Contact Improvisation
Class with Oliver Scott
This time I felt really tired, and my body didn't really feel like working and as perceptual, so it could take much new information. Adequately, my partner felt the same way this time. Even though some hands-on work involving lots of rocking and squeezing the muscles released both of us and made the bodies more prepared for moving, we still kept quite passive.
However, I found it really interesting and useful to witness other people moving together; it was really enjoyable noticing the flow. After a bit of time working with the same partner, you can take more risks, increase the speed; even though movements become quite risky, I think this is the way to push the boundaries and explore unexplored, and it sometimes looks more complicated than it actually is, because if you trust your partner and are able to balance between softness and tensions that are needed for a bit of control and balance, as well as to initiate further moving, it is completely acceptable and these risks even should be taken. It is also very useful to find new movements for duets and partnership, that can be used choreografically in the future. furthermore, it is absolutely beautiful to watch.
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Contact Improvisation
Class with Oliver Scott
This class interested me, when doing the warm up, which was somatic-practice-like, very still and individual. after some time given for arriving when being more less still, laying on the floor. A little bit later, laying on our front, we started to focus on opening the vision sense. Very gently; noticing the distance that is needed for the vision to become clear, not blurry. Also, it is about opening the perception of the whole body - even though you lift your head and look straight in front of you, you can also become aware of what is behind and around you too - "seeing with the back of your head".When you lift your head, letting the back of it lead, you can easily open the senses as well as visible spaces and become really sensible to what is around you.
The fun bit, developing quick reacting and inhabiting quick release in the body was running around and sliding through the floor - becoming instantly soft. It also developed awareness of the spaces and people arround, as taking the risk doing such a quick and strong movement, you may hit somebody and cause injury, so this practice can be considered really dimensionally and dynamically vivid.
Later on we continued practicing the contact technique from previous class. Working with John with our eyes closed, was very interesting to me, as I was able to explore how much weight I can take and what adjustments I can do in order to be enough support for the partner who's bigger than me. We also involved some lifts, which is always fun.
I find it useful to work with my eyes closed, as you become more responsive and all the other senses when vision is taken away become more perceptual and I tend to think less and go with the flow more, let it go more, with my eyes closed; it is a pure play.
Class with Oliver Scott
This class interested me, when doing the warm up, which was somatic-practice-like, very still and individual. after some time given for arriving when being more less still, laying on the floor. A little bit later, laying on our front, we started to focus on opening the vision sense. Very gently; noticing the distance that is needed for the vision to become clear, not blurry. Also, it is about opening the perception of the whole body - even though you lift your head and look straight in front of you, you can also become aware of what is behind and around you too - "seeing with the back of your head".When you lift your head, letting the back of it lead, you can easily open the senses as well as visible spaces and become really sensible to what is around you.
The fun bit, developing quick reacting and inhabiting quick release in the body was running around and sliding through the floor - becoming instantly soft. It also developed awareness of the spaces and people arround, as taking the risk doing such a quick and strong movement, you may hit somebody and cause injury, so this practice can be considered really dimensionally and dynamically vivid.
Later on we continued practicing the contact technique from previous class. Working with John with our eyes closed, was very interesting to me, as I was able to explore how much weight I can take and what adjustments I can do in order to be enough support for the partner who's bigger than me. We also involved some lifts, which is always fun.
I find it useful to work with my eyes closed, as you become more responsive and all the other senses when vision is taken away become more perceptual and I tend to think less and go with the flow more, let it go more, with my eyes closed; it is a pure play.
Contact Improvisation
Class with Oliver Scott
We began the class with the discussion about what Contact Improvisation touching a little bit history of it.
Then we started to work with the technique. We focused on changing the momentum, changing the dynamic instantly- about body to be able to adapt when we need to involve some tension, in order to keep the contact continous and keep the balance as well as find the softness in order to keep the flow.
When you walk and brush somebody, giving an impulse to go down and, following, go down yourself - there is such an interesting energy flow, the tensions transfer into release within the body; this helps to make the action really effortless and natural, taking away all the thoughts about how to move correctly, but rather naturally. It felt to me as such a strong energy.
