Week 4

Our research lab was based around eye contact with in contact improvisation. Our question as a group decided on…
How does eye contact effect movement within improvisation? 

Inspiration for our question
the inspiration for our question was because of one of the exercises that we did in class that Kirsty set which was in partners on the floor rolling and lifting the chest, we were asked to do this not looking at each other and then in partners looking at them in constant eye contact which felt different to use as a group. There for by doing this exercise it inspired us to think how different movements would feel when using and avoiding eye contact. 

 We then set two tasks for the rest of the class  

Task 1 – Improvise while avoiding eye contact  

Task 2 – Improvise while keeping eye contact at all times 
We encourage the class to use contact as much as they could as well to see the differences in improvising alone and together. 

 Task 1 

We asked the class to improves in pairs when the pairs where improvising in the first task we asked them to keep their eyes open but completely looking in different directions to their partners, almost as if they were to look through them. (through their partners legs, in little holes between their body, anything than looking at each other).

  We asked the class question on the first task that we set them 

Questions: 

How tempting was it to disobey the rules and use eye contact? 

The dancer felt that they found it difficult when we spoke during the exercise t not look at us but other than that they felt that they didn’t want to disobeying the rules. 

If you used contact in your partners how did you feel avoiding eye contact? 

They felt that no giving each other any contact was really hard to connect and make relationships with somebody to then use contact with their bodies. They felt that when they touched each other the instant reaction was to look at the person touching you because when you make the contact with each other you make the eye contact to make the relationship with somebody to get past the boundaries of working with somebody, but after they made contact a few times and got passed that boundary they felt that they managed to do this. 

Task 2 

The second task we didn’t want the dancers to lose eye contact at all with anybody, you could make eye contact with one person but with anybody in the room not necessarily a partner but we id encourage the dancers again to make contact whilst doing this again. 

 

 

 Questions: 

Was it easier to use contact when giving your eye contact to each other? 

People thought this was easy but when they lost their eye contact they felt like they were just stood there trying to find someone else to connect with which then they found difficult as everyone was so intense in their pairs trying to keep contact that sometimes they found them self not looking at anybody which they found difficult. 

Did you feel like you this pushed your movements boundaries? 

They didn’t feel like it pushed their boundaries because when they lost that eye contact with their partners they felt that the relationship had disappeared and like I said before they felt them self just stood there. 

How did the tasks feel? 

What were the differences between each task? 

They felt that in task 1 they were more focused on what they were doing themselves than to what other dancers were doing but then in the second task they were more focused on the partners and using contact with each other because they had that eye contact to make relationships and to also synchronize and copying movements from partners when keeping the eye contact. 

How did the movement changes? Did you feel that it was more difficult during either of the tasks? 

They felt that when they were avoiding eye contact from each other it was difficult because they found it hard to communicate and to make relationships to make contact with another body in the space. They felt they couldn’t do a surf and role without looking at each other, they found it hard to do previous task that we had done in lesson with Kirsty without communication and contact with the eyes. Therefor movement changed and the way they used contact with each other changed and that also when they were giving eye contact they were constantly looking at each other which restricted movements in their bodies. 

 What we found out from the tasks: 

We found out that making eye contact is such an important part of contact improvisation when it comes to contact with different bodies. Eye contact builds that relationship with your partner and the introduction between both bodies before then improvising and making contact with each other is really important to have. They also felt that having the break from eye contact aloud the movements to be explored more and less restricted you can do exercises like the pebble role and surf and roles which use they back to back contact with of course you can’t do when staying in constant contact with each other. 

 In class before the research lab we did about small dance by Steve Paxton, we talked about how there’s no such thing as stillness and we are in constant motion. The task standing still was so hard for me, the sensations and reflexes from my body was making me move, but I allowed my body to feel the impulse off small intricate movements to gradually make the bigger movements. 

We also expanded the surfing and rolling exercise and pebble exercise and did these together. I found this really easy as I worked with Chloe at first who the relationship we have is so trusted, this exercise was hard to blend the task together but when we got over the boundary of it being hard and we understood how to do the exercise properly and safe it became natural and I really enjoyed it. I also worked with Charlie who’s contact relationship isn’t as strong as mine as Chloe’s so we just stayed in constant communication with each other. 

Did she feel comfortable with me taking her weight? 

I know that she didn’t feel that comfortable with me doing this as I haven’t taken her weight before but she was fine with taking mine. 

Did I feel confident with Charlie taking my weight?  

I did and when I rolled over Charlie the task worked really well. 

Week 3

Throughout this session we referred to one of our readings The Movement Of Attention an interview with Daniel Lepkoff by the postmodern dancer Simone Forti. In this reading he discusses that the head, eyes and breathe are in constant motion. Even when your eyes are closed they are in constant motion. He also talks about feeling and reading the space “when you walk through a door, there is a “reading” that you take” (Lepkoff, 2005, 3), this was so important, you should feel the space, feel where you are, read the space and make yourself aware of where you are and where your about to perform. In class we made contact with another person (Chloe) and we were only allowed to make contact with that body part, trying to explore movements and staying in constant motion with each other was difficult and challenging for us both, but because we have the trust and connection with each other already we did manage to find ways of moving in and around each other whilst doing this which was helpful for me. 

Was our moves creative? 


