From doing improvisation for 4 weeks now, I have started to realise what I find easy and hard. Some parts which I find easier than most, is how to start improving. When I start an improvisation session I have an intention to move or go to a certain space in the room and go from there. Something which I find harder is to come up with different and unusual movement material as I always go back to habitual moves. Throughout these 4 weeks, I have reflected on the tasks which we had been given and found new things about the way I move. I have found out that when travelling through the space I generally go to the outsides of the room. I have also found out I like to dance standing rather than being on the floor. Most of the reflection feedback I give myself I want to improve on this or change it so I can widen my knowledge as a dancer.
The quote which I found the most inspiring out of this week’s readings is ‘Time is tricky, time is endless, time is ruthless’ (Dilley in De Spain, 2014,115). I feel like this quote relates to me. Timing is something I need to concentrate more on when improvising. When doing the tasks I have noticed that my timing stays the same throughout. I find changing the timings of my movements difficult so I can relate to Halprin in the way she says ‘Time is tricky’. To me the timing can make the dance more appealing so this is a point I want to work on so I can be creative with the timing of my movements. ‘Time is endless’ shows that there is so many ways which time can be used throughout dance whether it’s to do with the movements or with the duration. ‘Time is ruthless’ tells me that time can make the improvisation powerful but also time can give the improvisation a meaning. For example if the timing of the improvisation was really slow this could shows the emotion coming out of the performer.
When doing the space task, I noticed myself walking in the open and empty spaces the most. I would always look around for an empty space to go into. If someone else went into the space I was going to go to I would have to change my intention and either go somewhere else, or stand in the space with them. I found it easier to look out of the space rather than listen. I found looking easier as you could use your eyes to look for spaces and when if you listened it was not clear whether the space was free or not. I did notice that when I heard the planes outside, I moved to a space near the window so I could see.
When finding out the timings for the second task, beginning, middle and end. I found out that my middle is the longest section. My peer also found out that I had a pattern in the way where my beginning and end started standing and my middle was on the floor. In the second and third try at the same task I had to change my ways to which was different to me. I found this task fun and interesting as you found more about yourself and how you dance around with timings.
From watching the three scores at the end of the lesson. I noticed that the first score was structured well and this didn’t make the piece as interesting as the final two, as everyone knew which was going to come next. I also noticed that the quartet was the longest section starting from 1:38-3:00. I felt like the dancers beforehand had a plan for the solo and duet to dance until they had wanted too then the quartet would finish when the time was up. For the last two performances this was not the case. The sense which I got from the last two was that the performers panicked leading them to rush into things. This made the piece more interesting as no one knew what was going to happen whether it would be a duet or a quartet happening next. The performers were also trying to copy each other moves in the duet for example, when they didn’t do this and maybe varied the move, this made the score more interesting also.
De Spain, K.(2014) Landscape of the now: a topography of movement improvisation. New York,USA: Oxford University press.