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.