In today’s session we particularly focused on giving and taking weight to enable more advance contact lifts. To begin, in partners one moved through the space whilst the other lightly traced their movement patterns by placing their hands on their different body parts. Through the light touches I could feel which of my body initiated my movements, specifically my legs and back. This task gradually developed by increasing the pressure placed onto the body, exploring where the pressure could take the movement. This intensified by using the whole the body to give and take pressure instead of the hands, in my opinion it was easier to use the whole body as movement became more fluid and smooth. What’s more the pressure from different body parts created more movement options and choices.

After experimenting with pressure we moved onto another simple task of giving and taking weight, this was in the form of one person in table top position whilst the other pressed into their back to create a back bend. When doing this it was important that the base was in a strong position to allow for the full weight of the back bend to be taken. I found that being in a strong and secure position allowed me to safely take weight of those who I would normally be the over dance for. With the back bend we played with different movements that could be created on and off the back, specifically focusing on taking the pelvis in different directions. I felt I created some interesting balances, and found different ways to move off the back.

I felt both tasks above prepared me for more advance contact lifts as I could effectively give and receive weight. One of the first lifts that we developed was a counter balance, at first we countered balanced each others weight to allow one partner to jump through the space and vice versa. This then developed into one partner being lowered to the floor to prepare for them to be pulled up and caught. At first I was hesitant to catch my partner but after a few attempts I was successful. Another lift that we encountered was a side lean, overall I found this lift easy and fun. I believe it is quite a simple lift that could be used in a free improvisation to move and direct your partner around the space.

Some of the more advance lifts consisted of a cradle and an over the back side lean. At first the cradle was relatively simple with your partner jumping into a foetal position to then be moved and spun around. However this advanced to them landing with their legs and body stretched out instead of curled inwards. I found this development difficult as I was responsible for more of my partner’s weight; hence I struggled to keep a strong base. I did enjoy this lift when I was the one being lifted. The over the back side lean lift consisted of the base lowering their pelvis and the person being lifted lifting their pelvis upwards, once this position was achieved then the base could support and lift you over their back. I found this lift quite difficult when I was the lifter.

Woodhull’s article discusses the centring of gravity and the physics behind it. This helped me to understand where my centre of gravity is during contact improvisation and how it can effect and alter my movement. Applying the knowledge from the reading to this weeks class I understood that during contact lifts my pelvis needed to be higher than my partners in order to be lifted, this then changed my centre of gravity allowing movement to happen with greater ease. In addition to this when thinking about our centre of gravity there are two forces to consider, weight and support, with an understanding of this contact improvisation can become more fluid.

Overall I found it interesting to learn a range of new and exciting lifts that can be included in contact improvisation; what’s more I found it interesting to work with different people and to push myself to be the lifter as well as the person being lifted. At the end of the class when we had a short free improvisation I did find it difficult to include some of the more advance lifts as it was hard to initiate what you wanted your partner to do without verbal communication, even if I had a clear and strong intension this at times did not translate.

 Works Cited

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

 ‘How can we explore momentum alongside the idea of coming off the floor without using the support of our hands and how does this change when working with new or old partners?’

As a group we devised four tasks to help explore and answer our research question:

1.  Starting with skinesphere gradually integrating lower and upper kinesphere, without using your hands
2. Inhalation and exhalation
3. Trust exercise
4. Structures and surfaces

To begin, I observed half of the group participating in task one. From watching their movement it was clear that other body parts played a greater role as the hands were not allowed to be used, for example the elbows and knees were mainly used to support the body where as the body, head and torso was used to move and travel around the space. When the first group begun the majority took it upon themselves to clasp their hands together in order to not use them, this idea was not discussed before hand. When watching the movement with clasped hands it looked extremely restrictive and tense, but on the other hand some interesting movement was created and the body’s were moving in a contortionist way. Half way through we asked the dancers to unclasp their hands and an immediate difference was seen, movement became less tense and freer. When I participated in the task I felt tension in my body, particular in my shoulders, when I had my hands clasped. I was aware that I stayed low to the ground and felt restricted in my movement. However when I unclasped I instantly became freer and my movement travelled more and higher levels were used, I felt my momentum increase more when there was not restriction. Our exploration of this first task saw that momentum was used more when hands were unclasped, yet many felt more aware of their hands and preferred to have them clasped as they would not use them. For me I preferred my hands unclasped as I did not like the restriction.

