Contact Improvisation, an On-going Research Lab

Bibliography
• Novack, C. J. (1990). Sharing the dance: Contact improvisation and
American culture. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 3-84

• Novack, C. J. (1990). Sharing the dance: Contact improvisation and
American culture. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 179-213

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

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

• Touch: Experience and knowledge.Full Text Available By: Bannon, Fiona; Holt, Duncan. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 2012, Vol. 3 Issue 1/2, p215-227

• Steve Paxton’s “Interior Techniques”: Contact Improvisation and Political Power.Full Text Available By: Turner, Robert. TDR: The Drama Review, Fall2010, Vol. 54 Issue 3, p123-135, 13p, 5 Black and White Photographs

• Sensing weight in movement’. Full text available By: Ravn, Susanne Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 2010, Vol. 2 Issue 1, p21-34, 14p.

• Brown, B. Is Contact a Small Dance? Contact Improvisation Sourcebook I. Vol. 6 Pp. 72-75
Woodhull A. Center of Gravity. Contact Quarterly/ Contact Improvisation Sourcebook I Vol. 4. Pp. 43-48

• Curtis, B. (1988). Exposed to Gravity. Contact Quarterly/ Contact Improvisation Sourcebook I, Vol. 13. Pp.156-162.

• Keefe, M. What’s the score? Improvisation in Everyday Life. In Albright, A. C., & Gere, D. (2003). Taken by surprise: A dance improvisation reader. Middletown, Conneticut: Wesleyan University Press. Pp.229-238

• Stover, J. (1989). Some considerations when structuring an Improvisation (to be seen by an audience). Contact Quarterly/ Contact Improvisation Sourcebook II, Vol.14. pp185

Scores
This week we continued with our scores. After last week’s jam we decided that three lifts was too many as we had to wait too long to renter so we decided to cut this down to two which made a lot of difference and added a lot more verity to the number of people left in the space. Something that also help was that we was we split our group in half so that half would ask for a number between one and five and the other half would ask for a number between one and ten this gave a lot more variety.
I really enjoyed our finale performance and didn’t feel that audience being there affected me. I felt like I gave my weight a lot more then I normally do and lifted people higher then I normally do. As we still left the corridor to chance it only happened once which was strange because when we have practiced it has happened two or three times .
Final score
Chance:
1. Asking a member of the audience for a number between one and ten or a number between one and five.
2. If two people are left in the space create a corridor around them. (join in after seeing two jumps)
Rules:
1. When you are on a low level move slowly.
2. When you are on a high level move fast.
3. If the number you collect from the audience is odd start on the floor.
4. If the number you collect from the audience is even start standing.
5. When moving though levels us the most complicated rout.
6. Leave the space after you have dance with the number of people given to you by an audience member.
7. Renter after seeing two lifts.

Scores
Today we started the class by watching the round robin. When watching myself I noticed how much I have improved I found myself on higher levels and was more trusting of people with my whole body weight and was noticed that I move my feet a lot more but that is something I can still improve on. As I was watching I noticed that sometimes I stop myself to things without releasing I am stopping myself. This is something that I think will go in time. I also noticed that when I was working with Kelly we move quite fast and this seemed to make the movement look a lot smoother .after watching the class moved on to exercises that worked on making the motion placing your weight on and off of a dancer a lot smoother. Unfortunately I could take part due to an injury.
After this the class split up in to our two groups. My group decided that we wanted to carry some of the ideas from the research lab in to our score. We also decided that we didn’t want to have a set score so instead we made a list of rules and a list of sections we are going to leave to chance.
Chance:
1. Ask the audience for a number between one and ten. This number is then the amount of people you have to dance with before you can leave the space.
2. If a duet is left in the space make a corridor around them join in after seeing three jumps.
Rules:
1. When on a low level move slowly.
2. When on a high level move fast.
3. When moving though levels take the most complicated rout.
4. Leave the space after you have dance with the amount of people the audience member gave you.
5. Come back in after seeing three lifts.

