We began the lesson with a brief summary of the two weekly readings. The main points of the readings that I found interesting were about what is actually aesthetically pleasing to watch? I feel that during Contact Improvisation we should not worry about what we look like, alongside not thinking about what/where we are planning to do/go next. We should allow the body to be in the movement and with what it feels. I feel that some dancers in general may struggle to accomplish this. We automatically have this ‘idea’ of what we should look like to look good to an audience. We are also familiar to learning choreography and sequences and habitually think of what move/step is coming up next.

We began with a warm-up similar to the ideas we usually play around with at the beginning of a jam or class. The work is very grounded and we looked at:

• Forward, backward, shoulder rolls
• Transference of weight through the hands e.g. cartwheels
• Floor rolls/releases
• Weight in the hands e.g. handstands

I realised that this work is similar to ‘Release Technique’ which is something I read about in the weekly reading. I learnt that Release Technique is all about finding the most efficient and effective way for the body to move. This is by the body moving through the centre pathway which releases tensions from the outer muscles. This links to what I read in What Is Release Technique. ‘An important aim of the technical work in Mary’s Release classes was to draw the body closer to channeling its action along these pathways. This would both realign the body so that the weight was supported through the center of the bones as well as re-patterns the flow of energy so that the action was initialed by the muscles closest to the bodies.’ (Lepkoff, 1999) All of these movements in the warm-up allow the body to release and move in an energy free way. The movements are supposed to be effortless for the body. This is an important skill to have for Contact Improvisation, because the body needs to have freedom and release to be able to adapt and move with other bodies. I also learnt that being well grounded and centered puts the body in a stable, strong position. This makes it easier for the body to be safer as it is closer to the ground, so the impact if something goes wrong will be less. The body is therefore also more firm for people to give weight too and be manipulated during improvisation.

In the class we started looking at our Research Labs. We were asked to focus on a couple of questions we have been thinking about since starting Contact Improvisation. We had to prepare and create tasks that would help explore different outcomes and hopefully create some answers. I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in all the different range of exercises, it allowed to experiment with ideas I had not even thought about myself.

Group 1 looked at how different senses affected improvisation. What I found most striking from this exploration was how when I closed my eyes when I was improvising; it made me less conscious about what movements I was doing. It was peculiar not knowing what body parts were touching at times, but it allowed me to feel new sensations as I was able to break habitual movement patterns and experience new feelings between my body and another. This group also looked at pressure points which led me to realise that I can actually take more pressure than I initially thought, which will help me in future jams. I found that these tasks helped me understand what Daniel Lepkoff means when he says ‘my own fascination in dancing Contact Improvisation was the discovery that through my physical senses I can gather information directly from my environment; that using my own powers of observation I can shift my perspective, have new perceptions and fee myself from my own conventional/habitual ways of seeing’ (Lepkoff, January 2010) because I was able to use the environment and my internal feelings to initiate my movements by reducing my senses.

Group 2 had a strong focus on eye contact. The exercises they had prepared made me see that finding eye contact can sometimes break the flow of improvising, but can also expose interesting positions by having to tilt, bend, twist etc. to keep the eyes in contact. It actually made me create positions with my body I never have before which was exciting to discover. I learnt that eye contact can be a great way to establish a connection between two people. I will definitely use this more when trying to initiate improvisation with another person.

The last group wanted to experiment with weight bearing. It was interesting to find new positions with the body, as I tried to be different with my choices instead of predictable. I enjoyed playing around with the initiation of these positions changing between the over and under dancer. It made me recognise that I can hold positions for lengthier periods of time than I originally thought. It was a very surprising task in a positive way.

I and the other members of the group had two questions we wanted to explore and many tasks to help find the answers to our queries:

1.Why is it so difficult to keep eye contact?

Our Tasks:

Warm-up

Walking around the room, ignoring one another, making eye contact, making eye contact and smiling, gaining and maintaining eye contact.

This exercise was just to introduce this idea of eye contact between two people.

Imagery

Two lines of people facing inwards to each other, holding straight eye contact with different ideas in the mind e.g. being in love with the person, hating the person, not knowing the person etc.

The idea of this was to try preventing people from laughing or finding eye contact awkward. The imagery was a way of changing the situation in the mind to see if the participants could overcome this awkwardness.

Retreat and Advance

In pairs, facing one another the partakers maintain hold eye contact whilst moving back and forth with one another.

The aim is for the eye contact to be strong so it guides and aids the movements between the two people.

Mirroring

In pairs, facing one another one of the two begins to improvise whilst keeping strong eye connection with partner and the other tries to mirror the movements.

This exercise has a similar objective to the previous exercise.

We as a group hoped that the participants manage to overcome the hilarity of having eye contact with another person. As well as seeing the importance of how it can guide and aid movements.

2.Why do some people trust more than others?

Our Tasks:

Spontaneous Lean

In a small circle, one volunteer stands in the centre and spontaneously falls in any direction, the job of the outside people is to catch and rebound the person back to the centre.

The idea of this exercise was to try gain trust with everyone and not just certain people.

Run and Jump

One person runs and dives into the arms of the rest of the group.

This exercise was to try getting people over the fear of giving people their full weight and actually enjoy having no responsibility of their body for a change.

Due to time we were unable to continue with our other tasks and development of the first task. However, we were hoping to discover why some people trust more than others and to overcome this.

The results we gathered from the feedback from the group were very mixed. It was interesting to hear that the use of imagery did not help with overcoming the amusement of eye contact. I honestly thought that this technique would work, as I have used a similar exercise in my previous training and the shift in mind really helped maintain the focus. However, it was good to know that all of the group realised how much eye contact can benefit and support movement with another body. There was an excellent point made about how a strong connection through the eyes creates a strong connection in the body, which was very good positive feedback and what we was hoping to achieve through our tasks.

I was very surprised at how well everyone has begun to trust all of the members of our class. It is very pleasant to see how far we have come with allowing to put our weight into other people so far. Everyone mentioned how they did not mind who was catching them as they felt very safe, which was very positive. We thought that some people may struggling trusting others due body size, shape and how good friends with people they are. So it is good to know that no-one is in that place and we should all feel comfortable with one another.

It was very intriguing to see how many different questions emerged during throughout the research labs. I think this shows that as we are always asking questions during contact improvisation, there is never going to be an ending or plateau. This is because it will always be expanding with new thoughts and material. Which linked to Contact Improvisation: A Question? As a question I found in the reading interesting was ‘What happens when, after a few years of practice, what was once an unpredictable emergency situation becomes familiar?’ (Lepkoff, January 2010) I personally think that even if the unfamiliar does become familiar, there will always be new irregular material to explore due to the ever changing environment and internal feelings of humans.

I would briefly like to comment on how I felt during the Contact Jam this week. I honestly felt not as confident as I usually do, which was quite disheartening. I struggled making contact with other people however, I did enjoy the sensation of moving on my own. I found this benefited me in a way, because I was able to transition in and out of the jam much easier than others. I feel that because I am new to the group this year that people are more resistant to come and make contact with me. I think they feel more comfortable and familiar with the other girls in the group. I hope to overcome this next week and just let my body be in the space without overthinking. Despite struggling this week, I thoroughly enjoyed watching other duets in the space, I felt very captivated as I observed how beautifully two bodies can communicate with one another.

 

Works Cited

Lepkoff, D., 1999. What is Release Technique?. [Online] Available at: http://www.daniellepkoff.com/Writings/What%20is%20Release.php

Lepkoff, D., January 2010. Contact Improvisation: A Question?. [Online] Available at: http://www.daniellepkoff.com/Writings/CI%20A%20question.php