Carrying on from the week before, we decided on the question ‘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?’

Relating to David Lepkoff’s Contact Improvisation: A Question I’ve realised the importance of continuously asking questions throughout my practice as it can not only define a new movement form but is “a way for the body’s innate ability to respond physically to it’s environment”. Therefore exploring new questions enhances the move away from structured, habitual movement and allows me to really explore my physical potential.

In order to explore and answer this, we devised a number of tasks that focused on the sensation of clasping or unclasping hands. To begin with we started on the floor travelling across the space integrating both skinsphere and upper and lower kinesphere, without using our hands. Like the majority of the group, I naturally clasped my hands, even though this was not discussed beforehand. Clasping my hands personally made it easier to move, as I didn’t have the temptation or felt I had to rely on their support and instead focused on other body parts to hold my weight such as my elbows or shoulders. Dynamically my movement became sustained and controlled as I tried to push, pull and roll around the space so much so I began to contort my body into different shapes and explore how I could fit my torso or legs through the space between my arms and clasped hands. I also found that I was spatially more aware of my surroundings, changing levels continuously as I followed the momentum of my clasped hands swinging to pull my body around the space. Although I personally felt comfortable in my exploration, the members of the group observing us thought the movement looked tense, restricted and repetitive as we returned to body parts we felt comfortable moving, primarily my back or elbows. Halfway through, we were asked to unclasp our hands, which at first I found really difficult as I was constantly aware my hands were free from contact but unavailable to use making my movement seem tense and awkward. However in the discussion afterwards, the observing members of the group brought to attention the sudden shift in momentum when our hands were unclasped, as our movement became freer and effortless as we were no longer restricted by the tension held in the body with the hands clasped together. Although I found myself using my upper kinesphere a lot more and energetically shifting through space at a faster pace than before, I still maintained tension in my hands as a way to remind myself not to support my weight through my hands.

Developing the idea of releasing tension in our bodies, we began to focus on inhalation and exhalation. To do this, we rested in our anatomical neutral position focusing on relaxing the muscles and releasing tension on every exhalation of the breath. We also focused on the idea of giving our weight into the ground and keeping our head heavy. Afterwards, we repeated the first task to see if the awareness of breath and releasing tension would have an impact on our movement or dynamics. Straight away I lost tension in my fingers and palm of my hands that I previously had when I was told to unclasp my hands, which in turn allowed my movement to become fluid and graceful as I gave into momentum and let it lead my body around the space. With this task, I was able to understand the importance of having a relaxed body during contact improvisation as it not only allows you to give weight to the floor or partner and release rigidity but also allows you to give into momentum effortlessly.

Next we focused on trust within the group in which one member would stand in the middle and the rest created a safe, compact circle around her. The person in the middle would then fall in all directions leaving their feet parallel on the floor, relying on the people around to catch their weight and push them back and across the circle. This exercise primarily focused on the importance of giving and taking weight as well as succumbing to momentum with a relaxed, comfortable body frame. On observing other members of the group in the middle, it was clear that as they began to fall their body harboured tension as they were holding back from fully falling into the people around them even though they could see we would always be there to catch their weight and push them back. When the person in the middle closed their eyes, movement was much more relaxed and they began to give their weight to the people around them giving into the idea that momentum would be constantly moving them around the circle. When I was in the middle, I felt nervous at first to fall into the rest of the group as I was taller than most of them and worried they wouldn’t be able to hold my weight. However as I eased into the movement I realised that keeping my body relaxed would make it easier to not only follow the momentum of the direction I was being pushed into but also if my body was free from tension it was easier for the people around to catch and push my weight. We also experimented with widening the circle to see how far the person in the middle would fall. What was interesting was not a single person put their hands out to catch themselves as they had complete faith in the rest of the group and gave into the momentum of falling and returning to the middle, which not only highlights how trust can affect your movement quality but also how giving into momentum can release tension and keep your body relaxed and free.

Our last task was returning to the cat exercise we did in the previous week, supporting each other’s weight and exploring moments of balance and contact without the use of our hands. With our hands clasped together, I found it easier to trust and balance on my partner as we constantly kept changing between upper and lower kinesphere. Primarily I used my head or back to initiate the movement replacing the temptation to use my hands however when my hands were unclasped, movement was initiated from my feet and stomach as I pushed or rolled over my partner. I felt safer nearer the floor when our hands were unclasped and realised we didn’t explore the upper kinesphere at all, when watching the extracts of our duet that we videoed. With our hands unclasped, the movement became dynamically heavy and clumpy as we began to think about our movement, focusing on using different body parts to support our weight instead of giving into the momentum of one another’s movement.