Contact improvisation task mainly consisted of leaning on or onto somebody qualities, playing with tensions and letting go, noticing how much effort we need to hold somebody - to be a support. Thinking ahead, if not overthinking, might help, as the person moving towards the floor has to concentrate on the possible shifts to be made whilst keeping the contact (sliding motions ere particularly involved in this practice).
Score turned into traveling keeping the same moving qualities, but having the sense of direction. We were trying to avoid dropping, make the movements be smooth and continuous.Also, the supporting person tried to keep pretty still, not trying to help the mover to go towards the floor the easiest ways possible - not taking them to the floor by adjusting the body, but rather be solid, in order to not shorten the way down and let the mover find their own ways to adapt to the support. It really challenged me, as you have to allow people move around you sometimes finding quite complicated ways, but still keep protecting them in a way, to avoid injuries. as a mover, I found it challenging to keep constant contact all the way to the floor without loosing the support and contact.
Walking around the room and playing with these qualities with lots of different people was really interesting, as your body has to adjust to everyone instantly; you have to consider, register and adapt really quickly, because every body is different, and sometimes it is difficult to realise how much of a support you have to offer as well as how much of weight and pressure you can give.Non-verbal negotiation is also an interesting moment, when using the body language you make a decision which one of you is going to give the support and which one is going over.
Being quite small I noticed that my body is such a solid and strong structure, which can support and hold so much more weight going over my body.
The contact, when you go over somebody's back (the supporting person is in a reliable box possition) - it is quite difficult to make sure that the person who is going over your back reaches the floor safely and softly- it is up to you as well as up to the mover.
This was a really useful practice, opening the technique of moving in contact, strongly imforming me as a mover and CI practitioner.
Class with Oliver Scott
We began the class with the discussion about what Contact Improvisation touching a little bit history of it.
Then we started to work with the technique. We focused on changing the momentum, changing the dynamic instantly- about body to be able to adapt when we need to involve some tension, in order to keep the contact continous and keep the balance as well as find the softness in order to keep the flow.
When you walk and brush somebody, giving an impulse to go down and, following, go down yourself - there is such an interesting energy flow, the tensions transfer into release within the body; this helps to make the action really effortless and natural, taking away all the thoughts about how to move correctly, but rather naturally. It felt to me as such a strong energy.
Contact improvisation task mainly consisted of leaning on or onto somebody qualities, playing with tensions and letting go, noticing how much effort we need to hold somebody - to be a support. Thinking ahead, if not overthinking, might help, as the person moving towards the floor has to concentrate on the possible shifts to be made whilst keeping the contact (sliding motions ere particularly involved in this practice).
Score turned into traveling keeping the same moving qualities, but having the sense of direction. We were trying to avoid dropping, make the movements be smooth and continuous.Also, the supporting person tried to keep pretty still, not trying to help the mover to go towards the floor the easiest ways possible - not taking them to the floor by adjusting the body, but rather be solid, in order to not shorten the way down and let the mover find their own ways to adapt to the support. It really challenged me, as you have to allow people move around you sometimes finding quite complicated ways, but still keep protecting them in a way, to avoid injuries. as a mover, I found it challenging to keep constant contact all the way to the floor without loosing the support and contact.
Walking around the room and playing with these qualities with lots of different people was really interesting, as your body has to adjust to everyone instantly; you have to consider, register and adapt really quickly, because every body is different, and sometimes it is difficult to realise how much of a support you have to offer as well as how much of weight and pressure you can give.Non-verbal negotiation is also an interesting moment, when using the body language you make a decision which one of you is going to give the support and which one is going over.
Being quite small I noticed that my body is such a solid and strong structure, which can support and hold so much more weight going over my body.
The contact, when you go over somebody's back (the supporting person is in a reliable box possition) - it is quite difficult to make sure that the person who is going over your back reaches the floor safely and softly- it is up to you as well as up to the mover.
This was a really useful practice, opening the technique of moving in contact, strongly imforming me as a mover and CI practitioner.
Guest Class
Charley M.
