This week was our last ever contact improvisation lesson. What journey this semester has been in this module. One of the hardest modules practically I have ever done so far. But from this I have gained so much and taken so much away from this which I will take into modules in the next semester and level 3 and even into my career with me so I really feel this module has helped me greatly.
I’ve definitely had my ups and downs in this module as it is so unpredictable it’s unbelievable. I’ve learnt that you are not always going to have a great lesson every time I walk into the studio to study this module its very hit and miss and you have to take the good days and the bad days on the chin and when you walk into the studio again for the next session you come in with a new attitude.
When I first started contact improvisation its really daunted me, I was so excited to start it and actually get into it but it was very hard. Everything we learnt in the first lesson we have taken through to every session with me developing how I do this. I really loved the first few weeks after the first session was over when we started the roll and surf and table top exercises. I really feel like I have masters these now and feel very comfortable doing these with different people.
When it came to the week after reading week which was going up week well that sent me into a lot of panic as I thought for 1. Are people able to take me up? 2. Am I going to be able to take people up? When it came to these sessions I really enjoyed being the over dancer and I felt really comfortable with specific people. As the weeks progressed just when I thought I wasn’t good at taking people up and being the under dancer I really surprised myself by taking a lot of people’s weight and even Kye’s who is a lot taller than me so from this I feel a great deal of pleasure as I have accomplished something I didn’t think I was able to do at the start of going up week or at all for that matter. This gave me the confidence to trust more people being the over dancer so I started trying going up moves with more people being the over dancer and really started to trust them in the last few weeks of the semester.
Throughout the semester like I’ve said in previous blogs we were encouraged to work with everyone with in our group and this I did as much as I could. I worked with lots of different people by the end of the module but at the start I had a great deal of anxiety which hit me a lot as I thought I only felt comfortable with certain people and them being my closest friends but as a result of being constantly told to work with different dancers I had to do this so the anxiety did ease off and I came more and more open to working with everyone in the class. When it came to lead and follow with our eyes closed which we had done in more than one lesson this is what hit me the most if am honest as I had all my trust in one person’s hands. I worked with Sarah, Chloe, Jess and Laura. The hardest would have been Laura as we were in a trio for this but when we started like I had said previously she wrapped her arms round us both and made us feel safe. Sarah’s was somebody else who I hadn’t worked with a lot and I didn’t trust as all but from working with her again in different classes I feel a lot more comfortable with her. This was the hardest part of contact improvisation for me.
This year’s reading was hard there was a lot and it was very heavy and at first, I dint think I would get through them but being in reading groups really helped me when it came to the theory as I struggled. At the start of the semester I really struggled to understand some of the readings even when we put them into my practices but as contact improvisation as developed I’ve gone back and gone over them again and everything has become a lot clearer to me.
I think at first the hardest outcome to achieve was using and working with others safely and confidently until the last few weeks when I felt confident to do this. This was definitely a problem for me at the beginning but seeing other people work with others gave me the confidence to work with others. I did this a lot in lessons but I found it hard to do this confidently so now I feel like I can finally say that I feel comfortable with working with the different participants in my class. This was one of the only outcomes I felt was really hard and achieving this I would have hoped to of achieved all of the outcomes given for this module.
Over all I have taken so much away with me during this full semester and I’ve enjoyed every part of the semester even when times did get tough and hard because I couldn’t do certain movements but I feel like I have really achieved a lot through my time and can say that I am pleased with myself with how I’ve performed in every single lesson putting in all I had to each session. There wasn’t one lesson that I didn’t enjoy so overall I have really enjoyed every part of the module even though it has been one of my hardest.