Prior to last week’s class we began with a similar principle of freely walking around the space energising the room, which steadily brought us down to the floor to experiment with ‘skinesphere’ through rolling, sliding and gliding. Again the task gradually builds to using lower kinesphere, upper kinesphere and then a combination of all (upper/lower and skinesphere). With the task this week I felt more comfortable to innovatively experiment with movement that I would not normally do as I felt much more confident with contact improvisation than the first week.

Our next set task was to partner up, in which we experimented with the rolling point and the under/over dancer. Firstly the under dance rested face down on the floor whilst the over dancer laid horizontally across their body. I was the over dancer to begin with and I investigated different ways that I could move up and down the body being aware not to put pressure on the back of the knees. I felt comfortable being the over dancer but thought it was difficult to move around the body in interesting and different ways. When the roles were reversed, at first I felt slightly uncomfortable being the under dancer as it’s not the role that I would normally have, yet it was important for me to challenge myself at something new. Being the under dance was an interesting and fun experience. The following task developed on from this, with the same partner we sat back to back feeling the spine playing with different directions and pressure. We then moved simultaneously again taking on the different roles of the over and under dancer, the under dancer initiated the movement by beginning to role whilst the over dancer stayed in contact following the movement rolling over the back. After exploring the under/over dancer with basic rolls we moved onto the “wave”, in which the under dancer constantly rolled back and forth whilst the over dancer “catches” the wave rolling in different ways, interchanging the role of under and over dancer. I felt this task was interesting as it created interesting movement whilst been in contact, I preferred being the over dancer I felt it was easier giving my weight than taking somebody else’s.

After experimenting with the rolling point we moved onto creating structures, in which we moved fluidly around the space individually creating structures with the body (the body was not in full contact with the ground). At first I found it slightly difficult not being low to the ground as being on the floor is a more comfortable and “safe” area for me in improvisation as I find it easier than moving higher up. However once I became more relaxed I was confident to create movement on a higher level. The task moved onto working in pairs. In pairs one created a still structure whilst the other investigated interesting ways to balance their weight onto the structure created. I found this task fun and pushed myself to balance in innovative ways that were not just typically sitting down.

During the class in ways I could relate to Fiona Bannon and Duncan Holt’s journal article Touch: Experience and Knowledge. Touch is constantly taking place during contact improvisation. Touch stimulates awareness, hence when you are in contact with somebody you are instantly aware of how they are moving, this although you may not always realise, affects the way in which you move and respond. What’s more touch allows you to connect and trust on a higher level and enhances your sense of reality. (Bannon and Holt, 2012). Touch is vital in contact improvisation, without the use of touch it would be near impossible to connect with somebody to create innovative work.
Works Cited

Touch: Experience and knowledge.Full Text Available By: Bannon, Fiona; Holt, Duncan. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 2012, Vol. 3 Issue 1/2, 215-227.