Overall I think we successfully explored ways to use momentum not only individually but also with a partner or a whole group. We realised that to give and take someone’s weight during contact improvisation, the body needs to be relaxed and move effortlessly, following the momentum and sense of direction of the movement which will therefore move away from any habitual, conscious actions. Additionally it was interesting not being able to use our hands, clasped or unclasped, and made me aware of different body parts such as my head, back and feet that can initiate movement as well as support other’s weight and balances. It’s also made me aware that fully trusting the people you’re dancing with can release tension in the body, unconsciously create original, non-habitual movement and allow you to ease and relax into the momentum of the movement. I would like to explore how this changes working with new or old partners a lot more and hopefully will be able to do this in the coming weeks, as well as maintain my exploration of using different body parts to support mine and other’s weight instead of relying on my hands.

Jam

This weeks jam I wanted to continue my focus on the use of momentum and explore working with new people. At the beginning, we focused on relaxing our bodies and giving our weight to the floor and our partner, which I found really useful to calm and release tension in the body that had built up throughout the day. This therefore allowed me to maintain a relaxed, effortless dynamic as we eased into the rest of the jam. As a group I think there was a sense of comfortability and trust as we moved from partner to partner – the fact the lights were switched off enhanced this relaxed atmosphere. There was one point that a group of us were clumped together, rolling over one another and a sudden shift in dynamics meant Robyn and I were thrusted out of the group as we continuously rolled over one another. Discussing this afterward, we both agreed that we fully gave into the momentum of the movement which we probably would have restricted in previous weeks.

Citations

Lepkoff, D. (2008) Contact Improvisation: A Question? [online] Available from http://www.daniellepkoff.com/Writings/CI%20A%20question.php [Accessed 25 October 2014]

Lepkoff, D. (1999) What is Release Technique? [online] Available from http://www.daniellepkoff.com/Writings/What%20is%20Release.php [Accessed 25 October 2014]

Standing stationary we noticed our body is in constant motion, moving side to side, forward and back. With minimal muscular effort, I was able to really sense the reflexes of the body that prevent me from falling as my muscles and bones communicate with gravity to stay in an effortless and changing alignment. I was continuously losing and regaining balance, creating a free-flowing unpredictable pattern of momentum and readjustment that was moving through my body, in which this sensation of continuous alignment, was named the Small Dance by Steve Paxton. We then began to develop the movement to take us off balance and how the momentum of the body’s reflexes can travel us across the room in any direction. At first the momentum pushed me to run a couple of steps either forward or back and I realised I was consciously thinking about which way my body was moving as I fought against gravity and the urge to fall instead of listening to my body’s impulses as I was worried I might bump into people. However as I eased into the momentum, I began to actively follow my body’s impulses, primarily taking me forward or to either side, as I began to fall to the floor. The first couple of times I fell all the way to the floor I noticed a sense of stiffness and doubt in my body – more to do with the fact I didn’t want to injury myself – but I soon realised that the floor will always be there to catch me which allowed me to release any muscular tension I had harboured and follow the body’s intention to move with force effortlessly. The idea of the small dance referred to Ravn’s exploration that a “dancer’s sensation of weighted mass of their bodies is influenced by ideas of what the body and movement should be like when dancing” and suggests that by having an awareness of your body, it’s impulses and constantly changing alignment will not only help you in safe practice but will allow you to experiment and discover new ways of shifting, moving and travelling through the space, taking note of where the weight is in the body and how this has an affect on the momentum or movement itself.

 “The small dance is also this kind of dialogue between my listening, observing and direction consciousness and my body, with its moving structure and its deep knowledge about movement, functional anatomy, needs, feelings and desires.”

