COMPOSURE - Part III Session 13

July - November 2016

Following last session's discussion, we used the same structure and exercises as to see what differences would occur.

WARM UP

-biosis duet was looser as last session felt like a re-learning and required an energy from everybody to help organise the mechanics of the process. today the feeling and process were more present in the body, so dancers felt more relaxed in approach, and more eager to move toward the next section. The mood was lighter and more upbeat than in the same exercise last session.

TASK

We continued to follow the same structure, moving forward into the exploration of the variabilities applicable to different levels of yes/no.

As with the biosis duet today, a knowledge of what was to come and a memory of it's success in the last session pushed a more casual and confident approach, but potentially a less considered one. The first time we explored this idea, we found initiation of new movement to be taken directly from one another, creating strong connections - generally between two people. In this session, we tried to work on performing more collectively within the improvisation; a successful endeavor, however it meant that when a section within the work wound to a close, there were occasions where we found it difficult to move organically into another pairing or group, as the entirety of dancers involved were already working together. An option here could have been to have a complete 'no' and break away.

COMPOSURE - Part III Session 12

July - November 2016

NO

Something that has often come up in our explorations of the shaper-shifter role, and also in our performance at UDS, is what if we say no to the direction/instruction? We've found it hard to find a way to explore saying no. We brainstormed modes of saying no (how/why we say no in daily life):

(We used these modes as explorations in the improvisation)

We began with cumulative partnering as warm-up (catch/throw/grab) which lead again to our biosis duet. We find this to be a good way to prepare for the session, as not only does it engage our bodies fully, but it also sets up a connection and an understanding of the group's mood right from the beginning. We work through a series of provocations focussing on several initiation directives, each fine tuning the day's approach to movement. This biosis was not as fluid as previous ones have been, but it allowed us to ask the question about what allows and what blocks the development of an improvisation.

After warming up, we discussed the possibility to/methods of saying no within an improvisation. We realised that to feed our interests and to keep the improvisation moving forward, we needed to make change for development, but a complete block would halt that. This created a ponder-ment on how we could say no, or to what extent or variability we could do so; a graph was devised with the vertical axis ranging from yes at the bottom to no at the top, and the horizontal showing possible variabilities, for example: 'yes I will accept your offer right now' would sit right in the corner of the graph, and 'no I will not accept your offer, but I will build up to it' might sit somewhere in the middle of the graph.

Following our discussion, we moved into an almost tag-in/tag-out structured experiment, playing one pair at a time, with saying no. As we moved further into it and continued creating and changing the rules of the game, we made an organic transition into a long improvisation.

DISCOVERIES:
-no is actually just offers a varied form of saying yes -our yes offers were much more considered -even if we say no, how can we still compliment the improvisation / the others -an absolute no is no awareness -giving a brand new offer to the situation is a form of saying no to whats already gone before

this improvisation, we felt, was completely successful. A successful improvisation feels cohesive, productive, fun, aware, we are attempting to uncover HOW/WHY/WHAT makes a successful improvisation. -structure of the session? -the way we enter the improvisation? -our group focus?


SO NEXT WEEK, we are going to try the exact formula of this week..... will it give us the same outcome?! will having a different group of people change / help / hinder?

Composure - Part III Session 11

Composure - Part III Session 10

July - November 2016

CHARACTER

Following on from an improvisation 3 sessions ago in which Rodney put a bag on his head and created a character, we decided to explore how to make characters -specifically through use of props/costume.

WARM UP
-vocals
-voice and movement
-movement and voice
-create a vocal duet

TASK
-choose a prop (there were about 30 props [mainly random household items])
-explore use of prop in as many ways OTHER than its intended/normal use
-settle on a way of using / wearing / interacting with the prop
-explore the character that emerged (who am I? how do I move? what can/do I do? what space am I in? why am I in this place?)
-if appropriate chose another prop; add to the character and re:explore new possibilities / options
-begin (slowly, in own time) to interact with the other characters (who are the other characters? what do I think about them? how do I interact with them? can I talk? -how?)
....
IMPROVISATION
-the above task led into a 45 minute improvisation, as the characters

