I found all 3 of today’s tasks enlightening and informative about improvisation
Task 1: Lying on the floor with our eyes closed and we have to feel where the weight in different parts of our body was in contact with the floor. In this task I found that my body felt heavier on one side at times more than it did on the other, particularly in my feet and arms. However, when we progressed further with the task and had to roll over into a number of different positions I found my body felt very heavy compared to usual and found at first that I was struggling to move. I found the last part of this task interesting, when we worked with a partner and had to use our peripheral vision to synchronise our movements and move together. When we first began I found I needed to start with smaller movements to help engage my body slightly as I was feeling drowsy after the first part of the task. I allowed my body time to replace itself in the room and once I did Emily and I found ourselves quite in sync throughout most of the task and found we were able to work together with ease and fluidity. After moving we’d return to the centre and do some deep breathing to allow our bodies time to track where we had just been and where we wanted to go next. As we got more comfortable with the task we started to take more risks with the movements we were doing and found ourselves moving further and further away from our original placement and eventually felt comfortable enough to stand up and try the task standing.
Task 2: Stand still in a space, think of a movement we wanted to perform, allow our body to track it so we know where it is starting and allow this body part to start the movement. At first I found it easy to start my movements with different body parts, internal and external, but the longer we kept going I found it harder to be inventive with where my movements were coming from so felt myself taking longer to begin a movement or that my movements were close to repeating each other. We then split into pairs and repeated the task and received feedback from our partners. I worked with Elena for this section and her feedback was that a lot of my movements started in the arms and legs, everything seemed completely improvised, unplanned and unique. I was also told that my pauses after each movement seemed to be placed in good movements and that my movements didn’t look like they just stopped in a random place and that nothing in what Elena saw was repeated. When I then watched Elena back I noticed that a lot of the movements done are coming from external parts of the body, and using my peripheral to see others in the group I noticed this was the same for a lot of people. So if I was to repeat this task I would think about starting the movements from a more internal place such as my stomach or chest and not just my arms, legs, feet or head.
Task 3: I found the improv jam at the end of the class was such a good way to learn as it put you right on the spot. We started with two people in the centre of a circle dancing, and when someone on the outside of the circle felt confident enough to join in they would tap one of the current dancers on the shoulder and replace them in the circle until they were replaced with another. During this I found myself becoming conscious of the music that was playing in the background because I wanted to make my movements work to some music I felt comfortable moving too. This is a habitual component that I hope I can move away from and become more comfortable performing to more upbeat tracks. Once everyone had been in the circle at least once another person joined in the circle and we were told to join in and follow one of the dancers in the circle. I liked this task because it was a way to see other people’s habitual movements and maybe pick up and play with different style that we’re not necessarily comfortable with on a usual basis. I felt that because of how on the spot I was during this task that my movements probably repeated a lot and that I was rushing what I was doing and not really thinking about what I was doing or going to do next. I was able to pick up on this because ‘tracking is also a process of memory’ (Spain, 2014, 47)
Bibliography:
Spain, Kent De. (2014) Landscapes of the Now. Oxford: Oxford University Press.