Dance Improvisation, Kye Davis

When starting Improvisation I thought it was only a way of choreographing material and not a dance form itself, this has changed dramatically as I have been taught multiple techniques into the improvisation that cannot be used to choreograph but another way to perform. The readings that we have been assigned each week have influenced this change because each time I learn something new, which proves Improvs ability to be a performance in its self.

Improvisation has expanded my range as a performer as it has opened up a completely different way of performing due to a score, it has given me the ability to experiment with movement in a way I was never able to.

I think that comparing improvisation to choreography can be very contradictory, on one hand, we have improvisation as a way of creating a set of movements and turning it into something whereas on the other hand, we have improvisation as a way of choreographing in the moment and leaving it behind once the performance is over. I think when it comes to the pair they are constantly in connection with each other, I personally feel that you cannot have choreography without Improvisation and the other way around.

Making sense of situations that have arisen in the moment has been an ongoing struggle during this module. Sometimes the answer has been very clear and been able to move away from a situation, whereas sometimes especially when creating relationships with other dancers, sometimes it has been easier to move away from a situation than attempt to be involved in it.

The thing that as mainly informed my decisions when composing has been the things and people around me, I have attempted to always be finding new ways of experimenting with other people and the space I am performing in.

I feel that the phrase ‘being in the moment’ means focusing all your attention on the improvisation at hand, be that a relationship you are experimenting or just an entire score. I think it comes to a point where you are that deep into the improvisation that you forget about ur surroundings to an extent and everything becomes a lot clearer.

Improvisation helps to expand the dancer’s ability to move more freely because it breaks down the uncomfortableness of creating our own work, for me personally I used to get anxious about showing things I had created or improvised but since starting this module, It has become a lot more easy to just dance in front of anyone at any time as that feeling of judgement in a studio environment is gone because as dancers we are constantly experimenting with different ideas and I think this has been agreed unconsciously between us all.

For this week, we went through everything we had learned from the past 8 Weeks.

• We created a schedule of what different scores we wanted to use and when we would try each thing.
• We then continued to go through each different technique of improvisation, sometimes using more than one at one time.
• We finished the class by having an open score to experiment with our bodies with no limitations and the freedom to just perform our own experimentation.

My Experimentation –

This week I wanted to play with the idea of touch, I attempted to move through the space using multiple different parts of my body and feeling parts of the space, from the floor to the wall and the bars and the mirrors, this opened up a very interesting way of moving to me, because I aimed to avoid obvious ways of touching the space, for example; instead of touching the floor with my feet I use my elbow or my knee.

Lucky Dip –

One new thing we used as a way of improvisation was the Lucky dip. This consisted of coloured paper all meaning different things. (Audience, sound, duration, the number of dances and way of moving.)

We did this a few times and each time something interesting happened, one main thing that happened was when one group was given 30 seconds with no music to Improvise ‘spikey’ movements, as the duration was so short it didn’t give anyone the opportunity to think about their improvisations which ended up showing so very experimental movement.

R –  Resources: Resources we have at our disposal, these include physical and material things, and how they influence our dance.

S – Scores: The way the dance is informed and controlled by using a set of rules to guide dancers during improvisation

V – Valuaction: The purpose of an action, and how it helps the improvisation.

P-  Performance: The way the dancer presents the scores and the style of the improvisation.

Circle the earth scores – 

to be aware of our own dancing and the dancing of others around us, how we interact with these are create interesting relationships.

Halprin used over 100 people, some with no dance background, she spent years researching the patterns that were made by the large groups moving when given a set of rules. These rules gave the performers a way of sustaining a delicate balance and gave enough guidance to move the bodies safely through the space, Halprin aimed to remove the rigid movement to give more ability to the dances so they could move more freely.

Scores of circle the earth –

1. Preparation
2. Rising and Falling – started by laying down, and rose (creating relationships on the way up, once standing they would notice the other dancers in the space)
3. Snake Dance – The group would attempt to find a sense of awareness with each other and try to create a line of imagery
4. Confrontation – Dancers would wear white masks and use aggressive movement and feelings to create a feeling of confrontation.
5. Restoration – Dancers would use contact improvisation to comfort and hold each other.
6. Bridges and passages – Pathways were created for dancers to go through, observers would sing or dance around this.
7. The Earth Run – The dancers would run in circles for their own cause of their own choice.
8. Peace Wheel by Terry Riley – Singers would all  be centre while turning slowly, as the dancers would dance in circles around them, whenever they came face to face one of the Singers they would replicate the notes sung back to them.
9. Bird Transformation – Dancers would listen to specific music and dance as birds around the space.
10. Action and Commitment – Dancers would write a statement of peace which would then be brought back up a year later.
11. Peace Bird.

‘Whats the score’? Was one of the readings that we had to read for this week, We went through it in class and people felt that it went into detail about scores and what they do and how different Improvisers have used scores.

The text refers to how scores assist the composition of improvisation, and I agree with this because without scores we do not have guidelines and we have no reason to dance without them. A reason to dance creates more interesting dance than no aim or reason and even improvisation has an aim or reason.

• the score brings attention to the body.

Uses of scores –

• Define your own meaning,
• support the possibility of not knowing
• to create the dance
• decreasing the number of possibilities.

Open to close scores – 1 (no direction) – 10 (lots of direction)

After a break we began playing the disassociation game where we had too say things completely irrelevant to each other

Functions –

First role – person who brings in the material

Second role – offers and interpretation

Third role – Manipulate the person with the material or the interpreter –affecting change.

Fourth role – Observer, watches. – Had to make audience and all performers aware of their role

Fifth role – Mediator, Asks questions etc.

WE WERE UNABLE TO CHANGE ROLE WITHOUT LEAVING THE SPACE FIRST

Play, Pause, Reverse, Resituate and Replace, are all ‘orders’ we used during this weeks Improv class.

This week we discussed the idea of scores in improvisation and how using the above directions can influence our improvisation.

So I quite enjoyed this week, using these directions made improvising a lot easier and I felt it really split up the different parts. Sometimes focusing for a long period of Improv can be quite difficult, but with these directions it was like being able to rethink my approach to the dance I was performing.

At this stage of Improvisation, it is becoming a lot clearer as to how we improvise.

This week I wanted to work with repetition and how that can be used in improvisation. When trying out this idea I was concerned that my movement would look rehearsed or like I was attempting to fill time, but in actual fact It opened up other ways of moving especially when connecting it with some of the directions we were being given by the audience. For example at one point when I was using repetition, one of the audience members shouted to reverse, this then opened up a whole new way of moving as I was doing the exact same movement but backwards and so continue from this movement afterwards I began moving away from my habitual movements.