Category: Contact Improvisation

Posted in Contact Improvisation, Research Lab, Sensorium, Small Dance, Touch

Week 4: Sharing Gravity

Posted on by Rebekah Draper

Csikszentmihalyi says ‘… to pursue mental operations to any depth, a person has to learn to concentrate attention and that without this sense of focus, consciousness remains in a state of chaos.’ (Csikszentmihalyi 1997:26). At the beginning of each contact jam my mind has felt in a complete state of chaos, placing barriers and negative thoughts towards movement before I have even begun. This week I allowed my mind to relate back to my readings and enabled my body to put into practice the knowledge I have been gaining, to push my body through the limitations and restrictions I create for myself each week. This formed a higher level of trust within myself and with my peers and enabled me to lift and be lifted with confidence, experimenting with things I would have been hesitant towards previously.

How does sensory knowledge impact the way we communicate through contact improvisation?

We decided to base our research lab around Banon & Holt’s journal “Touch: Experience and Knowledge”. The exercises we constructed aimed “to explore the complex intermingling of experience, perception and knowledge in relation to our human understandings of touch” (Bannon and Holt, 215, 2012) and help us to come to a closer understanding of ‘how sensory knowledge impact’s the way we communicate through contact improvisation’.

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Banana Roll: The aim of this exercises was to allow the rolling participant to feel all sensations of the body whilst being assisted by a partner. “As the significance of action is from moment to moment, at a distance the activity has little meaning or shape.” (Brown, 1980-81, 74) Taking away the need to move one’s own body gives us the opportunity to track through and make an embodied connection with each point of contact we can feel, whether it is with material or another body.

Through observation it was clear which partners allowed their body to be completely relaxed and entrusted their partner with the movement. Occasionally the bottom half of the body was much easier to relax, if the body wasn’t in complete relaxation, the partner laying often found themselves stuck in one position.

Feedback:
Did you find it challenging or easy to release whilst being assisted by another body?
We received fixed feedback in regards to how it felt to release. Many thought it was easy to relax into the flow of the movement and allow their partners to be in complete control, whilst others found it difficult not to initiate the movement themselves from the points of contact.

Were you able to sense what areas of your body were making contact with the floor whilst being assisted by another body?
It was interesting to hear how the movement felt opposed to how it looked. The people who were rolling described the exercise as distracting and reported that it was often confusing as to where the points of touch were coming from, which led to a disconnection of focus at moments throughout.

Sensorium: “The sensory apparatus of the body as a whole; the seat of physical sensation, imagined to be in grey matter of the brain.” The aim of this exercise was to put restrictions of movement into the body and encourage partners to explore contact through parts of the body that may usually be neglected due to difficulty, ‘defying boundaries in response to sensory information’. (Bannon and Holt, 2012) We wanted the dancers to focus on the smaller sensations and points of contact rather than overall movement enabling “awareness of the small dance implies the opening of freer communication throughout the body” (Brown, 1980-81, 75).

What were the sensation that you felt when tracking through the body, connected to your partner?
The group described that they found it quite difficult to track through the body whilst moving and that there was a limited range of movements that could be performed when restrictions were put in place, so movement often became lost and bodies got stuck in certain positions.

Did you find the limitations restricting or did they assist in exploration throughout the body?
The group expressed that the limitations we put into place were difficult however it restricted habitual movement as all the movement being explored was new and nothing could be repeated. This new found range of movement also enabled them to discover that most of their movement initiated from the pelvis and this allowed for a firm, natural base for weight bearing movements.

Overall Feedback:

Do you have a better awareness of how sensory knowledge transmit through the body and how would you apply this through contact improvisation?

Our overall feedback was quite positive, although the initial exercises proved difficult for the group the information they took out of it will be beneficial towards the rest of their practice. The expressed that our research lab made them aware that simplifying exercises and allowing their bodies to feel the sensations of small dance will initiate movement naturally rather than delving straight in with complex phrases and getting stuck. This new found knowledge has helped with exploration of movement and steered the body away from the habitual.

