The workshop at Dance4 with two members of Feet off the Ground Dance was the best thing for me especially coming off the back of last weeks’ jam, which I was not comfortable with at all. This workshop was so inspiring and made me more aware of my body and other bodies, because working with some people in the group just was not working for me and the movements were really hard to do, however when I found the right partner we clicked instantly and worked really well especially when learning the repertory from a Feet off the Ground Dance work. I know this was not CI however, it has built my confidence back up as I now know that I can do lifts and people can lift me, I am now not as afraid to give others my weight. So I really do thank Sophie and Lu from Feet off the Ground Dance for bringing back my confidence in dance and performance.
This week was research lab week. The idea behind our group’s lab was ‘How does movement enhance small dance?’. We got everyone to answer closed questions after most of our exercises to find out some statistical data and we found out that there is a mixture of opinions about Steve Paxton’s idea of small dance. In each of our sections we asked our participants to do and feel different things such as half sitting and half laying down, to see if there was a difference between the two positions, but overall it was almost equal.
Overall I feel that we could have done more to find out if people believe small dance is a thing or not, personally I agree with Paxton as even when you think you are standing still there are always movements within the body that you do not realise are happening.
We backed up some of our exercises with some research that we did, such as “the creative interplay arises from mutual awareness of weight, rhythm, momentum, environment, attitude and feeling.” (Brown, 74) we asked them to think about the weight in their feet and how that affected small dance or if it affected small dance. We also mentioned that “personal responsiveness becomes the basis for creative play.” (Brown, 74) we used this to help people understand that it was their own bodies that could help to create the small dance and make it visible to use observing them.
The question we asked:
1a) Do you feel the movement within your inner self was visual to the outside eye?
1b) Was there any movement whilst you were sitting or lying down?
2) Do you feel the movement within your inner self was visual to the outside eye?
3) Did you give into the subconscious movement?
4) Do you feel the movement within your inner self was visual to the outside eye?
5) NO QUESTIONS
6a) Do you feel the movement within your inner self was visual to the outside eye?
6b) Was the sensation of small dance stronger after moving?
6c) Could you feel the small dance of your partner when in contact side by side?
6d) Could you feel the small dance of your partner when in contact back to back?
6e) Could you block out any sensations after moving around the space and returning to standing still?
I was excited to do this weeks’ jam; however, I was really upset at the end of it as I felt like I had not been in as much as I had hoped to, due to the fact that I did not know how to communicate with more than one body, so when someone joined me and my partner I felt like I had been pushed out, so I returned to the edge of the room and from that I really struggled to get back in as it knocked my confidence right down. As I was about to enter the jam, we finished the lesson as we had to get ready for the Jasmin Vardimon Dance Company’s performance of Pinocchio, I really enjoyed watching a professional company, in a style that I would like to pursue perform and then do a workshop the next day.
The workshop was the most amazing experience I have ever had, normally when I have a class or workshop with professionals I go to the back, but because I was so keen to learn repertory from a performance that I watched the night before and that I loved, I was right at the front. We had one-and-a-half-hour workshop and the whole class were so tired yet still full of energy, I did not want it to end! I cannot wait to go into the world of performing arts and to hopefully get into such a well-established company like that.
Bibliography:
Brown, B. Is Contact a Small Dance? Contact Improvisation Sourcebook I. Vol. 6 Pp. 72-75
ZayacZhe (2009) Steve Paxton. SmallDance. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sJKEXUtv44 [accessed 10 November 2016].