Month: December 2014

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.