We did a lot of walking for warm up, releasing body to the ground, seeing where we are today, recognising the energy of the day. Working turned into running, increasing the energy level of the class as well as awakening the bodies. We played with walking making different size of steps, forwards, backwards, sideways; this encouraged me to notice the distance between myself and other people, challenging speeding up to almost dangerous level, which increased perception and speed of reaction - it was tried to make the distance as little as possible, almost running into someone, but managing to quickly escape and not hit anybody. I really enjoyed that, and it was really drawing my attention to the class, awakening my perceptions for the right focus.
Spatial awareness was also developed when some instructions have been involved - in your mind, choose two other people in the room, and try to keep the same distance from both of them at all times, making a triangle. Later on, we were running through these triangles, trying to break the triangle in the very middle of it.
Later on, we worked towards finding the softest and most effortless ways of going down and up again. Charley explained the technique details very clearly, which helped to achieve the softness of movements. The qualities involved rolling, sliding down (noting the top of the foot),sliding on the front of the thighs and go through, simple dropping; interesting to find the technique starting from kneeling and using the back foot to initiate the movement.
In order to achieve better quality, some simple exercises have been done; repetitiveness of it helps to really inhabit the motion in the most effortless way and catch the momentum.
Work in contact travelling through the space
-pushing each other giving resistance
-moving around the leading person, surrounding him
-Placing hands on partner's body to encourage or suggest the movement
-playing with the idea of when one of the partner's goes down, the other has to make the way towards standing.
Really enjoyed the playfulness. The previous exercises were really usefull, as the body was fully ready to move and explore.
Charley M.
We did a lot of walking for warm up, releasing body to the ground, seeing where we are today, recognising the energy of the day. Working turned into running, increasing the energy level of the class as well as awakening the bodies. We played with walking making different size of steps, forwards, backwards, sideways; this encouraged me to notice the distance between myself and other people, challenging speeding up to almost dangerous level, which increased perception and speed of reaction - it was tried to make the distance as little as possible, almost running into someone, but managing to quickly escape and not hit anybody. I really enjoyed that, and it was really drawing my attention to the class, awakening my perceptions for the right focus.
Spatial awareness was also developed when some instructions have been involved - in your mind, choose two other people in the room, and try to keep the same distance from both of them at all times, making a triangle. Later on, we were running through these triangles, trying to break the triangle in the very middle of it.
Later on, we worked towards finding the softest and most effortless ways of going down and up again. Charley explained the technique details very clearly, which helped to achieve the softness of movements. The qualities involved rolling, sliding down (noting the top of the foot),sliding on the front of the thighs and go through, simple dropping; interesting to find the technique starting from kneeling and using the back foot to initiate the movement.
In order to achieve better quality, some simple exercises have been done; repetitiveness of it helps to really inhabit the motion in the most effortless way and catch the momentum.
Work in contact travelling through the space
-pushing each other giving resistance
-moving around the leading person, surrounding him
-Placing hands on partner's body to encourage or suggest the movement
-playing with the idea of when one of the partner's goes down, the other has to make the way towards standing.
Really enjoyed the playfulness. The previous exercises were really usefull, as the body was fully ready to move and explore.
Improvisation class with Katye Coe
This class was in collaboration with music students. At the beggining, we looked at the scores they had from previous improvisation class that they had. After a quick discussion, we went for a little walk around the building in order to find the potential space that we could work in. We chose a staircase at the back of the building. There also was a piano and some kind of cage, which we used when exploring sounds that we can make around ourselves. It was also interesting, how we used the piano when improvising playing using drum sticks.
We have decided to go for a nature-like sounds that we could make, and I focused on making sounds that would indicate rain, using my voice, my fingertips, knocking, and movements of my feet which offered louder sounds, that reminded thunder. After a few runs playing on the staircase with sounds and rhythms we made another score, complimenting it by setting some cues and making spatial decisions, giving the potential performance a choreographical setting.
It was very interesting trying to push the boundaries and exploring the environment, using it in order to find some new sounds and possibilities to make it. Collaboration with music students gave a little bit more opennes to possibilities, because of the difference between skills that dancers and musicians had, we were able to share them and offer different things that haven't been explored yet. Music students offered different rhythms that dancers could explore, and dance students, being more advanced and open for improvisation in general, by easily letting go and tempting to push the boundaries and break the inhabited structures, encouraged more opennes, which expanded the variety of sounds that has been found, registered and transfered into the movement, using mainly only the body as a tool.