 Here is an image of one of dancers moving without using her hands.

For inhalation and exhalation we created more of a relaxation task to try and relive the tension that was created in the first task. The task was simply lying in a still neutral position focusing on breath to relax the muscles, mind and body. After this we repeated the first task to see if there was a difference. With the body in a relaxed frame I felt that I moved with more ease and fluidity as there was less tension, what’s more I found it easier to use and apply momentum as there was no tension holding me back. With this exploration we discovered that it was more beneficial to have a relaxed body when performing contact improvisation as your outcome is more effective.

Here is an image of me during the relaxation task.

The third task consisted of a trust exercise that included the whole group, with one person in the middle the rest of the group created a safe circle around them which initiated the person in the centre to begin falling, relying on their weight to be caught and pushed back to somebody else. This task focused on the momentum of the person taking their weight off balance and also explored the importance of giving and taking weight. When observing the person in the middle you could clearly see their momentum shifting around the space and gradually building when they became more confident with the exercise. When I was the middle person I felt scared to fall even though I knew people were there to catch and support me, when I closed my eyes I could feel my momentum move me around the space. I will explore this feeling of momentum further in my next class by taking my weight off balance and pushing it to the limit to see where it takes me.

Our final task was to create surfaces and structures in partners as support mechanisms to balance and move on. Again this task was done without hands. When I participated I found myself using my back and head for support to replace my hands, I also found that I used my head to initiate my partners movement.  Overall I found the task quite difficult to not use my hands as for me they are a main area of support during contact improvisation. I also found that my movement was on a higher level as I was less likely to place my hands on the floor for support.

Overall the research exploration was successful. Through the different tasks we had a more insightful understanding and physical feeling of momentum and how it effects your movement, I will take this on board when I’m performing and experimenting with contact improvisation to see where my momentum can take me and how it will affect other people. In addition to this it was interesting to not use your hands, at first it was difficult to move with others without the support of your hands, but largely more original and exciting movement was created. Again I will further this is my next class by using my hands less.

In Daniel Lepkoff article Contact Improvisation: A Question? He states how questioning contact improvisation is formulated and resides within the body, through its bones, muscles, organs, nerves and brain, not verbalised in the mind. (Lepkoff, 2008). Meaning when you pose questions it’s more effective to feel the answer through your body, this is something that I will apply when questioning improvisation.

Works Cited

Daniel Lepkoff (2008) Contact Improvisation: A Question?. [online] Available from http://www.daniellepkoff.com/Writings/CI%20A%20question.php [Accessed 19 October 2014].

Today we began by watching a short video of an animated skeleton, the skeleton enhanced how even when we are standing in a still neutral position the body always has slight movement. According to Steve Paxton this movement is known as the small dance.( ZayacZhe, 2009). We experienced the small dance by standing with our eyes shut in the space; I felt my body rock forward and back. As I was standing in neutral for a long period of time I became more aware of the rocking sensation and felt that my Weight was never central. Even though the movement felt quite strong to me, I’m not sure whether it would appear visual to somebody looking at me or if it was more of an internal conscious feeling. To explore this further I would ask a peer to watch me in the still standing position to see if they can see my body moving. After experiencing Paxton’s small dance we developed the idea further by experimenting with your weight, taking yourself off balance, following your natural movement from the small dance. When I went off balance my natural movement took me forwards and backwards. I tried to fall out of the balance until the last minute which created quite a thrilling adrenaline rush. With this, gravity came into play, as I fell off balance gravity took over and my weight fell into the floor.

In partners we gently placed our hands together and guided each other around the space. The task focused on leading with the core instead of using the hands as the initiator. It was interesting to not use my hands, as I normally I find that during contact improvisation I use my hands the most instead of different body parts. With the same partner we moved onto weight sharing. We started with a simple back to back and head to head moving downwards and upwards staying in contact. With the concept of sharing and giving weight, we moved onto creating surfaces and structures to balance on. Partner A created surfaces for partner B to put their weight onto and balance in innovative ways. We interchanged between roles of who was creating surfaces and who was giving their weight, In my opinion when we interchanged roles more fluid movement was created and on the whole the dance flowed my effectively and looked visually interesting.

