Contact Improvisaition

During this session “responding to its physical environment” (Daniel Lepkoff, 2008) is key as when we are lifting and weight baring you have to be focused and keep that connection with your partner. I found when taking weight we had to respond to the touch and senses we are being given in order to give the partner we are working with a safe environment. When lifting the person over my back I found that “shifting the bodies’ centre of weight” (Daniel Lepkoff, 1999) changed the way their body melted into mine. I found depending on how I moved my body their body would react and connect in a different way to how I was moving. Whilst doing this you have to make sure you are guiding them safely. When getting onto my partners back I was thinking “where is my centre?” (Daniel Lepkoff, 1999), “Which of these surfaces offer support?” (Daniel Lepkoff, 1999), “What am I aware of?” ( Daniel Lepkoff, 1999). These I was aware of whilst being upon my partners back as well as allowing my body to release and relax throughout this movement. It was interesting doing this as I found that I could move around enough to change my position, keeping my body released throughout the process. Even though I am over someone’s back it is easy to aikido roll out of it or safety roll so no damage is given to either body.
To continue, counterbalance across the room whilst pulling and then jumping with each other, during this you had to use the “act of dancing” (Daniel Lepkoff, 2008) to enable that connection and to come back to the same position each time. When in this position we must think about always coming back to straight arms and an anchored second so when we a pulling through we are being safe. During this there was a lot of moment and anchoring, the momentum made you feel like you were flying and you had a constructive landing to come to that as soon as the jump ended you had to anchor yourself down, enabling to pull your partner through. Not all the momentum came from flying the pulling action gave you the build-up and the running give the momentum. The momentum you get has to be a build-up in order to get you to the positon you are aiming for.
Monday 31st Oct 2016 – contact jam
This contact jam after coming out of the lifting I went in once the experience I had was good within the circle however, even though we had just learnt some lifts and weight baring skills I still found it difficult to incorporate. When coming out the circle I was disappointed within myself that I didn’t go in more as I know I can do the movement I just never found the right intention and became apprehensive. I need to be able to start “focusing on the physical sensation” (Daniel Lepkoff, 1999) between mine and others bodies, yes I have that connection but now we are able to lift I need to find that sensation between my body and theirs when it happens. Also I think what slightly stopped me was knowing when it was appropriate as you never know what your partner was thinking. However, when I was in I found there was good connection and understanding between myself and my partner.
To improve, next time I am going to go in a lot more so I can experiment with bodies I have not yet contacted with, make my body experience with new ways and possibilities I haven’t met yet. Also I need to just make myself go in even if it means improvising myself find new ways to improvise and ways my body can move. Then I can find that communication with someone to connect and being contacting with them. If this leads into weight taking and lifting then it does but if it doesn’t it doesn’t matter because I have still made contact. This will change every time I’m with someone new and I have come to release that when making contact don’t force myself into trying to do it if my partner encourages it to then go for it, if not wait and see what happens.

Bliblography;
Lepkoff, D.(1999). What is release technique?.http://www.daniellepkoff.com/Writings/What%20is%20Release.php
Lepkoff, D.(2008). Contact Improvisation: A question http://www.daniellepkoff.com/Writings/CI%20A%20question.php

 