 

Bibliography:
Bannon, Fiona; Holt, Duncan. (2012) Touch: Experience and knowledge, Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices Vol. 3. pp. 215 – 227
Brown, B. Is Contact a Small Dance? Contact Improvisation Sourcebook I. Vol. 6
Paxton, S. (2009) Small Dance. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sJKEXUtv44 [accessed 18 October 2016].
Sensing weight in movement’. Full text available By: Ravn, Susanne Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 2010, Vol. 2 Issue 1
Sensorium. (n.d.) American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. (2011). Retrieved October 12th 2016 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sensorium
Integration Training (2013) Contact improvisation rolling exercise. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ7WLqpR2qI [accessed 12 October 2016].

Posted in Contact Improvisation, Touch

Week 3: Releasing the Head and Activating the Eyes

Posted on by Rebekah Draper

Over each session of contact improvisation, I am becoming increasingly aware of my own body. I am becoming internally and externally aware of movements I shy away from and points of contact I am not comfortable with. With each of these personal discoveries made throughout class on Tuesday I aim to challenge and explore the movement I found difficult and gain a better understanding of how to make myself aesthetically aware and confident during the Contact Jam.

 

Throughout our practice our bodies are conditioned to abide to specific mannerisms. We are told to stand, behave and move in a certain way. “The understanding of personal space is social/habitual and since that habit is defensive, having that space invaded can be shocking” (Paxton, 2010, 133).  We are trained to be spatially aware during technique classes and performance and as a result our bodies become physically isolated. As a result of this we become afraid of proximity, respond to crowding by avoiding contact however by abolishing our bodily restrictions, movements become free and exploratory (Paxton, 2010, 125)

Through the exercises in this week’s jam I managed to take quite a few observations out of what lead to a successful flow of movement. During the Aikido roll there needed to be a constant connection, once the connection was lost, the flow of movement became broken and the Aikido roll was unsuccessful. I really struggled with this movement as I was uncomfortable giving my weight to my partner. The anxiety I feel towards moments of touch, aren’t from a lack of trust in my partner but a lack of trust in myself. Contact improvisation is about quality to quality work, receiving what is given. (Paxton, 2010) By having a lack of self-confidence I am not transmitting the same quality of connection to my partner as I am receiving, hindering the movement process before it has even begun. The more encouragement that was given by one participant the better the movement was. As I discussed last week, I have found that eye contact can be a very successful link to a deep internal connection with a partner. This week I did find that it was difficult to maintain throughout some movement explorations and it was often perceived as intimidating when one person was lacking confidence. However a foundation of trust was still successfully developed which led the next exercise to be marginally easier.

 

Bibliography:

Steve Paxton’s “Interior Techniques”: Contact Improvisation and Political Power. By: Turner, Robert. TDR: The Drama Review, Fall2010, Vol. 54 Issue 3, p123-135, 13p, 5 Black and White Photographs
Aaron Brando. 2010. Contact improvisation: Blake Nellis & Brando @ Earthdance. [online]. [Accessed 14 October 2016]. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQRF2sLK1vY
Knyokn. 2011. Contact improvisation 1972. [Online]. [Accessed 14 October 2016]. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FeSDsmIeHA
Forti, . 2005. Interview with D.Lepkoff. December 2005: http://www.daniellepkoff.com/Writings/Daniel%20Simone%20Interview.php

Posted in Contact Improvisation, Touch

Week 2: The Interchangeable Role of the Under and Over Dancer

Posted on by Rebekah Draper

This week I have been questioning how to allow contact work to improve my technique when improvising. What am I experiencing throughout class, internally and externally? Do I understand how my body should feel or move? Will I be able to let go of these feelings of apprehension I carry with me throughout class?
Through this week’s reading, Bannon and Holt, Touch: Experience and knowledge, I was able to gain a wider understanding of the process of contact work and improvisation. By breaking down and analysing the text I was able to take some of the key elements of touch that were explained and described throughout this journal and use these to motivate my movement.

Through each session of contact work it is very clear that I am great at connecting with the internal, closing my eyes and allowing myself to feel my way through the movement. However, eyes open I am far more concerned about the external, how things should look opposed to how they feel. This often restricts movement flow when working with a partner and I revert back to the habitual. Bannon and Holt state that, “it is the quality of touch rather than the quantity of touch that is of primary importance” (Bannon and Holt, 216, 2012).
So how can we use touch to move away from habitual movement? It is deeply important that this quality of touch is mutual throughout the working partnership and that an internal connection is established as well as an external understanding of each other’s bodies.

