How can we experiment with our Eyes?
This week i found really enjoyable as we were able to choose a topic of our choice to investigate. I think what made the lesson succesful was how we planned each task effectively to ensure we had enough time for each.
Below i have uploaded two images of the final results of our research lab. The first image shows what we discovered from watching each person perform in a duo, and the second is what we learnt from working in the quartet, how we felt.
An inspiration for this week’s lesson was Steve Paxton’s, ‘Small Dance.’ The video consisted of a skeletal figure making very small adjustments in the body which showed us that in order to balance when standing up, this was a natural thing for the body to do. We then took five minutes to then notice the adjustments that our own bodies would make, which I found a really strange sensation. Although I was already aware that the body was never completely still when standing, I felt when I took time to actually focus on these movements they seemed really exaggerated and it felt like I was moving loads. This worked as a positive for me because I was then able to easily find momentum for the next exercise, where we had to allow our body to fall with gravity rather than prevent ourselves from falling. Although I found the momentum part of the exercise quite easy, I still feel that I held back a bit when falling to the floor. Although I do feel I use I use the floor a lot when dancing by myself, actually getting to the floor in this exercise was more of a challenge because I was thinking too much about it. I felt quite anxious because one my wrists was quite weak this week, and I didn’t want to make it feel worse for myself so was trying to fall to the floor in a way which wouldn’t put to much strain on too it.
A different exercise that we did in this class was what Kayla called the cat and owner exercise, where one dancer had to be an owner, making supports for the cat, and the person acting as the cat had to move around the owner finding different supports. I actually really enjoyed this exercise as I thought it was an interesting way to think about contact improvisation. As I am quite both a visual and physical learner, this method of imagery helped me to stay in complete contact with my partner, and move in a fluid way.
Susan Ravn’s article explained how to give and receive weight in a safe and sensible manor. It consisted of a study of different dance styles Ballet, Contemporary and Butoh and explained how depending on your background, you would hold yourself differentlly. A point which stood out for me in this article was how the sense of feeling weighted is central to contemporary dance. I will take this in to concideration and try to sense my weight more to help ground myself as i feel perhaps my background in dance consists a lot of ballet so my weight isn’t exactly always right.
Sensing weight in movement’. Full text available By: Ravn, Susanne Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 2010, Vol. 2 Issue 1, p21-34, 14p.
The intention of week three was all about releasing the head and eyes, something which I have struggled with doing so in the past, but I feel this lesson has really helped me understand the importance of doing so.
After watching the two contact improvisation videos, Steve Paxtons Magnesium (1972) and Blake Nellis and Brando @ Earthdance (2010) I was able to understand the importance of head movements. Watching the dancers use eyeline and putting trust in to the strength of their head, movement was able to come more freely and more spontaneously. Steve Paxton supported this idea in the Steve Paxtons “Interior Techniques”: Contact Improvisation and Political Power, where he mentioned that when movement is spontaneous, it is then ‘pleasant, highly stimulating and elemental.’
The exercise which stood out most for me during this lesson was where we had to move about freely, giving the entire weight of our head to our partners. When our partners then let go, I noticed a complete change in my own movement to what I had done previously in the improvisation lessons, and it was as though I had a sudden realisation that I had not been using my upper body to its full potential. In the past movement had mainly been initiated from my lower kinesphere.
The questions which have arrised from this weeks class are the following:
Will I continue to use my upper kinisphere?
By relaxing my head, what affect will this have on the rest of my body?
This week we explored the rolling point and the interchangeable role of the under and over dancer.
After reading the journal Touch: Experience and knowledge, I gained an understanding that we are always in ‘touch’ with something when dancing, whether this be with a person, item of clothing, or the floor. I found this an interesting concept to work with. The way in which I personally interpreted this point, was that there will always be something there to support you, particularly looking at the idea of the floor supporting my weight. Investigating this concept further, we worked in partners and explored how we could safely give our weight to each other.
I was first to lie on the floor, whilst I had my partner slowly release her weight on to me. Before doing this task, I expected it to be quite painful, as I did not see myself as particularly strong, or able to hold someone else’s weight. Based on my previous experience of partner work, I was normally the person being lifted because of my build. Having this is mind, the task really surprised me and I noticed, as previously mentioned, that the floor acted as a support. Relaxing in to the floor, I was able to take the weight of my partner and the action of her rolling over me seemed almost like a massage, as opposed to being a painful experience.
When we then switched roles I was able to fully relax over my partner, taking care that i did not put any pressure on to her knees. I felt that this task encouraged us to put more trust in to eachother and to feel more comfortable. In affect, this then improved how we worked together for the rest of the lesson.
References:
Touch: Experience and knowledge. Full Text Available By: Bannon, Fiona; Holt, Duncan. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practises, 2012, Vol. 3 Issue 1/2 p215-227
Before attending the session I was slightly apprehensive as to what to expect, as I had limited experience with contact improvisation. In order to gain as much from the lesson as possible, I drew upon the readings which I had done and tried to apply the knowledge in to my work in class. One point which particularly remained with me was from the pre module reading, by Novack, C which was all about Contact Improvisation and American Culture. A point which she has made was that movement was based on survival and the natural, as opposed to performing movement for aesthetic purposes. With this in mind, a personal aim for me, was to try and move naturally in my first lesson, experimenting without putting to much thought in to which body part I was moving.
In one of the exercises we were told to focus on pressing, sliding and rolling movements. An obvious choice for pressing for me would be to use the hands, so I tried to steer away from this particular body part and instead explore with different parts in a different style to what I considered as normal and habitual. Once this task developed we were then put in to partners and had to track each others movement, eventually developing in to us both moving and both tracking. I personally found this task quite a challenge to begin with, particularly when tracking my partners movements. I feel that rather than working together and moving in the space, it was as though we were still dancing as quite individual dancers rather than as a pair. Once we were encouraged to then explore the idea of heavy and light tones, I feel this helped me and my partner work closer together. We moved morecomfortably with a lighter tone, and I think that the reason for this was because we were moving slower and we were less forceful. I felt that I was more relaxed and therefore, more responsive to my partners movements. The task excited me and has stimulated new thoughts and ideas which i am curious to investigate in the coming lessons.
– How would tone vary, depending on who i was partnered with?
– does each person interpret tone differently?
References:
Novac, C, J. (1990). Sharing the dance: Contact improvisation and American culture. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 3 – 84