“Becoming responsive means becoming aware of one’s own body, what it can do, what it needs and how to take care of it.”(Byron Brown) Improvising and exploring new positions on the floor allowed me to experience new sensations such as sticky, slippery, head and foot, explosive. This helped me becoming aware of my body creating a new images and making me think about my body parts. How do they become sticky? How I create an explosive movement using my foot? This made me really think and take note of how my body was feeling which parts needed more attention than others. To continue, the crucifix lift we did made me become aware of my body as well as others around me and how much trust I had within my other dancers. This lift had to make me connect with gravity and make sure my weight is central whilst being lifted “giving up control” (Susanne Ravn) allowing other participants to create the sensation of feeling supported and like I was flying. I found this was all activating control in myself to fall backwards and controlling my body to fall and almost take flight staying controlled through my muscles. I found I needed to find that relationship between gravity and the control. Doing the crucifix lift made me feel more trusted within my group and made me feel like others were becoming more comfortable with the idea.
Walking around the room trust falling today made me feel slightly uneasy maybe it was because I was falling backwards and we weren’t just stood there to catch someone, we, were moving. “Awareness of the small dance implies the opening of freer communication within the body” (Byron Brown). We have to see beyond this falling back and allow gravity to take us even if it means safety rolling out of it. We have to sense what is going on around us, sense who needs us to take that weight when that balance control just takes over and we have to fall. Falling backwards once you have the confidence felt like one big swoop it felt like I was going fall to transition into a moment but once I got caught I felt protected and at ease. When falling you must breathe into the body it makes you feel more supported and when exhaling and falling that inhaling allows you to go into the other movement. However, when catching you must also be aware again sense and hear what’s going on around, be in position to support them safely.
Re-search Lab
My research lab was based around, How does sensory knowledge impact the way we communicate through contact improvisation? During our group workshop we decided to do an exercise called the Banana roll and once called Sensorium. During the banana roll you had to really explore what contact was going on as you rolled across the floor. The Banana roll made participants feel challenged as they found it hard to relax into the body and tried rolling themselves along the floor. When focusing on where touch was coming from they found it hard to concentrate as you had the touch of the floor as well as the hands combined. They found it distracting but somewhat relaxing and ones that managed to relax found it like a gentle massage.
Sensorium – the sensory apparatus of the body as a whole; the seat of physical sensation, imagined to be in grey matter of the brain.
However, the sensorium exercise they found hard because you are constantly connected to your partner’s side, again challenging them in ways and body parts they never thought. They found it hard to track but also found it hard as they had limited movement although it made them really think about body parts a lot and what they don’t use as often. They thought that hip to knee contact was useful as you could use the hip as a way of starting to take weight and experiment with that.
Contact Jam
This week felt good, I was exploring more and didn’t feel lost when trying to take somebody else’s weight. I wasn’t constantly questioning how do I support them? How do I get into the lift or weight baring? Experimenting with this and new moves allowed for new doors and possibilities to open when improvising.
“How do they relate to dance and choreography?” (Byron Brown) I am always questioning this when contacting with someone if does look improvised or does it look like a ball of mess getting tangled up in the moment. What I have noticed is that when I dance with someone if it feels good then I feel it looks good, if there’s not that communication or connects then maybe it isn’t going as well. This was helpful to think about when doing contact with everyone, one improvisation I really enjoyed was with Natasha Allen. It felt like that eye contact and communication was always there and we had a strong understanding of what was happening, even if it wasn’t eye contact our bodies had some way of communicating with one and other. We tended to experiment with the eye contact and a slight touch to start off with to get a feel of what was happening and going on, this progressed onto us getting a lot more experimental. When doing the weight baring and taking each other’s weight we experimented with pelvis to tail bone, table top experimenting and general rolling point but using different body parts to initiate movement. The key to this was “grounding” staying focused with our partner and keeping a well-grounded position.

Bibliography
Sensing weight in movement’. Full text available By: Ravn, Susanne Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 2010, Vol. 2 Issue 1, p21-34, 14p.
Brown, B. Is Contact a Small Dance? Contact Improvisation Sourcebook I. Vol. 6 Pp. 72-75
Research lab
Touch: Experience and knowledge. By: Bannon, Fiona; Holt, Duncan. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 2012, Vol. 3 Issue 1/2, p215-227

