WEEK 3 Close your eyes and look!

An Outside Eye

Due to an illness, I sat out of class today. This was a very interesting experience. I find that as dancers, we tend to forget to stop and look, to observe what is really happening around us. 

Watching my colleagues experiment without the use of sight, I saw that everyone had developed a fear as they were holding back, perhaps they were scared of bumping into each other or hurting each other. Everyone cares for everyone and this fascinated me, you could see that the movements were small and timid, but once you gave their sight back the movements were a bigger, prouder and less ambiguous and timid. 

Another fascination were this pair of long term best friends dancing together. They were almost in sync with matching and complimentary positions. It looked so natural and effortless! Compare this to a different combination of dancers that didn't know each other that well and you could see the hesitation and sometimes the panic in their minds. 

I think in order to fully experience the world of improvisation, we need to get rid of that fear, hesitation and panic, and learn to adapt quicker in fast moving situations. 

Today I found out that you really need to trust yourself as well as your friends and the environment to truly vibe off each other to create a performance of improvisation. 

WEEK 2 Visiting the Landscape of Now

A Week of Reading

This week I have been reading Landscape of the Now by Kent De Spain and this is what I took from the book. 

As dancers, we know that the initial learning can be difficult but once you have the hang of it, everything is easier. This anecdote also made me see that improvising might be because it's a instinct and it might not always be a choice. (De Spain, K., 2012, 45) Like when you're performing a roll on the floor, it's important to know your own body and the technique to avoid injury.

Linking back to my past, I was always told that get my leg higher, I would need to develop strength and flexibility. But now, while improvising I see that it doesn't matter about the technicality as long as it's safe. A kick can be a low or as high as your body allows in that moment. 

Kent de Spain mentions that focusing purely on movement can be a 'result of limitation in the body/mind' (De Spain, K., 2012, 101) Which I think means I should trust my body and not be so precious in order to free myself and become comfortable with just dancing because I felt like doing so. 

Speaking of the moment, the movements that might occur in that moment can be totally unpredictable and for the first time in my dance journey, I'm starting to understand that's actually fine! It's okay to not know what you are doing and to spontaneously move. 

Bibliography:

De Kent, S. (2012) Landscape of the Now. USA: Oxford University Press.

WEEK 1 Child's Play- An Introduction

An Introduction to Improvisation 

In preparation of the first class, I had a mix of excitement. A new style and a new skill that I was ready to sink my teeth into. I also felt a wave of dread because of my love/hate relationship with improvisation. From my background, I've been used to a syllabus and strict 'this is what you have to do' sort of teaching so improvisation feels completely alien to me and to be honest, the thought of it terrifies me. 

Today, we used beanbags to experiment. It was so fun and effortless, we compared this to playing games in a playground like we used to when we were children. This relates to Anna Halprin who was largely interested in improvising based on Child's Play rather than monolithic, large choreography. (Banes, 2003) 

When demonstrating, we came up with a strategy to ensure that we performed as an ensemble. This included falling to the floor everytime we heard the beanbag drop, swapping partners and gauging the length of five minutes. We lost count, our perception of time was all over the place and we couldn't hear the dropping of the beanbag so we couldn't stay true to ourselves- following others is a habit!

Today, I learnt that improvisation is in all of us. Whether you're a dancer or not, we all subconsciously live a spontaneous improvised lifestyle, adapting quickly to our surroundings and making impulsive decisions everyday. It's in our instincts, and improvising is nothing to be afraid of!

Bibliography:
Banes, S. (2003) Taken by Surprise. USA: Wesleyan University Press.