improvisationreflectionabbieprice

Buckwalter, M. (2010) Composing while dancing: An Improviser’s Companion. 1st ed. University of Wisconsin Press.

De Spain, K. (2014). Landscape of the now. 1st ed. Oxford Univ. Press

Husemann, P. (2005) The Functioning of Thomas Lehmen’s Funktionen. DanceTheatre Journal, 21 (1) 31-35.

Millard, O 2015, ‘What’s the score? Using scores in dance improvisation’, Brolga: An Australian Journal About Dance, 40, pp. 44-56, International Bibliography of Theatre& Dance with Full Text, EBSCOhost, viewed 11 January 2017.

Worth, L and Poyney, H. (2004) Routledge Performance Practitioners Anna Halprin. Abingdon: Routledge.

Blog Written: Saturday 8th April 2017
I have learnt so much from this module, when starting improvisation, I was unaware of how big a topic improvisation is. My understanding of improvisation was to create new choreography, however now I know there is so much more to it with the use of different scores, I now understand each score.

I feel that in the last few weeks I forced myself to contribute more than I had in previous weeks before, I felt anxious about entering the space when first starting this module, although I tried my best and struggled through. In the last few weeks I felt I had to force myself to feel discomfort to allow myself to explore and experiment more adventurously with my material and body. When attending the first Jam with Kirsty I was terrified knowing that we were stood in a circle and had to enter the space, I thought this was very daunting so I asked my peer to enter the space with me and when I had entered the space I felt more at ease. I felt nervous for many weeks, but tried my best to contribute and create interesting improvisations. In week 8, two third years joined us, I was so scared of being judged however they helped me explore material with new bodies. In week 9 and 10 I improvised with the third years more and I enjoyed receiving their experiences through high engagement and focus. I feel that improvising with my peers is more comfortable and open now than it was before.

In recent weeks, I explored relationships with new bodies, this helped me experiment more freely with internal feelings, and not based on the look of choreography, but what the improvisation means to me. I have learnt to track movements and be aware of own material showing the clarity of a thinking dancer. I also explored the length of how long I stay with an idea for and when to move on. After my feedback from week 7 I acknowledged my creativeness with an open mind. I let myself move freely and not allow myself not to feel judged. In weeks 7,8,9&10 I tried my hardest to explore and play with movements, space, bodies, and relationships, I feel that I was engaged thoroughly and contributed towards all scores during sessions effectively in the last 4 weeks trying my hardest for these classes. I feel that music had an influence on my explorations in recent weeks, we experimented how effective music can and cannot be when improvising, how it challenges us to go with or against the rhythms, I found this task difficult at first as I was going with the music, to readjust was a challenge but I did this by feeling the music and having an open mind and body.

I gave a heightened awareness to my body, other bodies, space, relationships, and other improvisation ideas, thinking about how I can join these ideas without interrupting. There were times where I had an idea but the body I wanted to relate with left the space, so I rebounded off from this and used the body leaving as an influence for my movement. Throughout the jams, I gathered thoughts of stillness and pedestrian movements which I didn’t at first think were a form of improvisation, I thought you had to constantly move, however it is about being engaged and in the moment.

I will further my development and knowledge of improvisation with continuous practise. Knowing improvisation is essential for my future career in dance; for audition and company tasks, makes me feel comfortable with how far I have improved in just 10weeks and how much more I can develop is appealing. I feel that improvisation helps make a dancer into a thinking dancer, this meaning to question why I move in a certain way than dancing for dance sake. Also, I think that having the experience of improvisation makes a more versatile performer.