We also rested our head in a different partner hands (Hannah) allowing them to take all of our weight.

Did my partner have my head supported properly? 

Did I trust my partner? 


In fact, I did trust my partner, although I haven’t worked with Hannah much in contact we have a good relationship outside of dance which allowed trust to format fairly quick. I felt like I did have the confidence in her to take care of me and not drop my head. 

 The last part of the session we finally started to take each other’s body weight which related to a video we had watched earlier on in the session which was Steve Paxstons Magnism, the founder of contact improvisation himself. This was such a chaotic number and the dancers were weight baring so much which relates to our pebble and roll over the back which eventually turned into head stand over table top. We didn’t exactly throw ourselves on top each other like the video we watched but we got to the stage of weight baring on each other was fun and exciting as it was something new. It felt like we had taken that next step to doing more creative and challenging lifts. We were encouraged like every week to work with different people which is what I did, even if some people I didn’t have the best trust or relationship with. Kye was really hard to work with on the last exercise (head stand over table top) as he is a lot taller than me therefore I had to create a lot of momentum and trust in order to get over his back safely.

Can they take my body weight? 

Will they drop me? 

Have I created enough momentum to get over Kye or not? 


One reading in particular stood out to me the most which was Essentials. By Margaret Sunghe Paek, Beginning, Approaching, Practicing, Dancing. This reading I felt was so relatable to me and out of any described the way I was feeling in contact and what actually happens during the lesson. She talks about how in a lesson we would instantly run to a friend if a teacher was to say grab a partner, but in fact although we picked our friend out to work with our bodies in the space might not work well together. Trying to work with different people to find them connections with different bodies. Paek also mentions that the unknowns Is actually creativity and that not knowing what’s going to happen next is a great way of pushing the boundaries and creating different movements with different people. 

 

Bibliography-

 Forti, S. (2005) The Movement of Attention. The Movement Research Performance Journal, 29 (Spring), Available from http://daniellepkoff.com/writings/Daniel%20Simone%20Interview.php [accessed 15 October 2017] 

 Paek, S. M, (2015) Beginning, approaching, practicing, dancing. Contact Quarterly, Vol 40: 1, pp. 36. 

Klubika (2011) contact improvisation 1972

. Availbale from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FeSDsmIeHA&t=1s[accessed 10 october 2017]   

 

 

 

 

Week 2

This week’s reading Touch: Experience and Knowledge, by Fiona Bannon and Duncan Holt. This was so interesting reading for me, the reading really explored the different ways that touch is one of the most important elements of contact improvisation and also in just daily life as well. The reading is very repetitive and talks a lot about how important touch is and sometimes we don’t remember what that touch feels like. 

The reading talks about touching in day to day life and in this particular part about a chiropractor and how ” hands on” (Fiona Bannon and Duncan Holt pg. 217) the job is and the experience you encounter when you’re a client and the professional. They do this every single day there for they probably don’t remember the sensation and the contact that the skin made. This made me think about all different experiences I’ve encountered with people and how I’ve never felt about how I’ve touched somebody and the sensation I got. I then touched a fellow class mate and tried to feel the sensations I got and what I could feel, I didn’t get much sensation off them as this is something that you do every day. 

In class we started by lying on the floor, the aim of this exercises was to move from side to side. We did this whilst our eyes were shut, I found having your eyes shut helpful because then I didn’t have the urge to look at anyone else to see what they were doing, you were in your own world and I was just exploring different reaches and pulls that I could do and also how big I could make my shapes before rolling on to each side. I tried keeping all my parts of the body in contact with the floor thinking about all the different parts that are touching the floor and what feelings I got through my clothes, and what does the floor feel like when it brushes against my skin. This was such a simple exercise but by thinking about how the feelings and sensations of my skin and body gave me a knock-on effect in to different movements. 

The surfing and rolling exercise was such a fun exercise and again like the first week we were encouraged to try this exercise with different people, experiencing people’s bodies differently. I first tried this with Kirsty my lecturer and a professional contact improvisation so straight away I was feeling nervous by working with someone I hadn’t worked with before. She eased me into the exercise so gently explaining every step to me. She was contently speaking to me breathing and making sure that I was comfortable with what we were doing. The main element in this task was being engaged at all times and staying on contact via word of mouth and making sure that at least one part of our body was in contact which we did and made me feel so much more confinement and comfortable trying it with somebody else, I then felt comfortable going in to this exercise with different people. This exercise also relates back to the reading where it speaks about the over and under dancer   

” what we have is continuity of connection, between touching in and touching out and in this way emphasizing that we in habit world that is inconstant motion, a continuous mode of existence.”(Fiona Bannon and Duncan Holt pg. 220). 

We were rolling over one another keeping in contact at all times, this is so relatable as both under and over partners had to be comfortable.  

Working with Kye which was someone I had never worked with before was very challenging. He is a lot taller than me but actually doing this we were actually very good and I was just as comfortable as him when he was rolling over the top of me. We were constantly talking and helping each other along the way helping each other out on parts we’re we felt unconfident and by doing this is gave us both the confidence to work to want to work together more as we completed the task. This was a great feeling of success. 

 

Bibliography

Bannon, F. and Holt, D. (2012). Touch: Experience and Knowledge. Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices, Vol. 3 Issue 1/2, pp.215-227.