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.