Chloe Brasier- Contact Improvisation

Abscent

After our previous class, I felt intrigued as to what we would be experimenting with in this coming lesson. We started by exploring with weight in partners, swapping roles of the over and under dancer. To start with I had to lie on my partner whilst they rested on the floor. I was told to put more weight in certain areas to test where my partner had more strength and where she felt more comfortable. Throughout this I felt slightly on edge as I was initially worried about hurting my partner so was hesitant to give them my full weight. We kept trying until I felt more comfortable in giving my full weight. The feed back from my partner was that she felt relaxed and after a while couldn’t feel my body on her. She said it didn’t feel like an intense weight and felt more like a small pressure.

When my partner gave me her weight, I was concerned that I wouldnt be able to take it at first because of my build, howeverWe then progressed to exchange and swap the rolls, so we were rolling over and on each other rather than just one way. The exercise we used helped with how to give and take our weight in the most effective and safe way, this was used to help build our understanding of the way we can work with contact during improvisations.

 

 

 

Week 1
As we had previous experience of contact improvisation in first year, I felt like I had prior knowledge of the technique. This helped me to feel instantly comfortable with experimenting with different movements and ideas. I was fearful that I would’ve forgotten certain skills and ideas due to being away from improvisation for so long, however I felt like I adapted well to the change and revisiting the methods of practice.
We started the workshop with walking around the space; this helped each individual become more comfortable with their surroundings and the environment in which we would be working with. As the task progressed we would experiment with levels and differentiations in tone and movement. For example, when lowering myself to the floor I felt more connected to my body than I did when I was standing. This was because the sensation of rolling and gliding across the floor made me more aware of the movements that I inhabited. When we were experimenting with levels of tone I found the lower tone more suitable to my body and emotions as I felt myself have time to connect with the movements I was doing.
Then we experimented using the levels of tone with a partner. My partner was Anya and our task was to follow the others movements using our palm. This felt strange to start with as you had to adapt your own movements to fit your partners, however, as the task progressed I felt like I had achieved a connection with Anya and the way in which she was moving. This helped me to expand my knowledge and ideas as I was focusing on how my partner was using tone and the way in which she chose to move her body.