In partners, we took the idea of one person being the cat and the other the cat owner. The cat owner became a base for the cat to balance, push, lift and explore different ways to keep in contact whereas the cat owner would only move in order to support her partner’s weight keeping their movement small and direct. Being the cat owner I was open to news ways I could become the under-dancer, which is a role I tend to shy away from. I experimented with supporting my partner’s weight without using my hands but instead using my back, hip and arms which broadened my awareness of the possibilities and points of contact and balance that I hadn’t previously tried before. However when I took the role of the cat, I was able to experiment more with balancing on different surfaces and using different body parts such as resting my thoracic spine, neck or knees on my partner. At the beginning my movement was slow and sustained as I was consciously thinking about ways to balance and keep in contact with my partner, however picking up the pace and momentum I found there was even more ways to move whilst remaining in contact as my partner would always be there to support my choices. This related to Ravn’s idea that a “dancer’s movement sensations are also actively influenced by other dancer’s movement, as these movement unfold in shared practise” . Our final task was to blur the roles of cat and cat owner and constantly change or become both roles as we created an improvised duet. Both Jade and I felt this was easier as we could follow a continuous flow of movement and respond to one another’s impulses and balances. This also allowed me to experiment with transitioning between being the under and over dancer and how I can support my partner’s weight on a higher level instead of going straight to the floor, by either lying or on all fours, as this is one of my habitual tendencies. Continuing this allowed my body to relax and release any tension so that my movement became effortless and unpredictable as I gained a stronger spatial awareness and an awareness of my partner’s impulses and body. This related to Brown’s suggestion that “the creative interplay arises from mutual awareness of weight, rhythm, momentum, environment, attitude and feeling” and therefore by having an awareness of my partner’s weight and momentum, we can not only move in a safe and sensible manner but we are also able to fully explore our creativity and discover new ways of keeping in contact. For example the more time we spent on the task, the more daring and comfortable we became – so much so that at one point, Jade had only her feet on the floor supporting my and her own weight.

In groups, we discussed topics for our research lab next week (see below for images) and decided on the question ‘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?’

Jam

This week I didn’t really go with any intentions but instead I just wanted to move and see where the sensation of the small dance and momentum would take me. I also wanted to explore with taking other people’s weight but I didn’t want to stress this exploration too much as I wanted to follow the unconscious nature of my body’s impulses instead of intentionally thinking I need to be the under-dancer. The darkness of the room again made improvising easier as sometimes I couldn’t tell who I was in contact with allowing me to fully explore new ways to move and work with people I haven’t had a chance to. I was also surprised by the amount of times I took my partner’s weight and how easy it was to move from being the over dancer to transitioning to the under dancer and vice versa. This week I felt I properly let go of any tension or awkwardness in my body, explored new points of contact and followed not only my internal momentum but reacted to others instead of moving away. For example there was one point, where me and Robyn moved away from a cluster of people, and by maintaining contact with only our heads, ran around the room and fell to the floor forcefully before finding another way to balance on one another. I definitely pushed myself and was extremely happy with the direction my movement and sense of momentum took me in this week’s jam.

Citations

Brown, B. (1997) Is Contact a Small Dance? Contact Improvisation Sourcebook 1. (6)72-75.

Ravn, S. (2010) Sensing Weight in Movement. In: Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 2(1)21-34.

ZayacZhe. (2009) steve paxton. small dance. [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sJKEXUtv44 [Accessed 17 October 2014].

Hassmann, J. (2009) Explorations within the Small Dance. [online] Available from http://www.contactquarterly.com/contact-improvisation/webtexts/view/explorations-within-the-small-dance.php [Accessed 17 October 2014].

Today we began by comparing two contact improvisation videos, one of which was Steve Paxton’s Magnesium (1972). The movement was evidently aggressive and manipulative, with the dancers moving at a much faster pace compared to today’s contact improvisation sessions. The increasing pace of the movement highlights physically Paxton’s want to explore reflexes to create a continual unconscious response in which he believed “merely reflex would become the ‘new ground for moving’ and allow ‘spontaneous’ improvisation”. It was clear the dancers trusted one another’s strength as not only was the movement often led with a heavy head but also the dancers used eye contact to create relationships before they jumped, ran and grabbed on to each other establishing this sense of a raw, dysfunctional flow of movement that Paxton wanted to experiment with. The second video we watched was Blake Nellis and Brando @ Earthdance (2010) in which dynamically the movement was far more controlled and effortless as the pair sophisticatedly modulated the tone in the duet. Both dancers were not only spatially aware but also had an awareness and understanding of their partner’s body, which allowed them to elegantly transfer and support one another’s weight. Similar to Paxton’s Magnesium, the movement was predominantly led with the head giving direction to the spine highlighting the trust between the two, however in contrast; the movement followed a slower, sustained pace making the duet almost appear choreographed as if the dancers were consciously making decisions before they moved.

