Aaron Brando (2010) Contact Improvisation: Blake Nellis and Brando @ Earthdance. [Online Video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQRF2sLK1vY.

Bannon, F. and Holt, D. (2011) Touch: Experience and Knowledge. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 3(1&2) 215-225.

Brown, B. (1997) Is Contact a Small Dance? Contact Quarterly: Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, 1(6) 72-75.

Curtis, B. and Ptashek, A. (1988) Exposed to Gravity. Contact Quaterly/Improvisation Sourcebook. 13(2) 156-162.

dancetechtv (2013) An Emergent Underscore: a conversation with Nancy Stark Smith, London.[online video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzG609NWp1Y.

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

Keefe, M. (2003) What’s the score? Improvisation in Everyday Life. In: Albright, A. C., & Gere, D.Taken by surprise: A dance improvisation reader. Middletown, Conn: Wesleyan University Press, 229-237.

Lepkoff, D. (2008) Contact Improvisation: A Question? [online] Available from: http://www.daniellepkoff.com/Writings/CI%20A%20question.php.

Lepkoff, D. (1999) What is Release Technique? [online] Available from: http://www.daniellepkoff.com/Writings/What%20is%20Release.php.

Neige Christenson (2009) The Play of Weight. [Online Video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltq6y06E8ew.

Nelson, L (dir.) (2006) Contact Improvisational Archive DVD #2: Magnesium; Peripheral Vision; Soft Pallet. [DVD] East Charleston: VIDEODA.

Omegabranch (2011) Contact Improvisation Mirva Mäkinen & Otto Akkanen. [Online video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMLbWxujoGw.

Paxton, S. (2003) Drafting Interior Techniques. In: Nancy Stark-Smith A Subjective History of Contact Improvisation. In: Albright, A. C., & Gere, D. Taken by surprise: A dance improvisation reader. Middletown, Conn: Wesleyan University Press, 175-184.

Ravn, S. (2010) Sensing Weight in Movement. Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices, 2(1) 21-34.

Stover, J. (1989) Some Considerations When Structuring an Improvisation (to be seen by an audience). Contact Quarterly/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook. 1(4) 185.

Turner, R. (2010) Steve Paxton’s ‘Interior Techniques’: Contact Improvisation and Political Power. TDR: The Drama Review, 54(3), 123-135.

Woodhull, A. (1997) Center of Gravity. Contact Quarterly/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook I, 4, 43-48.

ZayacZhe (2009) steve paxton. smalldance. [online video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sJKEXUtv44&feature=youtu.be.

Nancy Stark-Smith’s Underscore

“I’ve had, the time of my life, and I never felt this way before” – Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes

I have really enjoyed the challenge of making a choreographed contact duet, although it was difficult at first to know how to approach it; whether we should improvise and take movements from that, or treat it like a normal choreographic project and include a stimulus/theme. Sophie and I knew that we wanted to include many of the different aspects of contact improvisation in the duet, for example, breath, surfing and rolling, manipulation, lifts and weight bearing, therefore our approach was more systematic and planned as opposed to set improvisation. As we began to set material we found organic ways to transition into each ‘section’ of the duet; we didn’t use much improvisation as a means of finding material as we both wanted to take our time to find actions that complemented those already in the duet. With each rehearsal we went back and edited the work that we’d already done, making movements more controlled and light and fixing the logistics of the lifts we hadn’t worked out yet. We had finished making material by our 5th rehearsal and had 3 left to perfect the performance of it, so we felt quite confident going into the assessment, although the last minute nerves had us both a bit stressed. I think Soph and I worked really well together because we had similar areas of strength and weakness and so felt comfortable working with each other and were not afraid to tell one another when something wasn’t working.

Creating a choreographed contact duet helped me to get a better perspective on my contact improvisation practice; I realised that if movements go wrong when you’re taking your time on them then they’re also going to go wrong in a jam setting, so there’s no need to get worked up over them. At the beginning on the module I spent a lot of time ‘over thinking’ in the jam, I would get really hung up on not knowing what would happen if I went in and made contact with someone. In my second contact blog I wrote “Perhaps with enough practice I won’t have any hesitancy and will throw myself doubt-free into an improvisation” which I feel confident in saying I have now achieved. In our last jam I didn’t have any hesitancy or doubts about dancing with people or by myself, or even entering and exiting. I think confidence in yourself and your ability to adapt to change has a big effect in feeling comfortable with contact improvisation, it took me a while to find this self belief but since doing so, each CI jam has been more enjoyable and fun.