I think this way of work is very interesting, and it is a good way and tool for work making. It offers to explore something unexpected and uninhabited. It is very playful and up-and-coming, if you are open-minded. Noticing the variety of the production and theme differences in the performances that has been made during this class, it is almost imposible to clasify this work, as all of them were completely different.
I would like to explore it more when the opportunity arrises.
This class was in collaboration with music students. At the beggining, we looked at the scores they had from previous improvisation class that they had. After a quick discussion, we went for a little walk around the building in order to find the potential space that we could work in. We chose a staircase at the back of the building. There also was a piano and some kind of cage, which we used when exploring sounds that we can make around ourselves. It was also interesting, how we used the piano when improvising playing using drum sticks.
We have decided to go for a nature-like sounds that we could make, and I focused on making sounds that would indicate rain, using my voice, my fingertips, knocking, and movements of my feet which offered louder sounds, that reminded thunder. After a few runs playing on the staircase with sounds and rhythms we made another score, complimenting it by setting some cues and making spatial decisions, giving the potential performance a choreographical setting.
It was very interesting trying to push the boundaries and exploring the environment, using it in order to find some new sounds and possibilities to make it. Collaboration with music students gave a little bit more opennes to possibilities, because of the difference between skills that dancers and musicians had, we were able to share them and offer different things that haven't been explored yet. Music students offered different rhythms that dancers could explore, and dance students, being more advanced and open for improvisation in general, by easily letting go and tempting to push the boundaries and break the inhabited structures, encouraged more opennes, which expanded the variety of sounds that has been found, registered and transfered into the movement, using mainly only the body as a tool.
I think this way of work is very interesting, and it is a good way and tool for work making. It offers to explore something unexpected and uninhabited. It is very playful and up-and-coming, if you are open-minded. Noticing the variety of the production and theme differences in the performances that has been made during this class, it is almost imposible to clasify this work, as all of them were completely different.
I would like to explore it more when the opportunity arrises.
Experiential Anatomy
Class with Polly Hudson
This time we were focusing on tracing the clavical bone, shoulder blades and all the way down the arms finding bones through touch and movements by squeezing it and moving in different ways. Both sides have been explored at the same time, by receiving the hands-on work with two other people, really being supported of their touch when being upstanding,
The hands-on work, as it tend to do, really released all the tensions that my upper body held and made me feel really light. Even when the touch was gone, my arms still felt weightless, however, somehow became not as usefull anymore, as probably felt too released to feel a need to be moved. Although, the other body parts somehow became more engaged and open for moving.
When I was offering the touch and support for one of the partners, I noticed their arms being heavy and the range of the movements,that felt desired to be accepted, was limited. It rather felt like requiring the support from outside, finding an interesting particular way to receive the support and give weight of the arms.
During the partner graphics on the floor , when clavical bone has been traced with the fingertips, made me feel disorientated. However, it was a nice work, developing kinaesthetic sense within my body, particularly releasing the upper body, offering different quality to my movements, offering an interesting focus on different body parts when moving.
Class with Polly Hudson
This time we were focusing on tracing the clavical bone, shoulder blades and all the way down the arms finding bones through touch and movements by squeezing it and moving in different ways. Both sides have been explored at the same time, by receiving the hands-on work with two other people, really being supported of their touch when being upstanding,
The hands-on work, as it tend to do, really released all the tensions that my upper body held and made me feel really light. Even when the touch was gone, my arms still felt weightless, however, somehow became not as usefull anymore, as probably felt too released to feel a need to be moved. Although, the other body parts somehow became more engaged and open for moving.
When I was offering the touch and support for one of the partners, I noticed their arms being heavy and the range of the movements,that felt desired to be accepted, was limited. It rather felt like requiring the support from outside, finding an interesting particular way to receive the support and give weight of the arms.
During the partner graphics on the floor , when clavical bone has been traced with the fingertips, made me feel disorientated. However, it was a nice work, developing kinaesthetic sense within my body, particularly releasing the upper body, offering different quality to my movements, offering an interesting focus on different body parts when moving.
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