Dance Improvisation and Revlective Practice

“Space is a playing field without which there is no game.”

Where are you in the space? What do we do in the space? How do we use the space? Nina Martin uses ensemble thinking scores:
1) 3/2 – ensemble relates through levels, movement, facing and distance
2) Hot spot – how can individuals focus and how does the ensemble give an individual focus
3) One idea – how can the ensemble create one simple easily read form
4) Number scores – how many of the ensemble are in the working space
In Martins video Straddling Trio she uses the idea of scores I found when watching this it was very boring and there wasn’t much to it. The three dancers involved a lot of movement being developed and the movement would always influence what each dancer was doing. They would create focus by creating a different tempo or by developing movement. I found like they were trying to have a conversation but it wasn’t clear what however, it just felt like it still seemed to drag. This conversation they were having involved a lot of copying one and other but as this was happening it would turn into a solo or duet. It would happen often and the movement was very armed based which I noticed a lot especially, this happens a lot as well in class so is all improvisation predictable to having arm movement? Or is it natural to use our arms as a go to movement as you use them on a daily bases to do tasks? Facings it wasn’t interesting at all they rarely changed and weren’t as experimental with them they did change just in my opinion not in an interesting way. It was the same with the levels they would move between them but not that often, it was very predictable.
When trying these four rules out I found the first one was easy to do cause developing off each other’s movement was easy. It enabled us to get into each other’s bodies and I really enjoyed it because there was a lot of contrast within each other’s movement and I found myself to be really focused on what was going on and what I could possibly do. The second rule I found it hard to find what I really needed to focus on I found myself questioning, do I need focus on others around me? Focus on direction? Do I focus on myself and go deep into my internal thoughts and movement? Do I focus on one part? What does it mean for me to have an individual focus with my ensemble around me? Also the third relating to one form I didn’t understand and found it very hard to understand what this was asking me do exactly. How did they want me to relate form? Did they want me to do it within myself or with within the group? The last rule I found easy cause everyone was able to relate and I enjoyed seeing how things develop. I found within this as well that my body wasn’t going into any habitual movement and I was really thinking about where my movement was heading.
Flocking in two lines was engaging to do only using peripheral vision to help you see what movement was going on next to you. It was at points easy to see who was leading the movement because if everyone wasn’t engaged with what was going on it would cannon across the line. A lot of the time people would again go for their arms which they would find very natural to do. By going slower it was a lot easier to engage with everything that was going on. It was similar when the two lines had to face one and other because we had to really focus on the movement that was going on and really engage our bodies. I found this enjoyable to do because you can see which part is moving but you don’t always know what fully is going on within it so everybody’s movement was always slightly different.
Finally in Buckwalter’s reading an improviser’s companion is talks about a number of different practitioners and how they use time within in improvisation and dance. The different methods of time that they use with in it and how improvisation allows the option for repeating the material or letting material go within the moment of dancing. Trying to clock time is hard because you never know when you’re going to finish. When laying on the floor trying to clock it, it was hard to do because time felt so different. It felt like it went much more slowly than dancing because when dancing you get lost in the moment. It was interesting to see how long we would go for because at one point we got told to go for 7 minutes and was interesting to see because we ended up going for 11 minutes. I think this is because we felt stuck in the moment so we would keep continuing to improvise with each other. It felt like time would feel less but it was actually more than you think about because you’re so lost in what you are doing and engrossing in. However, one thing as a group with time is I feel like we should improve on connecting with each other and be able to connect to finish on time with each other as an ensemble.

