Integration: Going up and coming down.
“I can see clearly now the rain has gone” – Johnny Nash
Reading Exposed to Gravity by Curtis and Ptashek was a reminder than CI is supposed to be fun; it’s aimed to be something that anyone can do, so there is little to no need to be stressed out about it. Curtis reminded me of this when he wrote “The method would have to come from my personal experience of how my body moves, not from copying how non-disabled people move” (Curtis and Ptashek, 1988, 156). His words advised me to remember that no two dancers are the same and thus the pointlessness of comparing myself to others because each experience in CI is different and unique to each person. Curtis also talks about “Micro-movement” and “dancing inside the body” (Curtis and Ptashek, 1988, 156) because it is important to find the dance inside yourself before you present it on the outside. If you want your movements to have meaning and be true to you, then you must listen to what is going on inside. If you couldn’t move your body but wanted to dance, what moves would you do, what would you want to express? I think that looking for the dance within ourselves is a good way of tuning into our bodily intentions and learning how to connect to that everlasting energy that our body has – which will help us keep going in hour long jams.
This week I felt a lot more confidence with bringing myself and my ideas into the space; I’ve been almost reluctant before to be too ‘bold’ in my solo improvisations and haven’t felt fully comfortable with seeing through some of the entrance ideas I’ve had while waiting to re-enter a jam. However, this week, probably because we had third years in our class and I wanted to show off, I felt myself release those inhibitions holding be back and just went for it. I let myself make bigger shapes, louder noises, and longer connections; which I think really allowed me to experiment with finding that inner energy and keep going in a 50min Jam. It’s almost annoying that I haven’t been doing this from the start, but I suppose this is why we reflect on each week, so that we can get a fuller understanding of our own practice. Having finally reached this ‘milestone’ of looking forward to a jam, and wanting to dance for the whole hour, I’m truly excited to see what I can bring to the space next time.
We were asked to watch two videos, ‘The play of weight’ by Martin Leogh and Neige Christenson, and ‘Contact Improvisation’ by Mirva Makinen and Otto Akkaen, and reflect on their use of dynamics and dominance. I think in Christenson’s video (Christenson, 2009) the woman has more dominance, because she is the over dancer more often, and initiates herself being the under dancer. I like that when they go into a lift or weight bearing that they’re both still moving; I’ve noticed that when I play with under and over dancer movements, that I tend to stop moving myself, and focus on the task, thus stopping the flow of the improvisation. In terms of dynamics I believe that they had a good range, they used stillness as well as interlocking movements, and because the flow never stopped it was interesting to watch. The second video with Makinen and Akkaen (Omegabranch, 2011) was not as interesting to be because it felt like they kept repeating movements and weren’t exploring anything. I noticed that they didn’t look at each other much which I thought affected their connection; however they did have an equal distribution of under and over dancer, so I wouldn’t say there was a specifically dominant character.
This week saw us struggle with taking weight into our higher kinespheres and I definitely felt this conflict. I wanted to pick people up, to support them in the air, and to safely return them to the floor; but I could seem to get the right grip and found myself working against the momentum. Lifts that require me to be a support post, like the paper clip lift, I’m good with; but one’s like the cradle lift are a challenge. I think this is because I don’t have the courage to take that weight above my centre because I don’t really know what to do with it once it’s there; or if I’m being lifted, I don’t believe that my weight could be lifted up to someone’s shoulder. Not because ‘I’m too heavy’ – I’m over this now – but because I just don’t believe it’s possible, unless they’re a beast in the gym. To quote a popular phrase “Do you even lift?”
Something that I thought I would massively struggle with, but was pleasantly surprised, were the Aikido rolls. When we watched the video I instantly wrote these off, my brain just went “No way. Not a chance. Get me out of this lesson, this is getting way too intense” but obviously I was being over dramatic, because when I actually attempted these with Millie it only took a few tries before we were doing consecutive rolls. The surfing and rolling was another element of CI that I had no desire to try because the video freaked me out, but as soon as I started dancing with Lauren we just went for it and I found myself moving all over the place. We traveled from one end of the room to the other without breaking contact or trying to lead each other and it was such a nice feeling of being completely released and being connected to that one person, that I’m more than happy to do this in every jam.
I think this is a reoccurring theme in my CI practice; Kirsty introduces us to an idea and I decide that it is impossible and that I’m really not going to like it. Then I actually have a go and discover that it’s not that hard, and after a few attempts, realise that it’s quite fun and I don’t even care if it goes wrong because I am now determined to do it until it’s right. You’d think I would have learnt by now to trust that I’m not going to be asked to do something that isn’t possible by everyone in the class, and that I don’t need to panic every time we move on to more complex modes of connection – but no. Maybe next week I can keep my s*** together and not have an internal melt down?
In the jam we were introduced to the concept of dancing with a partner without making physical contact. YES! I’ve been looking forward to this because I’ve been looking for a way to enter a jam without it having to be solo, or interrupting a pre-formed duet. When in the jam I connected with Lauren, and after some surfing and rolling we entered into this non-touching contact, which I really enjoyed. This gave me the opportunity to incorporate breath as more than just initiation for my own movements as well as using the space to change the dynamic of our duet. I also explored this idea with Becca, I wanted to enter in such a way that made someone enter with me, so I chose to stand directly in front of her and essentially ‘get up in her grill’ until she reacted. Because our duet began in almost an aggressive manor, we spent our time dancing together manipulating the space to be close and then far from each other, really testing the boundaries of keeping our connection without touching.
Sophie and I are using this non-physical partnership in our choreographed duet, but so far I’m not sure that we’ve kept our connection:
We’re playing around with the use of breath and going in and out of contact during this section of the duet. I’m now interested to see how this will progress and develop after this week’s exploration; perhaps we don’t include the physical touch for this part at all?
Curtis, B. and Ptashek, A. (1988) Exposed to Gravity. Contact Quaterly/Improvisation Sourcebook. 13(2) 156-162.
Neige Christenson (2009) the play of weight. [Online Video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltq6y06E8ew [Accessed 15 November 2015].
Omegabranch (2011) Contact Improvisation Mirva Mäkinen & Otto Akkanen. [Online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMLbWxujoGw [Accessed 15 November 2015].