I think Nancy Stark-Smith’s Underscore was more enjoyable this time around than when we looked at it last year because I was familiar with it and my body remembered how to move itself through each section. Before we began the score Kirsty said to us “You’ll probably find that you’ll have more freedom than you’ve been used to” which I completely disagreed with. When I had done the Underscore before I felt restricted in what and when I was able to do something, I felt that I was being told how to improvise instead of being left to my own devises. However once we actually began to dance the Underscore I felt that I was moving through each phase with ease and wasn’t really aware of ‘what I should be doing’ because my body was already doing what it wanted and needed. I think this change from restriction to freedom has happened because I am listening to my body now, and noticing what it is saying, instead of trying to make it listen to me.

The biggest difference, for me, about the Underscore compared to a normal CI jam is that I find it easier to move my body and incorporate dynamic changes. In some jams I have struggled to keep myself ‘in the zone’ and have found it hard to make my improvisation varied. After our first class of CI I wrote in my blog “When my improvisation is solo I struggle to find innovative ways of using my body and start deciding in my head what type of movement I’ll do next as a means of escaping my conventional pathways” and I know for certain that this has been happening less and less throughout my training, but especially during my practice of the Underscore. As we went through each stage of the score I relaxed into my body and let my mind be clear, thus all of my movements were influenced by the people in the space and the impulses I had. This is something I have been aiming to do, as stated in my blog after our third lesson: “I just need to focus on listening to the sensations of the group so that I can unconsciously relax into it”.

I worked with Nicole and Lauren at lot during our performance of the Underscore as they are my usual ‘go to’ connections. This is because I feel extremely comfortable throwing anything at them as I know they will be able to respond and help me to develop a connection through some of my more extreme ideas. I try not to rely on dancing with just them because I feel that I would be restricting my own, as well as their development of CI, therefore I do try and make connections with other people in the space. At one point in the Underscore I worked Emma and the type of connection we had was so different to the connections I have with Lauren and Nicole that it taught me a new way of dancing with somebody. Emma and I used movements identifiable to the skinesphere part of the score, while keeping in close bodily contact, in our upper kinespheres and the sensation of this type of communication was a new and interesting experience for me. Our connection was a way of manipulating and influencing a partner without it being too forceful or dominating, which my usual style can be, so I was really able to learn from this connection and use it again later in the score.

Working through each stage of the Underscore allowed me to focus in on myself and truly listen to how my body wanted to move and where it needed to go. After our first CI lesson I wrote in my blog “Perhaps I need to work on finding that light when it is just me”, meaning that I struggle to dance by myself because I feel like all the attention is on me and I don’t like all that pressure. But after studying CI for ten weeks and spending time on the Underscore I now don’t feel that there is pressure on me when I dance as a soloist; I feel free to move however I like, and I feel content with the attention that may or may not be focused on me.  When I dance by myself now, I can absorb myself into the sensation of moving and can be oblivious to what anyone else is doing in the space. This was a quality I wrote about after our fifth lesson as I wanted to include it in my choreographed duet. I have always thought that contact improvisation looks better when the dancers are absorbed in what they’re doing, and I wanted the audience to receive this quality from me and Sophie; I think we did achieve this, especially during the breath moments and the eye contact to initiate going in and out of the floor.

As a whole, this module has been the biggest form of self exploration for me and I have really enjoyed learning about and improving my improvisational skills. The contact element was the biggest challenge I have been faced with in a long time, every week I was dreading what new thing would be introduced to us and there were a few times that I just wanted to give up. But I stuck with it and I’m so pleased that I did! As a class we have all become so much closer and more in-tune with one another’s bodies, which I think will benefit us all in future modules, for example revisiting rep next semester, as we will be more in sync with each other which should make unison work run smoothly. I am going to miss my weekly jams but we do have open studios next year, so it’s not over just yet!

 

---

 

dancetechtv (2013) An Emergent Underscore: a conversation with Nancy Stark Smith, London.[online video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzG609NWp1Y [Accessed 6 December 2015].