Blog written: Sunday 2nd April 2017

Creating a focus and learning outcome for the week before assessment, analysing how I want to use the session to inform and encourage my improvised material, my intention was to be fully engaged throughout and contribute as much as possible, exploring for myself, taking advantage of the comfort of an open score.
Exploring an open score using new movement influences each week has been extremely helpful to my learning, we performed the scores which were noted from the previous week back to each other. My group had the task of enhancing stillness, we had rules such as; not standing in the same place twice, using a different gesture each time, the length of this task being to Elvis Presley’s ‘Jailhouse Rock’ containing focus was experimental as I personally wanted to move with the music however I had to distract myself from music being an influence as to when I moved.
We explored the task ‘lucky dip’ I enjoyed this thoroughly, using well know pop and R&B music with the dynamic of flow, with 7 dancers, lasting 5 minutes. I had never realised how much music gives influence to movement it gives movement a straight opinion and interpretation rather than questioning it.
A common main point was raised for myself with focusing on the audience and how movement is made for audience rather than movement being made for movement or for the specific dancer. The reading influenced this through p60-67.
I was recalling the feedback given to me from formative assessment week 7, I gave myself an awareness to other bodies, space, and own engagement. I now reflect on how the process has been for me and I feel I have grown so much and struggled through my nerves and confidence which I felt at the beginning of this module.

The Audience/Improviser Relationship in Landscape of the Now by Kent de Spain, pages 60-67

Blog written:  Saturday 25th March 2017

We understood the 4 elements of RSVP:

R- Resources/ basic materials, S- Scores/ delineate place/ space/time/people, V- Valuaction/ analysis/ appreciation/ feedback, P- Performance/implements score/style of piece. RSVP cycles are essential in creative process’ they produce a forma of flexible spin and how it contains and responds to shifting internal elements. It allows large groups to enter the score, giving everyone the opportunity  to participate.

What is the point in a score?- It gives us limitations and enhances our explorative mindset of  what we have to work with and how we use it. Class contribution towards a scores definition, a score helps structure/give guidance/ supports creativity and exploration. My personal definition, A score is the structure of instructions and rules that open to interpretations, setting limits and boundaries.

My views on Charlie and Karen’s piece, they produced clear developments of movement repetition, the juxtaposition of Karens jumps went against Charlie’s interior movement which caused an aesthetic feel of curiosity.

We were split into groups to undertake a set task, my group had the task of imagining a dance in the mind with closed eyes lasting 3 minutes, then writing the imagined dance on paper for 5 minutes. Using the skills we had learnt from this exercise and linking past weeks into consideration about awareness, we created a new score lasting 15 minutes.

 

Blog written Monday 13th March 2017

Discussions arose on the text ‘What’s the score?’ The text refers to how scores assist the composition of improvisation, I agree because without scores we could not make as interesting work (Millard, 2015). The scores create more possibilities with material focussing on the smaller details, an exercise undertaken was using a body part not manipulated often and discover the freedom of movement with this body part, however scores also set boundaries with limitations, the awareness of these enhance the material to experiment more freely and not think about it, just go with the fluidity of the movement basically.

The starting exercise was a focus for my body, I explored new vocabulary by reacting to the instructions given; wriggle, flick, flop and giving spatial pathways, travelling the movement throughout the space was challenging when their were so many other bodies interacting, so having an awareness was important.

We used the exercise from Lehmen’s reading about ‘It’s better to…..’ and improvised spoken words alongside movement to physicalize and embody the words said An example being ‘running like a dinosaur’ the elbows clenched to the torso and hands floppy in front of the chest, another example being ‘eating cake’ when using the mime of eating cake it is funny, because we use both hands to eat the cake, however in real life we use just one. The judgements I took from this exercise were fun and comforting as every person was expressing silly features and interacting with this activity, yet we all felt accepted so it was engaging for each person involved.

The reading Lehmen concentrates on 5 functions: material/ interpretation/manipulation/observation and meditation, all having an important to play and create an engaging score, questioning one another through the space, who are you following/ manipulating/ watching? why? can you use a different way of challenging the material without touch?

 

Millard, O 2015, What’s the score? Using scores in dance improvisation’, Brolga: An Australian Journal About Dance, 40 , pp. 44-56, International Bibliography of Theatre& Dance with Full Text, EBSCOhost, viewed 11 January 2017.

The Functions of Thomas Lemen’s Fucktionen by Pirkko Husemann- pdf file on blackbaord