  • The first step towards a deep internal connection I found was eye contact. When carrying out exercises with a partner I often feel uneasy, as soon as it was brought to my attention to use eye contact I could feel a pull towards my partner. Eye contact offers a level of intimacy that you generally only give to somebody you are comfortable with, allowing your partner to become a part of that gives an almost immediate instinct to be close to them.
  • Secondly the use of breath. Breath can not only be an opportunity to gain a connection with our partner but is also an important factor in the flow of movement. During slow paced movements synchronising breath with a partner allows two bodies to feel like one. It gives us an awareness of each other and makes the perception of touch to seem less intimidating. Using breath throughout movement helped me to release any tension and apprehension I was experiencing about being taken on an unfamiliar movement pattern.
  • The last step and arguably the most important is trust. “That we touch and are touched is important but it is, how we are touched that affects us, teaching us how to define boundaries in response to sensory information.” (Bannon and Holt, 216, 2012). Driving our partner’s movement rather than simply initiating it stimulates curiosity and encourages them to experiment and experience things they may be hesitant towards without that support. Through experience and observation it is very clear when there is a lack of trust between partners and the flow of movement is often broken and repetitive.

 

How does our understanding of touch help during contact work?
Bannon and Holt’s journal, discusses the preconceptions associated with contact improvisation. It analyses the corporeal process we experience throughout contact work and gives us a detailed image of the things we may experience during exercises in class. This step by step walkthrough of the things we feel externally when working with a partner allows us to fully understand what we are experiencing through touch and that we are not alone. Having this awareness and knowledge to carry with us through our experiences encourages students to relieve any anxiety or prejudgement we may have before class.

Bannon, Fiona; Holt, Duncan. (2012) Touch: Experience and knowledge, Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices Vol. 3, pp 215 – 227.

 

 

Posted in Contact Improvisation

Week 1: An Introduction to Contact Improvisation

Posted on by Rebekah Draper

Contact improvisation, these are two words that make me feel very apprehensive. From previous experience, I am very aware that my body is not naturally tuned into the art improvising and allowing myself to feel comfortable moving in the space takes a lot of time.
Through this week’s reading I carried one quote in particular with me throughout class, “Sensations are what we feel to be happening at the moment, and they can become images when we take notice that we are observing them” (Paxton, 2003, p.182). Closing my eyes whilst moving allows me to clear my mind of anxiety and is a technique I often return to when losing focus. Losing my sight, even briefly, allows me to become present in the space and focus on the internal rather than the external. It is during these moments I become aware of my conscious and the sensations being carried through my body. Allowing myself to be moved only by these sensations and not by habitual movement is a technique I am hoping to develop through each session.

 

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As we began different exercises, it was clear to me that when in contact with another body the exercises are performed with ease when done slowly. Heitkamp says “One of the most important elements of contact improvisation is touch, both by touching and being touched, in the course of which a wide variety of information I exchanged through the skin.” (Heitkamp, 2003, p.256). Through observing other bodies I was able to see that the guidance from the leader to the mover creates a deep connection that allows the movement to develop naturally and is much more fluid. Heitkamp also says that, “Communication is key to finding a connection and foundation of trust with a partner.” (Heitkamp, 2003). This is something that became much clearer after this week’s session. With each of my partners there was communication and empathy through each exercise. Knowing that we were both having the same apprehensions allowed us to build a foundation of trust and enabled each exercise to be completed with ease. Working in close proximity with my peers has allowed me to feel much more relaxed about the upcoming weeks and I hope to only build on the confidence I have gained through this session.

 

Heitkamp, D. (2003). Moving from the Skin: An Exploratorium. Contact Quarterly/ Contact Improvisation Sourcebook II, Vol. 28:2. Pp. 256 – 264.

Paxton, S. Drafting Interior Technique. In Stark-Smith, N. A Subjective History of Contact Improvisation. In Albright, A. C., & Gere, D. (2003). Taken by surprise: A dance improvisation reader. Middletown, Conn: Wesleyan University Press. Pp. 175 – 184.