The aim of this week’s improvisation was to play with modes of inquiry to discover when habitual movement arises and how to respond to it. The use of tracking is highlighted as a key fundamental of improvisation through the book ‘Landscape of the Now’ by Kent De Spain. From this reading, I learnt how there are many strands of tracking with it being described through the metaphor “If improvisation can be seen as a process of mapping the unknown, tracking is the practice of drawing and occasionally glancing at the map.” (De Spain, 2014, 52) To me, this suggested how tracking can become replayed into a practical, through creating an original pattern of movement which is then sporadically referred to and used in the process of further experimentation; mentally documenting what worked, what didn’t, what could be used again and where to go next.
A first experiment taught me to really think about the difference between movement and dancing. By speeding up and slowing down improvisations I altered the ability to think and plan which movement I would do next, which movement would look and feel the nicest here. I felt, when the dance was sped up; the ability to plan was lost, with movements coming naturally and being led by the previous movement rather than by thought. This linked to Nina Martin’s idea that not focusing on the movement and just letting it happen led to movement being created. (De Spain, 2014, 101) This made me nervous and led to me repeating movements as I felt what I was doing looked ugly or wrong. This, too me, felt like just movements and no real dance. However, as the speed became slower, I was able to track movements much easier as I could begin to think more about what I was doing and therefore remembered the sequence. This, I felt, was more like dancing, due to it having a sense of being and fluidity throughout.
The next task, think imagine do, caused me to feel I was able to combat against the use of habitual movement due to having the time to discover new ways of moving that was not my first instinct. I enjoyed this as it opened my eyes to different places I could take a sequence. Adding Steve Paxton’s idea of ‘not going back’ where every movement had to take you somewhere new and could not be repeated led me to heighten my range of movement. Without the process of think, imagine, do I believe I would have been much less successful in following Paxton’s idea, as the extra time to think allowed me to track clearly where I’d been and what I had already done, finding different movement to perform.
The practicing of improvisation through a ‘jam’ was a completely new experience for me and one which seemed daunting. I was anxious approaching this due to being unaware what to expect. Despite this, I found the experience a huge learning curve for my own practice, looking deeper into my movement study than I have before.
The use of silence captured me most, generating an atmosphere that caused me to think and feel every move that I did. Silence helped to pull me away from stresses and negative thoughts of everyday life while leaving me focusing on myself. It caused the experience to be lethargic and at times hypnotic. The use of pacing between each cycle aided this by giving time to think: concentrating on the breath and feeling a deeper connection throughout the whole body. I worked my feet into the ground which made me feel calmer; I could use this time to look back and track what I had done in the previous section. Nancy Stark-Smith’s analysis of a “Zoom function” (De Spain, 2014, 51) helped me with the tracking of each movement as it teaches that it is not necessary to focus constantly on what you are doing but looking deeper and recognising each movement occasionally. This allowed me to fully enjoy the feeling of each movement flowing into the next, while keeping engagement with what I had done and where I had been. However, I found tracking harder than anticipated as I would begin to get lost in the flow so when it was required to develop the material it felt more disjointed. Slow motion allowed for me to deeply feel all the movements I was performing, finding length and indulgence as each move could be fully extended. This also helped me to find the true size of my kinesphere, teaching me how far my body can reach and stretch too; reaching further than I had discovered before.
De Spain, K. (2014) Landscape of the Now. USA: Oxford University Press.