Instant Composition 17/11/14

Today I had Polly for this session, and the main focus was upon giving a partner graphic in trios.

I worked with Gabby and Melissa from the third year, and the graphic concentrated mainly upon the upper half of the body e.g. mapping out the clavicle, getting under the shoulder blades, identifying the bones within the arms and hands, then the muscles etc, until eventually the support of the 2 people giving the graphic will enable the person receiving it to come o their feet with their eyes closed and relinquish weight to be able to move around in a different way to perhaps we would normally move. Eventually the two people supporting the receiver will completely loose physical contact to allow the mover to explore and play with their bodies at that particular point, although the other 2 people still stay present to ensure the mover is safe.

Giving the graphic:
- I don't enjoy the responsibility of another's body and therefore safety. However, it was interesting to feel and discover another's bones and muscles as everybody's are differently positioned and shaped.
- It was a delight to see another relinquishing weight and really giving up their bodies to allow them to move in a different way
- Being aware of another's injury made me feel cautious and I would therefore hold back when applying pressure to that area.
It was hard to perform the graphic when the receiver doesn't relinquish weight easily, as you cannot progress throughout the procedure if they keep returning to the original state of having tension in the muscles.

Receiving the graphic:
Due to my anxiety disorder I have a fear of losing control, and therefore I automatically assumed that this graphic would take away the control of my body, which made me feel apprehensive on taking part. However, after Melissa was the receiver she assured me that the 2 people performing the graphic can only have as much control as you allow them to have. This made me feel much more comfortable and keen to take part. I preferred the first part of the graphic of where my bones and muscles were being mapped out and acknowledged, in comparison to the 2nd part where I was on my feet with my eyes closed as this felt very alien whilst moving around.

Instant Composition - 06/10/14

So second year has arrived quite quickly, and for the next few weeks I have Polly as my tutor for Instant Composition on a Monday afternoon.

In today's lesson I noticed similar principles being used like what we use in Skinner Releasing technique, with a lot of visualization at hand. The poetic language helps my creativity when in improvisation/instant composition based tasks as there are no specific instructions on how to move or articulate the body; you can interpret the language in your own way to generate your movement which can completely contrast what somebody else composes with their bodies.

"the breath is our constant companion."

"the breath is a white mist..."

Improvisation / Instant Composition 24/03/14

Today was Nicola's first session back with us, but was a shorter session due to our group and Polly's group going to watch Katye's class show us what they have been working on in their sessions.

Nicola first told us to go outside and collect 3 movements that we see people do as they go about their every day lives. My 3 movements were:

- folding the arms

- brushing your fringe out of your face continuously (due to the wind)

- pointing

We then came back in and also performed those movements for ourselves. After making associations such as: folding arms = protection, cold, angry. pointing = curious, instructive... We paired up and exchanged with a partner what we had. Then choosing the words that stood out for us, we used them as our guidelines / instructions to perform our movements with and make a sequence together out of them. By being true to the words we had chosen, we managed to create a sequence that asked questions and created associations. By watching each others performances we then used our associations with another's duet and made another version of there's, for example: me and my partner watched another duet and for me it demonstrated a 'class system' with an ill poor person and a rich ignorant person, so we created something from this.

I would have loved to have done the full class today instead of I being a shorter version as I was amazed at how much material could be created from such a simple task. The pedestrian movements we collected transformed into something that suggested a variety of associations and meanings, and then those associations and meanings created something else, which I found fascinating.

I'm sad these sessions are now over, but I am grateful I have a new knowledge of choreographic techniques and approaches and am excited to use them.

Improvisation/ Instant Composition 17/03/14

 

Today was our last session with Becca who had been covering for Nicola. We worked with the same principle we started off with when Becca first came, of 'yes and no' and what that can produce as a solo and with a group of people.

We did tasks similar to the past few weeks, where we have the choice to say yes to a movement, or no. Say yes to the floor, or say no. Say yes to anothers manipulation or touch, or no.

