Contact Improvisation

Bannon, Fiona; Holt, Duncan. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices (2012) Vol. 3 Issue 1/2, p215-227.

Contact Quarterly’s Contact Improvisation Sourcebook. (1997) Massachusetts: Contact Editions.

Curtis, B. (1988) Exposed to Gravity. Contact Quarterly/ Contact Improvisation Sourcebook 1, 13 156-162.

Heitkemp, D. (2003). Moving from the Skin: An Exploratorium. Contact Quarterly/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook II, Vol. 28:2. 256-264.

Lepkoff, D. (1999) What is release technique? [online] Available from http://www.daniellepkoff.com/Writings/What%20is%20Release.php [Accessed 20 October 2014].

Omegabranch (2011) Contact Improvisation Mirva Mäkinen and Otto Akkanen. [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMLbWxujoGw [Accessed 10 November 2014].

Ravn, Susanne (2010) Sensing weight in movement. Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices, 2, 21-34.

Steve Paxton (2009) steve paxton. smalldance. [online video] Available from, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sJKEXUtv44 [Accessed 13/10/2014].

Stover, J. (1989) Some Considerations When Structuring an Improvisation (to be seen by an audience). Contact Quarterly/ Contact Improvisation Sourcebook II, 14, 185.

Turner, Robert. Contact improvisation and political power (2010) Vol. 54, Issue 3, pages 123-135.

Woodhull   A. Center of Gravity. Contact Quarterly/ Contact Improvisation Sourcebook I, Vol. 4. Pp. 43-48.

 

As this was our last contact class we mainly worked on our scores ready for the open scores later on in the week. We started the class doing a spiral exercise, spiralling around a partner. I found this extremely difficult at first however after a while I got used to the movement. Me and my partner tried this exercise on the floor but struggled on the floor and found that being stood up unlocked more movements and this is something I tried to think about when feeling as though I needed to work off of the floor. We used the rest of the class to work on our scores, at first we discussed the changes that we were to make from what was fed back to us in the previous week and we decided to help us change levels and to help us use more of the space. We decided that to utilise the space more and to use more levels that each time we came out of the space we would create a rule for ourselves for example in one of the scores I chose the rule that I wouldn’t take my feet off of the floor. We then performed this to the other half of our class and after another discussion refined the score before performing it again and refining it for the open score later on in the week. After the refining of the scores our rules developed to become:

-Four people out of the space at all times

-Everyone begins out of the space

-Move from one end of the space to another in a duet

-If a trio is created then the last person to join must change the direction of travel

-Make an individual rule whilst out of the space to make the score more interesting

I personally think that the open studio went extremely well however I personally felt that I could have been braver and gone closer to the audience and also I could have spent more time on my feet to show a contrast in levels however I really enjoyed the open studio and found it one of my most enjoyable jams/scores of the semester.

 

To start this class we worked on moving our pelvis faster and higher through the space to help us with moving our pelvis faster and higher in a contact jam or score. We did this to help us to take opportunities in a jam before the opportunity passes as this is something all of us in the class have a problem with. After doing this on our own we then did this with a partner, our partner would create a position and we would have to quickly get our pelvis to a point of their body. First we did this with one person being the under dancer and one person being the over dancer and swapping the roles over, we then aimed to get our feet up.

“Do I want a relative structure which reflects changes which have occurred as part of the unravelling of the dance in time and space?’ (Stover, 1989, 185).”

At first I really struggled in aiming for a high surface but I found this is easier to do with the help of momentum and with having a structure that reflects changes that unravel as part of the dance. This exercise was particularly helpful and is something that I have incorporated into my jam sessions as I found that it was helpful in creating more movements and more movements can follow on from this. The next lift that we did was one where the under dancer would have a flat diagonal back and the over dancer would balance and spin across the back of the under dancer. Personally, this is my favourite lift that we have done in the semester, I feel comfortable giving my weight to someone and also receiving the weight of another person. I struggled as the over dancer as you need a lot of control and core stability to be able to roll up the back of the under dancer.

