Composure - Part III Session 5

July - November 2016

We partnered through pressure, through giving pressure and receiving pressure. We could offer pressure to joints or to the middle of bones, we could give it opposition-ally (hands on either side of a joint eg front and back of shoulder) or complimenting-ly (hands on the same place eg on both shoulders) The person receiving is aware of these differences. This lead to a long partnering improvisation exploring pressure, through and between two body parts, the moments of moving to the next pressure. We focused on being vertical. Some lift opportunities arose.

Rodney and Ben

BIOSIS DUET

Again we worked on our biosis duet, the swirling, the disrupting, the entering, the continuing of the partnership.
-catch, throw, grab
-good to interrupt with different methods -catch / throw self in / throw self out / throw other out
-we observe that our natural patterns of interruption (are we hesitant or bold) effect how we approach the duet. We try to challenge these patterns

IMPROVISATION

we did 5 little improvisations, each of us directing a 5 min duet or trio. We made some interesting discoveries about our methods and approaches to being the shaper and being the shifter.

shaperwhat/when/how/why/where do you make decisions?
what/when/how/why/where do you give directions?
Cushla
-aware of spatial relationships, if not satisfying, she will change
-chooses how she views the relationship, enters space to see from another angle
Rodney
-identified the shifters natural, small gestures and built from there
-outside/other interests influenced directions
-if he didn't get idea or movement that he wanted, he continued to clarify the directions through use of more specific words
Geo
-enjoys being on the outside and seeing the whole improv, the complete/full picture
-sees an opportunity for humour and embellishes that
-play off what shifters are already doing and enhances
Leah
-views and directs from in the space, creates a third relationship -duet becomes trio
-alters method of giving direction -loud/quiet so the audience either included or excluded
-struggles to interrupt shifters if they are on a good path
-offers directions with large amount of freedom for shifters to interpret
Ben
-sees space in its entirety and understands how a change in one area will effect everything else
-often mimics dancer or moves to explore/understand what movement/movement  quality he wants in order to better explain it
-gives quiet instructions to specific shifters so that either the audience is in the dark or even another shifter, creating new levels of tension,
-gives tasks which require a long duration to achieve

Composure - Part III Session 4

July - November 2016

vocals

This week we explored some activities/games to unlock our voices / to give life to inanimate objects / to make meaning of movement. In pairs we described the space for each other then described each other's movement

-physically describe: (lines, shapes, colours)
      space
      movement
-emotionally describe: (emotions, feelings, characteristics, textures, personification)
      space
      movement
-metaphorical/abstract description: (story, concept, representation, idea, poem)
      space
      movement

NB: we are using our voices to produce words to give layered details to our movement, rather than creating sound for a soundscape/score

This is really hard and requires a new kind of concentration/focus. We have to access a new method to the process of verbalizing thoughts.
physically description: simple, lots to see in the space, hard to identify shapes and lines in the body when it moves....as the shapes and lines keep moving!
emotional description: we try to stay true to the feeling of the object rather than quick fire emotions that come to mind. One of us kept going until they found the right word. One person's emotional description came from their own emotional attitude/connection to the object or movement at the time
One of us kept going until we found the right word.

[Is the mover effected by the description!? yes, always. to ignore would be dis-intuitive, disassociated, disconnected/disregarding the point of offering movement. Though, mostly the mover decided to do the opposite!}

IMPROVISATION

Our 20 minute improvisation was full of vocals. We could establish partnerships more easily and clearly and through that connection between voice and movement.
-The shapers told stories, explained what self was doing, explained what other was doing, spoke lists of words.
-Awareness is stronger through using hearing sense (know where people are/what they are doing)
-Vocals offered a stronger overall arch -helped us make sense of the improv and in turn contribute more constructively.
-We need to practice how to 'drop out' of a vocal task. We have developed an understanding of how to fulfill a movement task (it could be 30secs long, it could be 4mins) but using vocals seems harder ... do we have to conclude the story? do we have to answer our own question? how can we morph one vocal task into another?-Did the first vocals set up the whole piece? we debate this most weeks... do the first moment/s of the improv set it up/dictate/establish the work [can we oppose those first moments?!] but....we will never know, what the 'other' improv could have been.

The shifters worked in a pair, and consulted each other before offering directions to the shapers. (Shifters could swap out/in with a shaper.) Some partnerships consulted as mode of reassurance, some as a form of collaborative instruction, some just to inform the other beforehand.

How do we move away from our associations with words. How do we de-socailise our words to access abstract vocal pathways. How do we use our movement skills to create/change/develop the vocal explorations.

ALSO: Do our minds network subconciously..... without our conscious knowing... is this how we create?