– The rolling point and the interchangeable role of the under and over dancer.
Duncan states ‘ That we touch and are touched is important but is, how we are touched that affects us, teaching us how to define boundaries in response to sensory information’ (Bannon F, Duncan H,216,2011). Throughout the lesson I feel like this quote is something which is very important to know throughout our exercise and contact between others. To sense each other’s bodies before and during contact to keep the connection alive.
From walking into the second improvisation lesson I already felt more confident in myself. To start with we ran around the room and when you made eye contact with another person you put your hand on their shoulder which would lead them to melt to the floor. At the start when someone put their hand on your shoulder everyone was hesitant meaning the melting part you had to put all of the effort in and could do it in the most habitual way to you. As the exercise went on, the more force the dancer put on your shoulder the more realistic the movement felt to me. When another peer was down on the floor you could assist them by grabbing their forearm and pulling them back to up standing and restarting the process again. Here you had to form a connection with the person who was pulling you up so that you could get up in the most efficient and weightless way possible. The dancer who was pulling the other up had to use all of their force and pile into physically pulling them up as the other dancer was not allowed to do any of the work. Connection and contact was an importance here for it to work efficiently.
The next exercise was the first time we held our partners body weight. Person A laid on the floor on their stomach whilst person B laid on top of them allowing all their weight to fall onto the dancer. This is called the under/over dancer, as one dancer was laying on the floor it was easier to take the other persons weight. When I was the under dancer I sensed when my partner was about to lay on me which made me apprehensive to start with. When I was the dancer who was laying on top of another I felt more comfortable in just letting my whole body weight go. Moving into swapping partners and connecting with each other’s back as the main point, I started to figure out a pattern. I kept being the over dancer which happened in all the partners I worked with. We had not arranged this beforehand, it was something which we both noticed when working together. To me being an over dancer felt more natural but it wasn’t habitual to me as when working with partners in the past I was usually the person who would be the ‘lifter’ or the ‘base’. So this felt very peculiar to feel so natural in a position I am not used too.
The final exercise ended up with us working with another partner and whilst one dancer was improvising the other had to shout stop. When the dancer shouted stop the dancer who was improvising had to freeze in their position. The dancer would then come and either put all of their weight onto their body or make a balance. I found this exercise difficult as the points of contact became habitual and you would go to the stomach or to a strong part of the body. Finding different positions and different points of contact I struggled with. After the feedback which was given if given the chance more interesting points of contact would occur.
‘Touch is more than the making of contact, it concerns qualitative variations in the degree of attention.’(Bannon, F Duncan H, 219, 2011). This quote is very important in the exercises where we had to use contact. The attention and concentration between two people is important to ensure a clear communication, it gives a mutual understanding between the two bodies in the space. Trusting your partner is something which is becoming more natural to me. The exercise at the end of travelling up and down the room pushed me out of my comfort zone. Even though I wasn’t in my habitual moves I enjoyed participating in the exercises and it tested your trust in your body and your peer’s body.
How does momentum effect your contact/connection with your partner?
Throughout improvisation it is difficult to eliminate habitual movements, is this possible to eliminate this through contact?
Bibliography
Bannon, F. and Duncan, H. (2011) Touch: Experience and knowledge. Journal of dance & somatic practices.3, 215-227.