During the remainder of the class we discussed what our score would be with our group. Our group decided that we are going to focus on directions as part of our score to make sure we use the space. Within our score we decided on the rules of:

–Everyone begins out of the space

–Two people out of the space at all times

-Move from one end of the space to another in a duet

-If a trio is created then the last person to join must change the direction of travel

After deciding on the score we performed to the other half of the group and the feedback which we received was that we needed to use more levels as our score was on the floor a lot and also to utilize the space that we have, this is something that we will work on for the next class.

 

Stover, J. (1989) Some Considerations When Structuring an Improvisation (to be seen by an audience). Contact Quarterly/ Contact Improvisation Sourcebook II, 14, 185.

‘Is it possible to do lifts with the same intention and fluidity in trios that it is in duets?’

This is the question my group proposed for our research lab. We decided to go with this question because whilst in a jam we don’t feel comfortable in lifting as a trio as

“Contact Improvisation is a duet movement form.” (Contact Quarterly’s Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, 1997, 16)

and because of this it is difficult to turn duet lifts into trio lifts.

For our research lab we started by trying out each lift that we had done as a duet and trying to make them into a three. We experimented with the back to back/see saw style lift, supporting the shoulder blades lift and the hip to hip lift with variation to hip to shoulder.

With the back to back lift we really struggled to start with as we had two under dancers and one over dancer and found that the over dancer struggled to get their pelvis over both of the under dancers and also the under dancers struggled to keep their pelvis’ at the same height. Here you can see the dancer preparing themselves for the lift however the lift didn’t work therefore there isn’t an image of the lift in action.

Because the lift didn’t work we then tried it the same way as we originally learnt it but with somebody under the original under dancer and found that this worked a lot better however the new under dancer has to be strong enough to take the weight of two people.

After this we went on to explore the supported shoulder blades lift with somebody extra supporting the legs, this felt like a completely different lift and worked really well but again only with certain people supporting certain areas.

Three of the members in my group then went on to do a mini jam and we found that the third person in the group would just be supporting the legs and this hindered where the movement would go.

After this research lab I still think that it contact improvisation is a duet and cannot be changed into a duet. More questions that came up from this jam are:

• Is there a way to change the person being lifted into the lifter smoothly in a trio?
• How can you pass the lift on without using arms/hands?
• How can you explore lifts in a trio without supporting the legs?
• How can trio lifts start from the floor and move upwards and/or travel and vice versa?

 

 

Contact Quarterly’s Contact Improvisation Sourcebook. (1997) Massachusetts: Contact Editions.

At the start of this class we watched a couple of videos of people doing contact improvisation and a video I really enjoyed was of Mirva and Otto. I particularly enjoyed this because they were both so in tune with one another and they stayed connected and in contact literally all of the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMLbWxujoGw

This video inspires me to want to be able to become in tune with my partner in a similar way to these two.

After watching this video we did a few lifts, my favourite lift to do was where the under dancer would lean forward until the over dancer was balanced on their back and then we would swap so that the over dancer became the under dancer.

I found that this lift made me feel the strongest connection with my partner. Other lifts that we did included the ‘paper clip’ which is where the over dancer would put their arm over the shoulder of the under dancer and would lift the over dancer. A development of this was the try and get the over dancer onto the over dancers shoulder, for this I was the under dancer and I really struggled to lift my over dancer however I think that this is due to the over dancer being hesitant and scared and I think that after a few practices then we would be able to do the lift as the confidence will be there.

Something that I struggle with is putting the lifts into action in a jam as I know that my partner isn’t thinking the same as me and doesn’t know my intention.

What is most important to remember is that each body, disabled or not, is unique and presents another opportunity to explore what movement is possible. (Curtis B. 1988)

I think that this quote will help me in unlocking movements as although in my head I know what I want to do perhaps if I go with the movement more then I would be able to ease into different lifts and explore different movement.

 

 

Omegabranch (2011) Contact Improvisation Mirva Mäkinen and Otto Akkanen. [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMLbWxujoGw [Accessed 10 November 2014].

Curtis, B. (1988) Exposed to Gravity. Contact Quarterly/ Contact Improvisation Sourcebook 1, 13 156-162.