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