Month: February 2017

Week 4 – Exploring space

Throughout this session, we focussed on the aspect of space and the relationship to the space, it is never empty and also has a connectivity to something.
We discussed the readings at the start of class, Nancy Stark expresses ‘space and the importance of it, that space is your friend’, Anna Halprin says ‘you’re a part of the space and not just there’ (Landscape of the Now by Kent de Spain). If we didn’t have space, we couldn’t explore movement.
We took in to consideration the knowledge we had learnt from weeks before, the body is a starting point exploring habits and images in relationship to other bodies, the space and the floor. (Recalling the topic of awareness from week 3)
We were given the task to improvise with one another, using copying, echo/essence, expanding and diminishing and making sure they were clearly shown with effort and dynamic qualities.
The ideas stem in the mind and have to consider them in the body quickly, also responding to the atmosphere and space surrounding, relating to the emotion felt and how it informs how you feel?
Kayla told us that perceptions constantly change moment by moment but it is how you relate to the space. We undertook an activity entering and exiting the space, improvising using the techniques copying, echo/essence, expanding and diminishing, we did this for 5 minutes with eight bodies in the space.
• Explored the space- using each other’s movement vocabulary
• Analysing other people’s movement in the space
• Developing others habitual movements
• Taking interpretations from others
• Responding/ relating to the space and combining with other bodies in the space around us
• How to enter/exit the space
• Timing (complex)- how it is sensed, is it aesthetic and enjoyed? What is the duration of the activity in the space?
In this clip you can see the task which was given to us, the intention of the head to touch the sit bones, we explored this for 5 minutes connecting to the space.

We started the session by discussing this week’s readings, we discovered the resources and skills the practitioners have, Anna Halprin has a clear awareness of the body, she generates focus which leads to new movement, she investigates her battle through cancer and uses this experience to her advantage, the five stages of healing p37. Deborah Hay, explores pathways and directions, also how the score affects the dancer’s actions, and always keeping her dancers engaged. Steve Paxton discovers the plan of the life, expecting the unexpected through the use of contact improvisation. We huddled together, closing our eyes and were told to stand and say your name however not to overlap one another, we also had the task of counting to 13 without over speaking one another, sat apart from one another in the space, with the eyes closed, sensing when someone would speak, we attempted many times. We explored the idea of intention, attention and awareness, 3v2. Standing in a line, three people had to be squatting and two standing at all times, with only using the peripheral vision. We then had to focus on three people being forward and two back, keeping the awareness of yourself and the other bodies. Developing on from this we used improvised movement, recalling the 3v2 so the trio had to be forwards and the duet backwards. We took the tasks in turns with everyone at the session, we had to be extra engaged as there was only 10 of us dancing so the focus was energised. We developed this further by improvising as a collective group, having only one of each, solo, duet, trio and quartet at one time, the space not to be empty at any time, giving support one another with this task. Improv Jam- we related our focus on intention, attention and awareness, partner starting on the floor, developing the mirror image, not showing who was leading, had to be synchronized, I feel that I was not 100% engaged throughout this exercise as I worked with Charlie, and giggled on a few occasions, exploring from the floor to sitting, to kneeling, to standing. I found this exercise challenging because pf my engagement and focus, I also struggled to go with the movement as I was thinking about it too much. We changed partners and worked on progressing our movement vocabulary by using the words ‘change, develop and continue’ I let myself go in this exercise of the jam and truly enjoyed it, I was engaged throughout the exercise. My feedback- I stemmed on from my habitual movement and totally went against it. “You explored well, showing versatility, not recognisable as not using habitual movement” I have taken this feedback on board and will continue this throughout my process.

In the beginning of this session we discussed our ideas and understandings of the readings, from week one and week two, my group focussed on ‘Dear Practise’ the main four rules within this reading was: Patience, show up, don’t get attached to results and tell the truth.
The letters tell us about individuals’ experiences with improvisation, they explore the nature of improvisation. Improvisation is being vulnerable to own movements and connecting with the body, it is to have the idea of what is coming next without thinking about it too much. To learn the skill of improvisation you have to show up and explore ideas with patience.
We were speaking of our ideas and were offered to speak, I did so and so did others however a few had not, so there was silence, the expectation of someone to break the silence, it caused discomfort for everyone in the room, however because it had been silent for a while I looked at the person next to me being Rayanne and said whispered “say something” she gave me an awkward facial expression and then she did speak moments later. The versatility and flexibility of how we change between roles is interesting, in this instance I took leadership, by offering Rayanne to speak. This activity shown improvisation through speech and gestures.
My ideas being explored: the body is influx- how it feels in the body? Bodily awareness of time as a concept and the quality of engagement. “To be open” “Give expectations and free knowledge” “To lose control” These three quotes enhance our understandings of telling the truth.
Tracking is reassessing what has happened before and be aware, not to return from what has been done before and to perceive new movement.
Whilst improvising we have to think about making better choices from the time before and also less successful, this is by allowing the body to freely move without intention of diverting back to habits. When improvising, we don’t know what encounters are going to happen, so we accept each movement idea when exploring.
Partner work- observing when partner improvises and find what their habits are.
Jess:
Ripple Roll High Swipe Roll Push Turn Low Down Roll Swipe
Dynamic Jump Swipe Leg Kneel Swing Step Jump Ripple Swipe Walk

Tasks independently:
• Improvise
• Improvise with no repetition
• Improvise with spoken words of movement
• Improvise with speed (on the scale of 1-10)
• Develop- use the likeness of movement to start
• How we brought back movements
• Remembering and standing back where we stood for pervious task
Kayla said my fast-paced movements looked like McGreggors style. I choreographed more material when improvising at a quick speed.
Start- develop- bring back-develop-bring back, this made exploring the movements of interest have a clearer purpose.
I was observed by peers, them noticing my habits. My feedback being, that I lean back on my heels, roll on the floor, use my arms a lot. I developed the manipulated finger into the wrists my peers expressed that they liked this, also the developed arm sequence was appreciated.
I have been challenging myself movement material and becoming more comfortable with improvisation also giving an understanding of how I move in my body. I liked the idea of going back to movements I felt were successful. Manipulating a body part enhanced a choreographic skill I hadn’t used before, also I had to focus on my injury (muscle strain in left knee) when improvising to suit my body’s ability. How I produce work? How I feel today? Tracking has been helpful to my improvisation skills; the readings have given me a clearer understanding.
“the level of concentration, telescoping in and zoom out” Nancy Stark

Here is a short clip from this session, were I explore my movement vocabulary.

Monday 30th January 2017 Within this class we were introduced to the module of improvisation and reflection. We focused on the element of play, we did this by using a bean bag to enhance these skills. We had been given rules to use throughout the task of play, these were; throw& catch, throw, catch & run, when the bean bag drops you drop, throw, freeze & run. The bean bag enhanced our learning of play with the understanding of feeling like a child again. The experience was not what I were expecting from an improvisation class, this was because I had a stereotype of improvisation from past experience being dance heavy and I have always feared improvisation because of my experiences with it. I continually had an awareness of my surroundings, my own body, the other bodies in the space and also the space itself.

You can see the engagement through this improvisation activity: