Contact Improvisation

Let's discuss Contact Improvisation. I have been meaning to write this post ever since I took this specific master class but haven't found the time. I took a 6 hour long master class on contact improvisation. Now first let me say that I recently fell in love with improvisation overall in the past few months. I had finally found something that I really loved and felt comfortable in. This changed everything that I wanted to do in my career. I then discovered contact improvisation which again changed my world. I wanted to begin to study that even more. I finally found a master class to attend and it was on a Saturday from 11 - 4. I was extremely excited because I felt I had so much to offer and learn. (Back story: I have never really liked being touched by people, it has always bothered me. And this was a leap for me). I had an 'ok' experience in this class. It was the kind of experience that made me question my love for improvisation and contact. Still a month later I am shaken by that experience.

At the beginning of the class it was a lot of fun and I was experiencing a lot of things. But as it went on and I had to partner with other people that I did not know. Sometimes for me I am okay with this, but other times I am very uncomfortable. The first lady that I partnered with I felt she was treating me as a child and was trying to teach me instead of dance with me. These kind of things makes me feel inferior and I get agitated and upset. From that point I kind of couldn't wait for it to be over. When partnering with someone that I do not know I feel that I must have a connection with them. If I feel no connection I will shut down. I have started to realize these things around and analyze why I am feeling such ways and what is happening. I observed in myself that I had few connections in the room. This thought in itself is unsettling. I had another moment dancing with someone else where I felt they too were also trying to guide me and teach me themselves instead of dancing. This experience of people treating me this way was frustrating. I have noticed in my personality that I have strong opinions and strong feelings. I have gotten in touch with these things so I can know myself better. In a more defensive way, I don't like to take shit from anybody. This is exactly how I felt when these older ladies were trying to teach me.

The last thing that happened was I had decided to pull myself out of the class and just observe for the last hour or so. After so much touching and frustration I was exhausted. There does come a point sometimes in contact improv that you are just overly sensitive from the contact. I was at that point. The teacher was facilitating a cool down with partners where you lightly massage them. The teacher came over to me and asked if I wanted to participate. Not knowing exactly how I felt at that moment I told him, very unsure of myself, that I did not know. He immediately said back to me, "well it is a yes or a no. So do you or don't you." This sent me over the edge. I felt that from a teacher stand point he should not have back fired at more or talked to me in that way. As a teacher he should have been able to tell that I was uncomfortable and unsure. From there he should have made the decision for me that it was best I sit out or try to talk to me in a more friendly way to help me participate. In the end I tried to do the cool down but as I laid on the ground my head began to spin and I almost passed out. Thus I jumped up and ran out of the studio. I am still thoroughly embarrassed about this but I didn't have time to connect with my feelings at that moment.

Isadora Duncan

My latest adventure has been studying the Isadora Duncan dance technique. I am currently studying under one of my teachers who is a 4th generation certified Duncan Dancer. Needless to say, I am putting "Dance with the Duncan Foundation" at the top of my list of things to do in my career. I had already planned to eventually (hopefully in a year) move to New York. As of right now I will try to get in with the foundation by either work-study or an internship and hopefully be offered a spot in the company. Now I am prepared for this not to be a lifetime thing, as I would love to go on and teach at a university. But finding a few specific style of dances to focus all my attention on and study is what I want to do. I do not just want to flounder around in the dance world doing small, basic things. I need to find bigger things to study. The Duncan technique is going to be one of those big things.

I am currently reading Isadora's autobiography because when I study something I want to fully study it, not just half way. I want to know where she came from and how she got there. It is safe to say that Isadora was very colorful in her life. She was free and did exactly what she wanted. The things that I myself am taking hold of. She wrote her whole book in 6 months and was drunk the whole time. She drank when she wanted, dance when she wanted, and made love when she wanted. She had many lovers throughout her life and even had two children who had different dads. The most important thing I have learned so far is her association with herself to Aphrodite. She says she was born under the stars of Aphrodite and that's where she dances from.

This picture is not of Isadora herself but of someone dancing her technique. I chose this picture because this pose is my ultimate favorite in her work. It is a high release with an attitude. I personally have troubles with this pose sometimes because it looks more difficult than you would think. From the picture it is observed that her pelvis is in line and not tilted to the back. Naturally any dancer doing this move will try and lift their attitude as high as possible and tilt their pelvis back. I personally do this myself. It is hard to try the body to be moving and leaping into the position but not tilt the pelvis. All the while this high release in the upper body. All of her work is about releasing the sternum and lifting the sternum. This too is a struggle. To obtain this kind of technique it is best to be using imagery within your own body.

Textures

In my composition class we have started working with textures in choreography. Mostly taking a lot of things from the Laban and Bartienoff Method. We were told to find some textured images and create a phrase from them. We had to have a movement that was light, lighter, lightest and then strong, stronger, strongest. I chose water from a pool, a sponge type creature, and cracked concrete. Using the pool image was a lot easier for me because I am better with flowy movements. I used this for my light action and did a wave action with my arms. I would send my arms up to the sky to show lightness and then immediately dropped. I didn't focus so much on the sponge texture but the shaping. I just made an abstract circle shape with my hands. This shaped went up above my head in an over-curve and then pushed to the side. I was told by my teacher that I needed to focus on passive weight and using heavy movements. I took a wide second position and tried to drop all my weight down and let go of my head and arms. Doing this passive weight was different for me but I really liked how it felt on my body. I don't normally do this type of movement naturally but I am going to begin to focus more on it. I had some trouble choreographing this because I didn't have a certain image in my mind and I had to go back to the body images that I chose to continue choreographing. I made this second solo a continuing piece of the first solo. I implemented the same motifs and feeling. I have been thinking lately what kind of music I might put with this dance and I would like something instrumental and dark. I can see this piece as a solo but maybe with more work can turn into a duet or trio or even larger. Following this solo that I performed for my class they all analyzed me and said what my aesthetics were and my habits. A post about this will follow soon.

"Be steady and we'll-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work." 

               -Gustave Flaubert

Performance Critique

This past Thursday, the 13th, I attended the first dance performance of the semester. This performance was put on by the Orchesis Dance Company, which is a student led modern company here at Texas State. I also attended their show last spring and was very impressed with it. I remember last year that the style of dancing that they were doing was exactly what I wanted to do. Well, a lot has changed over the year. Going into this performance I decided I wanted to watch it from a critique point of view, instead of just watching to enjoy it. I did this being I have friends in the company who wanted my honest opinion and because I am currently in a choreography class so I wanted to use some of the aspects that I've learned to try and properly critique. Watching a performance from this perspective was an eye opener. Not only did I really love critiquing it but I also learned that my dance style preferences has changed completely.
So this performance was pretty short, only an hour and a half. And overall I was artistically unsatisfied with it. Some of the dances were aesthetically pleasing though. I wrote notes in my program on every piece and I pretty much wrote the same key words on every piece. From the very first dance I felt like I was watching a high school drill teams Spring Show. Spring shows are not a bad form of dancing but it is usually only nice to watch this style when it is actually on a high school drill team. Spring shows are aesthetically pleasing and have really cool tricks and what not, but to watch this on a college based modern company, is a bit disappointing.
Another huge thing that I noticed was the same motifs were being used for every dance. I also felt like every dance was the same except the movements were just rearranged. I'm not sure how many times I saw a hand rise up with fingers spread open. I very classic So You Think You Can Dance, contemporary, move. Which is a move a saw in 75% of the pieces, if not every one. Which brings me to another point is that every dance looked like it belonged on SYTYCD. Not that this show is bad, but the dances on there are very contemporary and pretty much the same. This company is suppose to be modern and I'm not sure I saw any of that in this show.
I have recently started hating dance performances that use songs with lyrics in them. Sometimes using this kind of music can be very beneficial to the piece in the right setting. But for this show I really hated it. When using popular music, with lyrics, people tend to choreograph the dance to those lyrics. This is also kind of a drill team thing to do and less of an artistic statement. I personally use to love doing that typing of choreography and I am even still guilty of hearing a real popular song and imaging a dance with it. But when I actually watched it on a stage, I now understand why my choreography teacher said it isn't very artistic and should not be done. And I did see this in almost every dance they performed. Movements that matched the lyrics perfectly, they might as well have been acting the song out.
Which brings me to the point of organic movement. In class our teachers are always encouraging us to stay away from the unoriginal movements and find something organic. And me, who is focusing on studying improvisation, is always trying to find the organic movements on myself and others. And to be straight to the point I saw no organic movements in this whole performance.

This whole critique was based from my point of view and from what I am currently learning in school. Yes, I do realize that I may be critiquing from a bias point of view but to be completely unbias about something is near to impossible to do. I was trying to be as unbias as I could. This critique is a study for myself and was not meant to offend any of the artists or performers in the show.

Phrase Study

This past week in my composition II class we were studying phrasing, and how to choreograph a phrase. Our assignment was to visit the gallery on campus and find inspiration for the phrase and choreograph from that. I had recently learned that it was a lot easier to choreograph when you had a shape or mood to start with. The Gestault of choreographing has almost helped me immensely. The Gestault method has actually changed how it think about choreographing in general, and is truly amazing. 

When I went to the gallery I chose an installation, and panoramic narrative, by Deb Sokolow. 

This appears to be two dead bodies that are covered by black table cloths. When I first entered the gallery these bodies were the first things I saw. My initial reaction was fear, lots of fear. After about fifteen minutes in the gallery I was less afraid, but still pretty afraid, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to use the bodies as my inspiration and shaping. I also based my mood of my phrase off fear.

I started off my phrase laying on the floor, exactly like that bodies, used breathing to pull myself up. For the beginning of my phrase I was remaining very grounded and creating tension. In my climax I used more lighter movements and sudden changes, to make it seem like I was coming out of the fear. But right after the climax I fall right back down. I retro graded my beginning to get back on the floor. 

My teacher and class loved the phrase. She said it looked like real choreography and my peers told me that this was something I could create a full solo with. So I do hope to be able to continue with this and maybe expand on it more.

This art piece is by Deb Sokolow : All Your Vulnerablities Will Be Assessed

At the Texas State University Gallery 2. 

Inspiration and Keeping the Doubts Away.

"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy."
             -Norman Vincent Peale

"Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own."
             -Kurt Vonnegut