“I sense that a certain fundamental understanding approach to dancing that used to be common knowledge and that once surrounded me is absent.” (Daniel Lepkoff, 2005) Sensing presences within the space is key when working in contact improvisation you have to be able to have understanding, communication between you and your partner. For example, whilst my hands where around my partners’ head, allowing their head to be free, my body and hands present as they explored. Being present in a situation like this was difficult as I wanted to lead her head but I had to allow her to explore. When it was my turn to allow my partner to take my head weight allowing my head to relax was difficult as I find myself to be tense in my upper shoulders, this is a place I tend to hold tension a lot of the time. My head felt very heavy and I automatically wanted to lead however, again I had to allow my body to flow and relax letting it go places it felt necessary, “being present is the movement of my attention.” (Daniel Lepkoff,2005).
“Behaviour evolves from sensing movement” (Steve Paxton) when watching Paxton’s piece Magnesium, 1972, it showed contact improvisation to be harsh, involving a lot of falling and colliding. Although there was a lot of touch involved within the piece a lot of it came from harsh impact, looking at the movement came from the impact. Paxton states in the video that “standing still is not actually standing still” what can our bodies do? What does standing still represent? How do we move when we stand still? In comparison Earthdance is very slow paced contact improvisation group they allow the steady pace to create flow between the groups. They are much gentler within the connection between the pairs, the touch they use enables you to see the communication between them much more as it allows the focus to be seen more. You can see they are much more aware of what is happening around them and they are not being thrown around the room they are being taken at a controlled pace. Here there is an obvious link between the movement displayed showing the interchangeable roles of a dancer, also proving it is easier to contact in duets rather than a group.Watching these videos came in useful when we were doing aikido roles on the floor, then over the bodies also in table top. When proceeding to do these the second video helped as I was able to release a lot more over my partner’s bodies and focus on the pace we were going at. Compared to Thursday, I noticed Tuesday there was a steady pace and much more control in the bodies. Were as Thursday some the exercise felt odd, not involving enough release. My body on Tuesday felt much more comfortable it didn’t feel as though it was being rushed throughout. Thursday I felt less comfortable and my body felt out of place. Maybe it’s because there is new movement being introduced so my body needs to become used to the feeling.

Contact Jam – Thursday 15th October 2016

During this improvisation jam I noticed our bodies are conditioned to perform in certain ways weather it’s to do with our “behaviour”, “posture” or “gesture”. It felt strange to improvise this session maybe it was the music, maybe it was the atmosphere, maybe it was the way our bodies were feeling, who knows. All I know is that this week I wasn’t as comfortable within the circle this could be down to the fact we have started to share weight taking, I’m not one hundred percent sure where to put it and how to get in and out of it smoothly all the time. In comparison last week felt more alive in the room and the atmosphere never dropped in the room. The liveliness was much more exciting and the music helped with this a lot when I was in the circle as I felt myself not thinking. However, this week it felt less exciting but much more experimental with the movement and people seemed a lot more daring with the movement they were exploring.
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

“….to peruse mental operations to any depth, a person has to learn how to concentrate attention and that without this sense of focus, consciousness remains in a state of chaos.”

(Csikszentmihalyi 1997 :26)

Touch, touch is embedded everywhere within our bodies not just by what we sense but also by the way we speak. Touch is “the mother of sense” it’s about the body having contact since the day we were born and making that skin to skin contact with someone becomes vital. When using touch within contact improvisation it allows us to access peoples bodies and anatomy. Allowing our bodies to sense what is going on and how the person is feeling whilst having that contact with you. Instead of being reluctant to have this contact we need to become less reluctant and be aware of others within the space and how they work. How do they feel? As people work in different ways to my body and others. How do I dance with someone else? They may feel comfortable and some may feel awkward, uncomfortable to start with having that contact.During our session we did partner touch where someone laid on the floor and the other at the side of the body. The simple touch of hands on the back felt very surreal, we were told to put slight pressure on the back and then extend the back slightly and once it felt fully extended you bring it back in to the starting point. This made the back to me feel like and elastic band extending and the pinging back into a compressed state. When the hands hovered above the body it felt like they were still there putting a slight pressure onto the back and the sensation was still there. However, once the partner was stood over the top brushing the sensation away it’s almost like that touch of your partner is being brushed away and you can’t feel them anymore. It was odd because it felt like the touch was being wiped out of my body. They the laid over the top of the others body and it felt like I was being pushed into the floor and it was tempting to roll and take the rolling points make up want to go over and take the other weight.

Rolling on the body – this exercise felt like a massage on the body and I feel like it gave you more of a connection upon the body and you became more aware of your partner much more
Back to back – this was interesting as you were only allowed touch with the back, head, hips having this restriction and connection allowed us to find new rolling points and it allowed us to find new ways of weight baring. When doing this with Mia I felt comfortable because she allowed me to take her body as mine and we had a steady pace going between us.
Contact jam – as this was our first jam it was taken steady and watching it was good to see. I noticed as an outsider I noticed a lot of people need to find a way of learning to trust each other. When getting stuck people would come back to the original starting point. How do we remake contact when it’s broken? Don’t force. Don’t resist. When doing contact there should never be a clear leader. How much can we really communicate through contact?

Rolls across the floor/ safety rolls
Rolling backwards – this for me I found easy as I was able to go through and over smoothly. I think this is because I feel safe doing a backwards roll because I find easiest to come out of and I find that I can usually get into another movement more.
Rolling forwards – rolling forwards has always been something that is uncomfortable for me, I think this is down to the fact I am rolling over my head and don’t want to do something wrong. Although I found rolling over my shoulder forwards I was unsure how to get over once I managed to do it, I felt very accomplished and I’m going try to use forwards much more to enable myself to feel more comfortable with it.
Rolling onto my side – this roll I found very confusing to do and difficult to get from one shoulder to the other. I became very unsure of how I was meant to get up and over onto my side, this is something that will take a lot of practice for me and time to get right.
Running towards my partner (Bekah) -This exercise I found useful as I gave that contact and communication between partners it allowed me to understand their body even though we never had that skin to skin contact. Focusing on our partners’ eyes we would walk turn over our shoulder and keep contact, then run and then running with a jump. This I have realised is key to our improvisation as you need eye contact and need that communication with your partner in order to go through lifts and In general contact improvisation you need that in order to get a feel of your partner and their body as well as yours.

Thursday 6th October – Contact Jam

Some things to remember when contacting with someone is to always keep a form of contact with the body and never to separate unless there is that sense to move on and that communication between the two. Before the jam I noticed that just the slightest touch upon my body helped the fluidity and feeling within myself more. Side work – going across in pairs you were never allowed to let a gap happen, was the sensation light or hard and from the type of touch there seemed to be no habitual movement happening. It allowed for development and sensory knowledge, I feel I found this helped more when my eyes are closed and I was able to feel that touch more. How can you bring different qualities into the body? Allow my body to release into my partner. Remembering to always focus upon the partner you are with. How do you manage to keep a constant dialogue between each other? When rolling over the top of each other I found it useful as it allowed me to put my weight into someone and allowed them to put it onto me so they could find connection within my body as well as theirs. When weight baring it is important to accommodate for your partner and always keep a steady breathing.

The Contact Jam
During this jam we were allowed to look at anything we have played with over the past two weeks and figure out ways we could bring it into our improvisation. Whilst doing this contact jam there can only be two or more people in the circle no less, the more you decide to go in the easier the contact becomes. Whilst being outside as an observer you being to notice who really gets into the improvisation and the mind beings to wonder. When going into the circle if you’re not sure how to start walk around feel the energy between you and the other bodes and once you’re ready being improvising or that contact with someone. There were no expectations in the circle let your body feel free to do anything, be creative, weight baring, structures and be safe.
When improvising with the partners I was with during the circle I notice mine and their paces would adapt to theirs some I felt more comfortable with as I was used to their bodies others sometimes it felt tense and slightly awkward due our bodies maybe not communicating straight away. Even so you must always look out for your partner and gently build up through the contact. I found when I had a good sense of communication with someone I would get lost I remember when contacting with Emily. M we really got lost in the moment and started taking each other’s weight and rolling around onto the floor and once our bodies knew it was time to move on our contact communication was clear.
To continue, as it was clear that we were contacting we should still pay attention to the small movements we can do like with our hands. This could be down to the fact it was exciting to get into the jam so the bigger details were coming out more and the smaller details were put to the side due to excitement from being able to contact. Doing the contact in the dark it felt better because I feel like people were freer and really explored movement more, personally I don’t mind doing it during the light or the dark, although for some I feel like they find it easier because people can’t see them as much and they become more experimental and free with movement.
Finally whilst observing I noticed that there was a lot of eye contact to communicate with each other whilst during the contact improvisation which added in tension and drama between some pairs whilst they improvised with each other. At some points there were a few bangs so it is key to remember safe practice between everyone. When pairs were focused it was nice to see moments of structure and weight baring when people felt confident. The music helped the energy in the room at times and sound effects were able to tell a story between pairs.

Bibliography

Touch: Experience and knowledge. By: Bannon, Fiona; Holt, Duncan. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 2012, Vol. 3 Issue 1/2, p215-227

“One of the most important elements of Contact Improvisation is communication by touch, both by touching and by being touched, in the course of which a wide range of information is exchanged trough the skin”
Dieter Heitkamp (2003)

Contact Improvisation what is it? How do we move together? How should I support someone? What if I drop someone? What will it be like sharing that contact with someone? Before starting improvisation these are all questions I had running through my head, learning how I should communicate through skin to skin contact with someone.
Getting into improvisation I have realised how different it is to choreographed contact for example, Wim Vandeokeybus piece called Blush it was all contact based however it was choreographed contact where as a contact jam by Berlin K77 you could see a big contrast between the two. In the video Blush they had interesting transitions between each scene and even though it looked choreographed it was set improvisation contact. In comparison to the jam in Berlin they took things a lot slower and it was much more controlled with what they were doing, they were constantly communicating with each other whilst rolling on the floor and lifting one and other. It looked very experimental compared to the set choreography, it was also very interesting to watch the jam because in comparison to some they were communicating constantly and in some improvisational jams they do it silence but they are constantly in contact with each other.

Once getting a full understanding as a group we were asked to stand in a space in the room, lights turned off, curtains closed and eyes closed, place our hands in front of ourselves and walk around to find people and shake their hands, later on developing into hugging the others. This I found very intriguing and interesting to do as it enables you to come across bodies that you’ve never partnered with both. It really enabled you to get a feel of each other and provide some sort of framework around you and that person before moving on. Although you a relying on touch it wasn’t always easy because there would be a cluster at points and you always seemed to find the same bodies. To try and find the bodies you had to constantly listen for breathing or footsteps around you. By using a different sense beside eyesight it allowed new experiences to happen with in the body and gave a new feeling to the movement when I came to producing material. Shaking hands gave the effect of feeling welcome into the space of that person and the hugging made you feel close to that person and again welcoming, it gave you a sense that you could start doing some sort of contact.

I found doing contact across the floor with different partners allowed us to get used to each other’s bodies and you found a sense of trust. The four things we had to do:
• Rugby tackle position resisting and pushing against each other
• Back to back crab walking across the room
• Pushing arms against each other, legs slightly out to the side walking across the room
• Holding each other’s wrists and balancing out to the side walking across
These tasks I found helpful with engaging in each other’s bodies allowing that new connection to happen. One thing I found when doing this with some people they wouldn’t communicated with the other instead they would move out of the position causing the partner to fall. There needs to be a sense of engagement and connection between each other as it allows better understanding between the bodies and people you are working with. Also preventing any injury from happening big or small.
Overall, I really enjoyed the introduction to contact improvisation as it’s made me excited for further development of it and has allowed me to experience new bodies and ways people work. It’s given me a sense of excitement as it will enable me to develop the practice further. Also allowing me to see how I will work with new people and how their bodies move with mine. This allowing me to see how I connect with them and how well I am able to communicated with the new bodies I haven’t worked with much.

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