 

Another task we participated in was for one person to stay in the middle of the circle that the other people would form around them. The middle person would then let go and fall and the others around them would catch and gently push up back to the centre. I was very hesitant to have a go, and I knew Becca sensed this. However, I gave it a go and was proud of myself for doing so. At the end of that task I shared with the group why I was hesitant: As someone who has panic attacks on a daily basis, an effect of an attack can be the fear of losing control of your own body. I have found it hard in lessons such as this and contact improvisation to let go and relinquish weight etc, and I know I hold a lot of tension in my body, including my jaw. I am gradually overcoming this, and participating in that task with Becca today has been a step forward. Becca said my fear is justified and understandable, and that I should be happy with what I had done. The other contact task which followed: of relinqushing and giving up our limbs to other people, then saying 'no' and applying a force which sent our bodies to the ceiling at a great height, felt really good to perform. I wasnt nervous about this task as it was similar to stuff I have done before, and I think the previous one was very new and different which didnt help my anixety. I loved the feeling of being lifted, and felt effortless to be in the hands of other people. Similarly, it was surprisingly easy to lift other people also and too felt effortless, which I found very interesting.

 

At the end of the session we had a 'jam' and was able to return to anything we had participated in over the past few weeks with Becca. It was amazing how much we have actually covered, and all of the new movement ideas I have been introduced to, e.g.: conversation through movement, travelling with keeping the hands/feet on the floor, going 'over and under' with a partner, the idea of 'yes and no' etc.



Improvisation/ instant composition 10/03/14

Today we continued with the idea of saying 'yes and no' through movement. We did this via a range of exercises such as travelling individually and imagining someone making resistance to restrict your movement, and then being free. We then repeated the exercise but did it in partners with someone restricting your movement and saying 'no' to you via movement.

We later did a task that required two people to have a conversation through movement whilst travelling. From this, me and Deborah had a similar idea of transforming this task into an 'impossible task' for our performers Gabby and Lewis to interpret. We had a discussion after today's improv lesson and decided to name the task 'speak without speaking' and to give this to Gabby and Lewis in our next rehearsal.

My favourite exercise of today's lesson with Becca was the last task we did called 'flocking'where we got into a tight group, then the front person would perform an action or actions that the rest would follow, then if the facings changed a new leader would therefore be present and take over. Later interventions from Becca included 'you can be a follower, or break out and be a leader, or repeat'. With these new options, beautiful choreography was produced from improvising. Listening to people's thoughts after the task was interesting as some had similar experiences to me and others didn't. For example, I felt an urge to be a leader and break out, where others wanted to repeat previous movements. Regardless of this, the dance idea was brilliant and I really enjoyed the task and moving with the group as a whole. 

Improvisation/ Instant Composition 03/03/14

Today I wasn't feeling to great as I had pain in my right side similar to the one I experienced a few weeks ago, so I decided to just observe. However, via observing I was still able to make myself a part of the lesson by visualizing the tasks and interpreting the poetic language within my own mind and see what that developed for me. 

I still made a journal entry from the lesson including various quotes from Becca, and some of the imagery used. The lesson also triggered movement ideas for my duet that I am choreographing for Gabby and Lewis with Deborah, as they can be edited into 'impossible tasks' which is my dance idea. I asked Becca for reference points if I was to use and modify these tasks in my choreography, and she said they came from 'Wendy Houstan' from DV8, and others came from Motion House, and Yale Flexor; therefore I am going to research these artists and companies and see if any inspiration for my choreography arises. 

Improvisaton/ Instant Composition 10/02/2014

In todays session, we had to think of an 'impossible task', then exchange these tasks with another, and find a way of transforming them into movement.
I provided someone with the task of 'raining fizzy bottle sweets', whilst I recieved the task of 'jumping on my nose'.
We produced our interpretation of the task into material, then made variations by travelling it, slowing it down, taking a chunk of it and repeating it, then finally visually the piece as a piece of paper then folding it in half: the first and last sections become on top of eavhother and therefore as one... this concluded to be impossible as compromises had to be made in order for the movement to be possible.

We then got into groups of 4, and were given the above image as our score to create a piece that included each persons impossible task. We had movements based around rainbows, travelling to another planet, raining sweets and jumping on the nose. But due to the amount of material each person had, it was down to choosing parts to collaborate with anothers.

The final result was brilliant and showed a variety of choreographic ideas.

 

This lesson was a huge eye-opener for me, as it showed me how much material can be procuded from one very simple idea/task, in such a short amount of time.

 

It also allowed me to see how one persons interpreation of a task can differ to someone elses, and that neither are wrong, but both ideas can be used to choreograph and create dance.