions

How can you trust someone in a jam to lift you without preparing?

How do I know any of my peers want to initiate a lift in a jam?

Bilbliography

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

Neige Christenson (2009) the play of weight. [Online Video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltq6y06E8ew  [Accessed 11th November 2015].

Omegabranch (2011) Contact Improvisation Mirva Mäkinen & Otto Akkanen. [Online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMLbWxujoGw [Accessed 11th November 2015].

ZayacZhe (2009) Steve Paxton. Small dance [online video] Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sJKEXUtv44&feature=youtu.be [accessed on the 11^th November 2015].

 

This week I was excited to see what we would be doing in class as it was ‘flight’ week. From having a week off it gave me chance to regather my thoughts and start this part of the semester with high hopes and positive thoughts. From the start I knew we was going to be performing many different lifts this made me nervous as I had never had the chance to experience lifting anybody or even being lifted myself. The first exercise we did was based on weight baring. The table top lift where you relaxed your body weight onto our partners and lifted both hands and feet off to floor to then balance on them. Charlotte and I felt comfortable with giving each other our weights so this made it easier for me to put all of my body weight on Charlotte. This also allowed me to be able to hold the position for a length of time with feeling safe and secure whilst in the air. After swapping over and me being the base I had noticed that I felt more secure in the air rather than being the base, I am unsure why as I enjoyed being both the base and the flier but I enjoyed being the person being lifted the most.

An extension of this task was to then turn whilst being in the position on your partners back. I found this difficult to do as my hips and ribs were digging into Charlotte’s back so it was uncomfortable for me to do. For me being on my stomach was the most secure way of being lifted. Another extension of this was being able to get off our partner’s backs, by putting one hand down and flipping over. When I first saw the demonstration I was worried as this is not my strongest technique as being upside down scares me. After trying my hardest to get off her back the way we had been showed it finally clicked with me and this gave me a sense of achievement and I could not stop doing it.

The next few lifts had more safety implications and we had to focus more on the thought that we had to have our partner’s full weight in the air and we was responsible for them. The superman lift was one of my favourites I was again with Charlotte and when I was the one being lifted we got it straight away. I was even brave enough to take my hand off so my feet was the only connection we had. On the other hand when we had swapped over it was not the case. I had always put more weight in one foot than the other, this lead to us both falling to the right side and not being able to hold the balance for long. The key here was to get into the lift we had to go down to come back up again, this gave your body momentum and stability to grasp your partner’s weight and lift them in the air. When you was being lifted in the air it was important to hold no muscular tension in your body as this made your more awkward and heavier to work with, which could have resulted in injury or the lift not working.

Another key point about lifting is the timing. The timing off the lift is crucial to get the lift happening safely and correctly. A task which we performed included us getting into partners again and one partner doing a pencil jump whilst the other person pushed down on their shoulder. After a while when it was the right time the person who was pushing down on their shoulders had to grab their partners underneath their buttocks. In this exercise if you did not get your partner as they were on the way up it was not successful. Typically I got this on the first time with my partner but then once we had tried again I could never get it right. Height was a key factor so that your partner had more time to catch and think about when they were going to grab you.

From my experience today I feel more daring with performing different types of lifts but at the same time worried. Personally I think it depends on the people who I am working with. With some people I felt more comfortable than others this could be because I felt like they could take my weight more or I did not think they was confident in themselves. Your centre of gravity and knowing where your centre of gravity is, is key in lifting. In this week’s reading by

Amy Woodhull states that ‘We change centre of gravity when we change shape, and often compensate so automatically that we aren’t even awake of it’ (Woodhall,1978,46) When performing a lift you automatically think about where your safest part of your body is or where your feel the most safe. Your centre of gravity will automatically change with you and this is something which I had never thought about. From reading the reading it has made me think about where my centre of gravity is at all times and how this shifts.

Woodhull, A. (1978) Center of Gravity. Contact Quarterly/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook. 4(1) 43-48.