This week’s contact improvisation was so enjoyable but also at the same time very hard. I really enjoyed the first half of this session which was the underscore which is a structure for contact improvisation. The session consisted of individual and partner work throughout the first half off of the session. I worked with many different people in this part. As we walked around the room our teacher would should out different underscores (structures) in order to create dialogue and movement with one another. Because of there being an odd number people were sometimes forced to create movement on their own for example, skineshpere was called out due to people being in partnerships already I used this to explore the limitations on my own. Trying to find the different sensations I could give my own body and how I could counteract movement from this.
I manage to remember a lot of what I had learnt throughout the past 6 weeks in this session, I was tested a lot by the limitations that were given and then also the explorations of the structure when in partnerships, in the sense of trying to stop my habitual movements and to try explore different ways of going up and the different movements that could be created when coming down and out of the going up lifts.
I became the under dancer a lot in this session, I really enjoyed exploring the different ways of taking people up and out of the floor. I made some great connections with Chloe, Kye and Jess and this was all in very different ways. All of these connections consisted of the same whether I was being the under or over dancer, on the floor or standing. Creating a sense of dialogue with in our bodies to create good under and over dancer moves and lifts, having an equal sense of gravity in order to be safe when we were taking each other’s weight and lifting one another high, for example Kye took me very high off the ground and tipped me so my head was facing the ground we had to distribute our weights in order to be safe when doing this. Although it didn’t feel like I was doing this I wasn’t holding muscular tension in my body therefor it was easier for Kye to take me up above the ground safely. Me and jess created great connection at the begging when it was to explore the lower kinesphere we remembered a lot of what we had done in previous lessons but also explored a lot coming out of these movements and the sensations we had given one another in order to move into something else with a sense of flow. Me and Chloe work together a lot outside of lesson time rehearsing and also together a lot in contact improvisation throughout the semester, there for our relationship and trust is so complete we feel at ease working with each other and don’t mind both being either the under or over dancer so our duet felt really good and complete.
In the second half of our session we brought it into a jam. I feel a great deal of anxiety when it comes to jamming. I don’t really like the thought of one and even going in, but when I finally get into the space and create relationships I feel more at ease. This jam I really enjoyed, I made some great connections with people I hadn’t made connections with in a jam before. For example, Laura Carey and I for a great deal of the time during the jam. I instigating working with Laura by her before position which was Kye holding her in the air, I thought it would be great to catch Laura to put her down and from this the connections built and our constant connection of touch and sensations formed really well together. We were both negotiating being the under and over dance, so there wasn’t a clear over and a clear under dancers. The movements felt really at ease and complete they didn’t feel odd or out of the ordinary which was really nice to feel. The movements just flowed from one to another so there wasn’t any significant pauses in the movement which I felt was really good.
I also worked a little bit with Hannah in the jam and again both taking each other’s weight were as in previous lesson I haven’t trusted Hannah enough to take my weight but I finally felt ready to do so. Our sense of gravity was in the complete right place and was centred correctly therefore, when Hannah did take my weight I felt safe and comfortable.
Overall I really feel like I explored as much as I could during this lesson and learnt a lot throughout the session.