In sensing weight in movement , Susanne Ravn explores how the weight of the body can perceived from within when moving and how mass and gravity informs the shape and posture of your body. (Ravn, 2010). When I was experimenting with taking my weight off balance my posture and shape was instantly impacted, it was not in alignment and a more disjointed shape was created. What’s more Ravn also discusses the weight in movement in different styles of dance; her exploration of weight in contemporary is particularly interesting to me as it is my strongest style of dance. She states how contemporary dancers allow their body to be connected to gravity with a sense of giving up control, gravity is considered a partner used to lead and guide movement. (2010, 24-26). In the class I felt I could connect to Susanne Ravn’s statement as gravity took control and my movement was a reaction.

At the end of the session we were set into groups to devise a lab research plan. To begin we brainstormed questions that we had towards contact improvisation, my personal questions were:

-How would working with new or different people effect my contact improvisation?

-How can I give and take weight more fluidly?

As a group the question that we selected for our research lab is:

‘How can we explore momentum alongside the idea of coming off the floor without using the support of our hands and how does this change when working with new or old partners?’

For me, trying not to use my hands will be relatively difficult, however I believe the research lab will help me develop new ways of moving. I will try and use body parts that I would not normally think about, for example my ear or elbow to help create inventive movement. In addition to this I feel I need to challenge myself by working with different people to see how my contact improvisation differs.

Works Cited

Ravn, Susanne. (2010) Sensing weight in movement. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices,2 (1) 21-24.

ZayacZhe (2009) Steve Paxton. smalldance [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sJKEXUtv44 [Accessed 13th October 2014].

Before we started moving we compared two different contact improvisation videos, Steve Paxton’s Magnesium (1972) and Blake and Brandon from Earthdance (2010). Paxton’s Magnesium was the first live performance of contact improvisation, thus the movement content was extremely raw showcasing fast pace movement that challenged reflexes and was full of rolling, falling and weight transfer. From the article Interior Techniques, I can clearly visualise Paxton’s idea of what he believed contact improvisation to be in Magnesium, “to discover through spontaneous movement in contact that is pleasant, highly stimulating and elemental” (Turner, 2010, 123). In addition to this it was also clear that contact improvisation had no set choreography or specific instruction. (123) Contrastingly Blake and Brandon demonstrated a much more fluid approach to the style as contact improvisation in 2010 was an established practice and had developed vastly from Magnesium in 1972. Blake and Brandon’s movement was effortless and supported weight in a controlled and sophisticated way.

In todays session we explored the weight of the head and the focus of the eyes. We began by moving on a low level but the head had to stay in full contact with the floor. It was an interesting task to explore new movement, but I felt restricted in what I was able to do. What’s more as my head was on the ground I was limited as to where my eye focus was in the space. The task advanced to connecting your head with another head. The task was similar to being in contact with the floor, however became slightly less restrictive as you were able use a variation of levels. During this I felt more released and the focus of my eyes was more dominant as I was able to see the space. We explored different ways that you could move without breaking the contact of head to head. I didn’t think about the movement that I was creating as I was focused on the connection with the head. After a while the improvisation disconnected from the head and other body parts were incorporated.  

With the same partner we took the weight of the head in the hands. Firstly when my partner took the weight of my head I felt very relaxed and I was able to release my head more when I was moving than I would normally do, what’s more when my partner took away her hands I felt as if the hands were still there guiding me around the space. I wasn’t holding any tension. 

The final contact improvisation task was called “pebbles”. In partners one curled up into a pebble shape whilst the other fluidly rolled over their back. This developed further by creating a higher structure on all fours, the same principle of rolling over the back still applied.

Works cited

Steve Paxton’s “Interior Techniques”: Contact Improvisation and Political Power.Full Text Available By: Turner, Robert. TDR: The Drama Review, Fall2010, Vol. 54 Issue 3, p123-135, 13p, 5 Black and White Photographs

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.