Today I found myself trying to figure out my body again and where I was at as we had a week away from everything to come back fresh. I found myself trying to work through movements and think about where I am going, what my bodies getting up and getting into the flow of improvisation again. When beginning we did a jumping exercise in lines then altogether, adding gestural movement in. It was all about coordination of movement and working together as whole ensemble. I enjoyed this cause it made my body think about what it was needing to do at certain points during the exercise like when I needed to put my arm up or out to the side or when I needed to jump into second. Also coordinating as whole group I realised it made me focus on who was around me more and where my body movements where going. With the coordinating thinking about working together as group in the space cause I notice most of the time I do and everyone else get lost in the improvisation and don’t always recognise what is happening around them.
To carry on from coordinating with each other as a group we had to walk around the space together making sure we filled it. When doing this sort of exercise I have to think about where body is within the space and where it’s going and how it’s moving around, making sure I’m aware of others. During this exercise we had to fold, look, choose a favourite spot and come to the centre. Having to think the way our bodies folded how we came out of it and not just standing up coming up out of it the way we got down to the positon, keeping the body same and getting used ways of coming up and down. Looking at each other it helped you focus on a different point within the space and focus on someone else so if you were to do contact or get in contact with them you have that eye focus between you or on them.
4 images:
• Feet are knifes/blades – this I found hard to imagine I tried to think about the shape and the sharpness of a knife or a blade. I found that I couldn’t get the idea into my body and I found my movement became very similar.
• Arms as spaghetti – I found this one was a lot easier to do, maybe it’s because it was to with my arms which may be a comfort, I found the movement was a lot more floaty and it felt much more fluid.
• Nose trying to reach my sit bones – this picture I found very hard to create because a lot of the time I felt like I was going around in circles. I found I tried to experiment with this one most because it enabled me to find new ways my body could twist and turn.
• Cells are racing through the body – this one I found the easiest because all my body parts could move and once and I didn’t have one distinct thing to think about all the time.
Once doing this altogether we split into two groups and had to choose one of the four to do ours chose cells racing through the body. I noticed whilst doing this I created my own habitual movement for that exercise which was interesting as I kept realising that it continued to happen a lot. It was never on purpose though it just seemed to happen naturally out of comfort and allowing me time to think more, even though I need to start thinking much more internal. Also I noticed that I wasn’t going maybe slow enough at points to allow myself time to think about what’s coming next and found there would be stillness. So for future improvisation I need to maybe slow down a bit more to give myself time to really recognise what I’m doing.
Thick skinning – ways in which two bodies can stay close together
I found this at beginning hard to do because I found it was becoming very repetitive and that I was connecting with my partner’s body in very similar ways this was exactly the same when we switched partners as well. Once I got into it more and started to think well if I move my body this way then can’t I move my partner’s body this way. It was really interesting to feel and see what different partners bodies made your individual body do. How they could make you move and how you would respond. I noticed though once you got comfortable with a certain movement it became habitual for you and your partner to keep doing.
Improvisation jam
Tidal wave jam – doing this jam I found it interesting because you would make eye contact with someone so you were never sure if they were going to go, you had to go on impulse with each other which was hard to do. Once getting into the middle of the jam I found it very limited because at this point we weren’t always free to do what we want we had to stick to an idea. However, once the idea of doing everything from the past weeks and putting into play became the vocal point people became freer with the idea.
Normal jam – this jam involved everything we have done over the last weeks, once we were told tidal wave had finished and started going on a normal jam I found people were reluctant to go at first. Once this jam got going I found people started to come in more and we need to be much more spatially aware. As we were getting really into it and we got entangled with each other and found we were clashing with each other instead of using the whole space. One thing I also noticed was that when we were observing I wouldn’t want to disturb the improvisation that was going on as others were in the moment and you get so intrigued in what they are doing.
Things to think about in my improvisation
Accumulation – staying with the movement and seeing how I can accumulate it throughout my body
Diminishment – thinking about how I can change it and changing it to something else or part of the body
Retrograde – taking a sequence or movement and changing it to go backwards, how I can change it through my body
Echoing – taking part in what someone else is doing in the improvisation but instead of copying echoing the movement that they are doing or something they did before or after that movement
Week 5
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