Following the idea of the importance of the head, seen in both videos, we began by moving around the space keeping our head completely in contact with the floor. Allowing the neck to be free and relaxed, we had to explore each surface of the head as we gave our weight to the ground experimenting with moving non-habitually. At first, the tension in my shoulders hindered my ability to move freely however as I began to relax and give more of my weight to the floor I was surprised with how much movement material I had to experiment with.

We then developed this further in partners, keeping our heads in contact with one another, exploring the space and using levels. As this developed, we not only began to give a lot more weight to one another transferring the role of who would lead the duet but also began using different surfaces of our heads instead of relying predominantly on the forehead or back of the skull. The next exercise developed on this idea of maintaining a heavy head, in which my partner supported the weight of my head with her hands following me as I moved around the space. After a while she took her hands away, while I continued moving maintaining the idea that she was still supporting the weight of my head. This exercise allowed me to relax into the movement, completing trusting my partner to support and care for my head, which in turn, enabled me to release any tension in this area, especially my neck and shoulders. Furthermore I maintained this relaxed, effortless dynamic as my partner moved her hands away discovering that leading my movement from my head and neck, releases tension in my body enabling me to move non-habitually and freely. We then returned to moving with our heads in contact before exploring with different body parts so although our heads were out of contact our bodies never were. This time our movement followed a sense of ease and effortlessness as we gave one another our full weight, not only in our head but also our whole body as we became far more comfortable with the idea that if we relied and balanced on our partner they would be there to support and take our weight and vice versa.

The next exercise we focused on engaging our eyes by looking at one area of the room and walking to that part of the space without consciously thinking about where to look and move to next. In partners we experimented more with engaging our eyes, improvising with looking at our partners, at ourselves and into the space. When looking at my partner, it completely took my conscious mind away from how I was moving and instead I became a response to where or what she was doing. I found noticing myself harder when trying to remain in contact with my partner, as it took my awareness to what I was doing and what body parts were moving which in turn let us break away from one another and perform a solo before coming back into contact with one another. When we were told to look at the space, we not only became spatially aware of who was in the space and where there was space to move into but also we began to travel across the room as we were “moving our visual attention and gathering information”, increasing our pace and tone. This related back to David Lepkoff’s interview in which he states that by shifting our attention and letting “go of the image or relationship or sense of the meanings of what is going on” we can truly move freely and create a dialogue between two dancers.

“If the attention is heightened; your attention reaches out and precedes the movement”

Finally, in partners we experimented with rolling over one another shifting between the over or under dancer. Firstly, partner A curls up into child’s position with her hands either side of her head whilst B starting in the same position, lifts her left side of the pelvis to support her weight over her partner rotating over so her back is now in contact with her partners before moving the left leg round as the back follows this momentum lifting off and into child’s position. A then performs the process of rolling over her partner’s back. Afterwards we repeated this exercise but our partner’s were now on a higher level in table-top position.

Personally I felt tense trusting my partner to take my weight the first couple of times we did this, as I didn’t want to hurt her back as I rolled over. However once we were used to the movement and the momentum of rolling over I became far more relaxed and at ease with the sensation and started to experiment with loosen the shoulders, neck and head and how this affected the movement. I felt comfortable taking my partner’s weight when we were in child’s position as all of my body was supported by the floor, however when doing the exercise in table-top position I was worried I wouldn’t be able to take my partner’s weight as I didn’t have faith in my own strength. After repeating the exercise a number of times I felt much more relaxed and at ease with the sequence and we began to experiment with tone and dynamics as we travelled across to one side of the room and back the other way. I want to be able to explore this movement in jam sessions and see where the momentum of rolling over my partner’s back will take me.

Jam

At the beginning of the jam, I wanted to explore the idea of transferring and supporting weight, not just with people I am comfortable with. Throughout the jam I performed the ‘pebble’ exercise we did in class previous, investigating with initiating the roll as well as falling out of the continuous movement. I found I would always fall back to being the over dancer because it’s something I can relax into and feel happier doing. Therefore in the coming weeks, I want to really work on taking the role as the under dancer and see how I can explore this before falling back into something I naturally feel comfortable doing.