How did we all approach developing and exploring our characters?
Omea: immediately used hand cream as microphone and became that type of chr -drew on current events eg Donald Trump campaign
Jaz: used props to hide -but it became difficult to move on from that idea
Ben: a blanket was difficult to abstract
Elle: easily/quickly came up with lots of different options with leather jacket
Omea: character became pedestrian HOW DO WE ABSTRACT A CHARACTER INTO MOVEMENT?? 
Reece: broke the prop; then became cautious and developed chr from there
Joanne: less movement based as the props were so specific (possibly restrictive)
Leah: entered a trance-like state within my character's relationship with another chr

-there were lots of great 'coincidences' : Jaz read a story which seemed to explain Ben and Elle's duet
-we used lights / lamps to shape the piece
-someone began to sing; we all began to sing this was a strong action to unite the group 

Perhaps next time, rather than do the task then merge in to the improvisation, we could explore/create/develop the characters, then stop, then start the improvisation. This w/could make the interactions more deliberate and the structure of the work more cohesive.

[Elle and Jas]

[Omea]

[Reece and Ben]

[Joanne and Leah]

[Rodney]

[Rodney]

Composure - Part III Session 9

July - November 2016

WARM UP:

Flocking
(this is a classic improvisation exercise)
-creative movement
-tuning in with other and with group
-warming up physical body and creative mind
-push self to engage
-build group connection (key aspect)


TASK:
-identify personal point of choreographic interest
-research that idea
-develop that idea as shaper by creating a work with 1-4 shifters (with audience watching)


Identify Idea:
-what am I interested in? / what do I like watching? / how do I like making?

Research Idea
-3 minutes to investigate ideas and generate as many options/possibilities/ways to explore idea
-discern favourite options

Develop Idea
-use 1--4 shapers
-direct idea / shapers
-the creating of the piece is the creation (the audience watches the process)


EF:
-idea: collide / morph
-shapers as individuals, colliding with other/space
with my instructions, I did not quite get what I wanted, it was almost there!
yet I let the dancers find it

RT:
-cover face / move with body without face (what if I couldn't see)
-shapers cover face / exploring their face
the music influenced the shapers movement, I didn't like that = change music

BM:
-(could not physicalise thoughts)
-tried different ideas out with group: repeated/developed the idea 'go back to the start'
I added a layer each time, developed my thought, changed my wording, adapted the instructions. I discovered what I wanted as I wanted it to happen

JD:
-particular quality of movement/voice (have been playing with for a few months)
-does someone else's thought pattern influence the other?
How can I articulate my own way of working/moving/talking to pass on to another? Used imagery, though the shapers interpreted it differently than expected. Let shapers chose when to action new instruction

LC:
-action of hugging (how many things can I hug? try all the ways of hugging)
-chose the most interesting ways of hugging -instructed shapers to explore that way
I knew what hugs I wanted to see the shapers explore, I know the spacing I wanted to look at. I set up the shapers in symmetrical positions and gave the first few instructions. Then my next ideas were inspired by how the shapers interpreted the first instructions.

Composure Part III - Session 8

July - Novemeber 2016

Live Sound Exploration

Tonight we invited experienced improviser and live-sound artist Kristian Larsen to join us and contribute sound to our work. We sought to explore the role of live music and how that would influence our movement and out creating and then also how our movement/creations might influence the making of the movement.

IMPROVISATION [1 hour long]

guidelines:
-we were all shifters
-anyone could step out to be the shaper
-experience how live music can shape/shift the piece (explore this relationship)
-Kristian had the timer and at the end would direct the conclusion

Some really awesome things happened in our improvisation and we all responded really differently to the sound.
Elle: sound changed her approach a lot, was always reacting or letting the sound initiate the movement. went into a dance/performance mode
Rodney: was either going with or going against the sound, this helped him shift his awareness
Leah: used sound to initiate a movement idea but then left the sound to explore the movement
Cushla: was aware of the sound but purposefully go against it (but then that actually is going with the music)

We talked about a cycle of interaction: we go with the sound, we try to go against the sound, but as we go further from the sound we actually go with it...but in an opposite manner, to the point that we are just going with the sound. Maybe that's just human nature, we can't avoid or ignore the sounds of our everyday worlds, nor can we in a performative sense.

Some observations from Kristian:
-perhaps we became distracted by the sound (not used to having live sound)
-with an open narrative there are endless possibilities; creating some kind of limitation-could we be more specific with - content / material / movement / tools / skills
-dance = people behaving
-how do coincidences work?
-we could do further research into other dance forms which operate fully in an improvised sense eg tango, break dancing, martial arts [what are their principles of creating, interacting]