Blibogrpahy:

World Dance Alliance, 2013. “Straddling Trio” with Gamblin, Martin & Wass. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCqh3Cq2Qis [accessed 19th February 2016]
Buckwalter, M. (2010) Composing while dancing: An improviser’s companion. Madison, Wis: The University of Wisconsin Press. Pages 60 – 90
Kent De Spain. (2014) Landscape of the Now: a topography of movement improvisation. Pages 108-113

What is form? Form in dance is the shaping of the body, movement arrangement, arrangement of the body within the space or the shape that a dance takes over time. Dance makers such as Anna Halprin, Deborah Hay, Steve Paxton and Richard Ball use these to help shape their dances. These dancers and others use different forms and materials they find interesting, they have different performance practices, they teach in different ways, use different scores or pathways. These choreographers point of views on form are interesting to see their outlook on form and improvisation. Steve Paxton says “Relation between form and improvisation is intrinsic.”
To begin with walking, running and jogging through the space, this exercise was very interesting to do as we had to work together as group on stopping and starting. When we were walking I felt like I could feel everyone’s body and sense when people were going to start and stop. However, once we started to speed up into a jog and run I felt much more unaware of what people’s bodies were doing in the space. It became more difficult to stop and start but I feel like once we started this and got into a jog and run more the stop and start became a bit easier when we worked together more with our bodies.
To continue, flocking as one group I enjoyed doing because I was able to see what peoples movement was like and I noticed that when we were flocking naturally people would go straight for arm movements and there was a lot of swinging. I like how steady paced when we got into two groups and were in the big flock. I felt nice to rush because it gave time for the movement to happen within the body and flow. It was interesting when we were in the two groups because I noticed how people would either go the same direction or try to contrast what everyone was doing. Also looking back when split into two groups the group opposite would be contrasting at points to our group’s movement and it felt at points we were having a conversation with them which I really enjoyed.

Change, continue, develop this I found hard to do but I enjoyed that I got to challnge my body to use different parts that I wouldn’t naturally use and I wanted to try and get new movment within my body. I notcied in this activity that when I went into my habitual movment I would try and challenge myslf to come out of it. During this I noticed that I wasn’t going into habitual movment as much as last week, it was intresting to do when my partner asked me to develop. The movment I would try to develop but I found myself stopping and thinking at points so I could develop the movment, this is habit I would like to get out of in improve and just go with it. When splitting into two groups I found it memerising to be an obsever because, compared to last week people were really coming out of their natural movments every now and then it would happen but not as much. Whilst doing it and following intructions it was harder with some than others for example, keeping my right hand on the floor it really made me think about the movment I could do if I kept it on the floor. One of the rules was no arms because with both groups we would all naturally use our arms and this made me think more about what my core and legs to do if my arms are behind me.

Score Rules:
• Stage 1 top left hand corner
• Stage 2 top right hand corner
• Stage 3 half the stage at the front
• Stage 4 all of the stage
• Stage 1 and 2 only allowed to walk, run, fall, kneel, stand, turn, working with the idea of change and develop
• Stage 3 and 4 allowed any movement working with the idea of change, develop and continue
• This score was about relationships between each other how can we develop each other’s movement? How can we contrast and work with each other?
• Everyone has to start at the perimeter
• Can enter the space anytime to make a duet, trio or quartet

Finally a score this I found hard to do because of the rules I found it very resistricting with the rules in the corners cause you really had to think about what the body could do and what movments you could do. However using half the room and all the room because we were allowed to do anything but keeping the idea of change, contiue, develop I felt a bit more free and I felt like I could explore my body and movement much more. I enjoyed it a lot when we were in the middle because we were allowed to use this idea of flocking and copy people. I really liked seeing and trying what people were doing because it enabled me to come away from that habitual movement and look at what they were doing and try to fit that into my body. As an observer at points it was really nice to watch because people would have really nice partner or bigger group work going on and they would really contrast with each other. Comapred to copying each other last week I noticed people went a lot more steady and werent rushing the movement but they were allowing it to flow a lot more.