Citations

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

Lepkoff, D. (2005) The Movement of Attention An interview with David Lepkoff. [online] Available from http://www.daniellepkoff.com/Writings/Daniel%20Simone%20Interview.php [Accessed 10 October 2014]

Aaron Brandes (2010) Contact Improvisation: Blake Nellis & Brando @ Earthdance [online video] Available from: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQFRF2sLK1vY [Accessed 10 October 2014]

Like the previous session, we began by energising the space, which led to exploring our skinsphere and kinesphere. This not only provides an opportunity to get in the right mind-set but also ensures my body is free from habitual movement vocabulary as well as becoming comfortable and at ease when pressing and rolling around the space.

Afterwards, we were told to lay face down on our stomachs giving all of our weight and relaxing into the floor as we became dynamically heavy. Still maintaining this position, my partner lay horizontally across my back and instead of giving her weight to the floor, gave her weight to me. She then began rolling up and down my body slowly, pressing down on body parts which I don’t normally take notice of such as the back of my thighs or the thoracic spine. This related back to Duncan Holt’s idea of proprioception in Touch: Experience and Knowledge in which he states by touching an area of the body that is unfamiliar it “brings a freshness that you might appreciate as new sensory knowledge of your own anatomy and recognised in the context of your being.” This suggests that as my partner rolled over my body, it brought awareness to body parts I tend to not use or think about during improvisation, and therefore recognising a potential for movement in these body parts. When it came to rolling over my partner’s body, I realised at first I was still harbouring some weight as I didn’t want to injury her. However as I continued to roll up and down her body, I relaxed and eased into the movement as I realised that by holding tension in my body, I would injury both her and me. Taking into account the section on ‘What Students Tell Us’ in Touch: Experience and Knowledge, this exercise allowed me to gain a sense of closeness and trust with my partner, understanding the idea of touch being experimental and broadening my awareness and curiosity to the importance of touch.

“Touch allows you to connect with another, from my experience it has helped me engage with my group members to a higher level of trust”

The next couple of exercises developed on this sense of closeness and trust. First of all we sat back-to-back with our partners supporting one another’s weight as we began to move on the floor, always remaining in contact by our backs touching. The second exercise, my partner rolled along the floor continuously as I followed her using different body parts such as my back or shoulder to roll over her. When I was the person leading the movement in both exercises, I felt in control of what would happen next whereas in the back-to-back exercise when I followed my partner’s movement I felt dependent on her to ensure we moved safely. As my partner led me, my shoulders and back became a lot softer and relaxed as I put all my weight onto my partner relying on her movement to travel us across the space. However in the second exercise, where I had to move over my partner as she rolled, I realised I was thinking about the movement before actually moving and relied solely on my back or stomach to roll over her. As my partner continued to roll faster, I had less time to think about my movement and started using my chest, arms and ankles to pull myself across her. It made me realised that contact improvisation isn’t about making something look pretty but more the fact of creating something experimental and following the flow and pace of the movement and seeing where that takes you. Last week I asked ‘how will experimenting with touch change the way I move?’ and this exercise is simply just the beginning of using touch to explore the communication between physical contact as well as learning to release excess muscular tension and have the willingness to experience the natural flow of movement.

The next exercise we focused on gaining a sense of trust and balance with our partners. Firstly we were told to move in a ‘structural way’ placing body parts on the floor firmly. While watching, my partner would say pause and then find a way to balance or lean on my body as I maintained the paused position. When I was the one balancing on my partner, I had total faith that she had the strength to carry my weight and therefore became more daring with my balances – sometimes lifting my feet and hands off the floor and balancing solely on my partner with my back or stomach. I enjoyed being in control of when my partner would pause as it gave me an opportunity to experiment and use different body parts that I wouldn’t feel comfortable to do in normal dance practice.

Finally we merged all activities together performing a small, improvised duet. This not only allowed us to investigate with the idea of touch and communication between two dancers but also meant we could follow the flow of movement and play around with manipulation or dependency between one another. Afterwards we realised that if we were unsure of where the movement should go next, we always went back to back-to-back as it gave us a clear starting point to begin again. I also found that I would tend to follow my partner’s movement and balance or lean on her body instead of being the one to support her weight. I think this was more to do with the fact that I was much more confident in giving her my weight than in my strength to carry hers, simply because in previous experiences I’m always the one being lifted. In the next couple of weeks I hope to experiment a lot more with taking other people’s weight and being the under-dancer, which answers my question from last week where I asked ‘will I continue to break away from my comfort zone?’

Questions

• How much can we communicate through contact?
• How will we use touch to move away from habitual movement?

Citations

Bannon, F. and Holt, D. (2012) Touch: Experience and Knowledge. In: Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 3(1/2) 215-227.