Research lab 2
Our group decided on finding ways of working thought levels as we felt that we don’t work our way though we just move straight from level to level. We started this idea by placing different body parts together and seeing how this can help.
We started with belly to belly. This ended up being very hard because to get up you both had to push forward into each other and if you don’t push with the force into each other then one of you would fall over meaning you would have to start again. We found that the only way that this was possible was for one partner to lift the other and push up to the bellies in contact.
Would belly to back be better?
We then tried knee to knee. This was better because the force from Emma went into the ground not into me making it easier to push up. We found that there wasn’t a very fluid way of doing this as we had to pull on and push off each other. I also found when watching that it still looked like they just stood up but I think this is because we don’t really know what to do when we do stand up.
After this we moved on to head to head. This was so much easier as you had the room to move unlike belly to belly. This is went I realised to more you were able to move your feet the easier it was to off the floor and move though the levels. Being head to head also made it easier to move when we were stood up because we had a big surface to move around on and on any direction.
Then we moved onto back to back. This was easier then belly to belly but harder then head to head. It was easier because you could push of each other knowing that your partner was able to hold you or push back. It was also hard because if you are the under dancer you have to find a way to push up and hold your partner weight. When I did this was Emma I found myself being the over dancer and there were some points that I felt I couldn’t help her get up because I felt I couldn’t push myself up while leaning my back onto her.
When doing this we found that we were still thinking too much about what we were doing so we decided that the pear watching could shouting body part at any point them you would have to change where the connection was coming from. When doing this it felt so much easier and when I was watching I could see so many different quality’s that weren’t there before.
After this we added more rules to what could be shouted at the people dancing:
• Moving up or down a level.
• Body parts.
• A time limit between one and ten seconds.
• Simple or most confusing rout.
All of these made the movement more interesting watch take part in.
Ending questions
1. How can we transition though levels without using the simplest rout?
2. How can lift be incorporated when transitioning though levels?
3. How does facing different directions change the roll of the over and under dancer?
4. How does a time limit change the complexity of the movement?

Going up and coming down
Today we started the class partnering up and laying belly to belly on the floor. The under dancer used their breath and small movements of the pelvis to worm up the over dancers abdominal area. To change over we went aloud to let our belly become unconnected which was hard but I made everyone in the class think of different more interesting ways to move. After we repeated this the other way round we progressed this task by travelling around the room without becoming unconnected. At first me and Emma found this quite hard but after we got into a good motion it become easier and I really enjoyed doing it.
After this we changed partners and stood back to back partner A would then bend their knees so that their bum is just below partner B’s pelvis at the same time partner B rises placing their pelvis on top of partner A pelvis. Partner B then leans back placing their back against partner A’s back and releases the hand and places the arm above their head. At the same time as doing this partner A hold onto partner B’s hips and straitens their legs holding their torso in a table top position. When being partner A I was fine, happy to lift people and comfortable taking their weight. When being partner B I felt nerves about trusting someone to take my whole weight and found it hard to relax into this position. After I had gone over it a few times I was more relaxed and was able to take my arms over my head.
After this we moved onto jumps with a partner. In partners we would stand belly to back. Partner A at the front would have to jump up and backwards. Partner B would have their hand over partner A’s stomach and back of one leg. As partner A jumps partner B drags them backward. I found I was fine with being both partners in this but when jumping I have to release my head. We then moved on to a similar exercise. Partner A still at the front would do the same as before jump up and backwards. Partner B would have their hand on the shoulder blades of partner A. For this exercise I was fine with being partner B but then it come to being Partner A I didn’t feel as safe so I didn’t jump as high or as far back which in turn made it harder for my partner to help me. After we had been doing this for a little while I relaxed and jumped higher and by doing this it become more enjoyable.
Next we moved onto the paper clip jump. Partner A would place their right arm over Partner B’s right shoulder and jump. At the same time partner B would place their right arm around partner B’s waist and lifts. I was happy being either partner in this but found that when I was partner A I found it uncomfortable on my arm if I did it to many times. We then progressed this into a small jam.
We then moved into a round robin. This was something that I really enjoyed watching and taking part in but I found it hard to find a time to enter. This was mainly because every time I found a good time to enter someone else had already started to enter. When I did enter at the start I was very aware that the class was watching. I soon forgot that that the class was watching and i felt that me and Kelly had some really good connections.