 

Week 2:
This week in improvisation I found that I am beginning to get into it a lot more and I am enjoying the experiences that I having, especially some of the tasks we did during this session. I found that in the beginning section when laying on the floor I felt as though I was melting into it. I really liked this sensation once we had tensed our bodies it was a good feeling but very unusual at the same time. Once this happened working in the pairs I felt very relaxed and calm, the mirroring exercise I found at points it worked well and at others not as much. It was harder when we had to use our peripheral vision because you never fully knew what the movement was that they were doing so at points there could’ve been two completely different things going on. It felt very floaty and it was nice how we didn’t always rush things. This I think is useful for improvisation as it doesn’t always have to be fast it can be slow and simple, it doesn’t have to be this huge thing that happens it can be simple. It made this improvisation interesting because at points our bodies were slightly different which makes it slightly more intriguing to the eye,
After this we did some tracking this I found myself constantly thinking, stopping and starting to find new ways use my body and new parts of my body to use. I wasn’t too keen on this I found it difficult not to keep going back and using the same body parts or similar movements to what I have already done. Stopping and starting during this I found slightly confused me and frustrated me a little because I wasn’t just doing the movement I was focused on, which body part am I going to use? What comes next? Splitting into the two smaller groups I felt like it helped me a lot with someone observing because they were able to tell me what I naturally do and movement patterns I do.
Hannah.G was my observer the feedback I got;
• Habitual arm circles – she told me I naturally circle some of my movement so to improve and create more I am going to try to come out of this a create new ways of using movement
• Facing – try to change the way I turn naturally I go to the right or stay facing forward I need to be able to vary this a lot more
• Thinking – at points I would maybe it’s because I was thinking about what to do next although she said that when I didn’t stop a lot of the movement flowed through nicely and some of the patterns were nice to watch. Just do it don’t stop!!!
Lastly improve jam was a lot of fun once I found myself and got into it. At first I was very apprehensive to this but once I went into the middle I found that I lost myself a little when doing it. At first it was a little daunting but then became more comfortable. As I become more comfortable once I started I didn’t want to stop what I was doing but it was interesting to observe as well to see what others naturally do. I found when I hit a little moment and was unsure I would go into a habitual second to help me travel or some form of arm rotation. I also like the fact I just went for it because there is no way you can go wrong in improve but throwing myself into it made me feel a bit more confident. Gradually I need to realise more what my habitual movements are and I need to be able to slowly pull myself away from them to open myself up to new movements and to enable myself to go more internal and deeper into my body.

Improvisation was something that I had done before however, I found that I became quite nervous and apprehensive about the idea of doing improvisation again. This could be down to the fact that I am in a new place and being asked to go further into movement, test myself to do things I naturally wouldn’t do but act on the habitual movement I do and act upon the spontaneous moments more.
Once I began the improvisation I found that I became a lot more comfortable and I just started to flow into different movements. For example, when we were folding into our bodies on the floor using actions like pushing, pulling and feeling it within our bodies. For me once I got into it I felt like I became a lot more relaxed and calm. This allowed me to explore parts of my body that had a lot of tension and somehow this allowed me to release it and by doing so it felt very therapeutic. Although doing this exercise was all those things I felt like I was questioning myself, asking myself why do you keep using similar body parts? Get away from that do something different or why don’t you explore this part of your body more? Find out what it can do. I realised that I didn’t use my legs o see how they could go and what they could do on a higher level, what could impulse from doing this?
Contact with the partner I really enjoyed seeing what could come from them taping a part of our body and what reaction the body has by doing this. I found it difficult at first not to move other parts of my body when just touching a specific point of the body. But once allowing those to come back in it became interesting watching and seeing what others do. Naturally a lot of people go back to into their habitual movement or will do one movement and follow through with a movement they naturally do. When we introduced going in a faster pace it had to be more impulse and quick thinking which allowed you to forget “yourself become the universe”. The movement seemed to flow and developed it further which allowed the habitual movement to be explored much more. Also what become interesting doing this was where the partner was taping your body. I noticed she would focus on the knee or shoulder a lot maybe because that was where a lot of my movement was coming from or it was natural to go to those points. I realised that “ I am both dancing and shaping, inside and outside at the same time.”

Bibliography
Midgelow, VL (2012) Dance Practice…:The experience of improvising. University of Northampton: Intellect.

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