Contact Improvisation (L1)

To begin today's lesson we performed the 'Sun Salutation' exercise, this allowed me to feel connected with my body and to clear my mind of all distractions and thoughts outside the work of physical theatre.

In today's lesson we explored contact improvisation through a number of exercises.
Firstly, in pairs we were asked to improvise a series of movements remaining in contact with each other throughout, this meant staying in sync with each other through breathing and movement. Improvisation is a challenging technique for actors because it is completely spontaneous, anything could happen.

Firstly, I moved into a position using my partners position as a starting point. E.g. My partner put his arms and legs on the floor in a 'bridge' position, so I swiftly moved my body underneath him and moved my head between his arms, looking up at him. This position could convey a greater meaning that could tell a story e.g. The re-building of a broken friendship because I was moving towards him from a distant proximity, possibly revealing how over time we were getting closer.

I have learnt from this exercise that it is vital that I have strong eye contact with my partner so we can communicate through being mentally in touch with each other, this also prevents accidents from happening because it means you are completely focussed on each other and this vital because Contact Improvisation is about reacting to the other persons positions.



At the start of the exercise the bond between me and my partner was not strong, we felt slightly uncomfortable and unsure of what movement to do because we were planning out what we were doing in our heads. I am now aware that to be aqueous I must let go of my mind and let my body take control, using my instinct.

This book relates to the exercise because it refers to the idea that 'The Body Has A Mind Of Its Own' and once you let your body take over, you can discover movements and positions that you have never before come into grasps with. Once you come into contact with the energy that runs through your body, you came established a stronger connection with the world around you.



Furthermore, because I had not established a connection with my partner, we were not in sync with each other and as a result our elbows clashed and we injured ourselves. I have learnt that it is extremely important that we are both focused and connected to avoid hurting each other.





Additionally, at the start I was quite stiff and tense and at times I hurt my muscle when trying to perform the positions. However, after a while we became more comfortable and trusting with each other, as a result the transitions between the positions were fluid and it looked more natural.





When watching my peers perform this exercise I noticed how as an audience member the performance is more pleasing when the strong bond between the pair is visible, any awkwardness is noticeable and watching the performance makes the audience feel uneasy and tense. Overall, I have come to the conclusion that to successful perform Contact Improvisation I must first be comfortable and trusting with my partner.


From this lesson I have learnt that Contact Improvisation is a dance technique in which points of physical contact provide the starting point for exploration through movement improvisation and to successfully master this technique I must be connected with my partner through good communication (direct eye contact, movement and breathing. I should also relax and let my body take control in order to make the piece fluid.


Who invented it and why?



The development of Contact Improvisation was inspired by a dance performance created by Steve Paxton in January 1972, with the intention that it could become a form of expressing post modernism into the world of dance. Called Magnesium, it was performed with 11 students at Oberlin College and combined inner-focused movement and athleticism including wrestling and falling, jumping and rolling. Over the following summer, Paxton explored this movement vocabulary further, rehearsing with a group of dancers, including Nancy Stark Smith, at the John Weber Gallery in New York City and gave the first Contact Improvisation performances which reportedly had 'a powerful emotional and kinaesthetic effect on audiences.'



The dance form subsequently saw a development of movement qualities from the risky rawness and danger off the initial experiments, to a period of smooth, continuous controlled flow in the late 70s and early 80s, followed by an interest in conflict and unexpected responses including previously avoided eye contact and directive hand contact.

In 1975, the dancers working with Steve Paxton considered trademarking the term Contact Improvisation in order to control the teaching and practise of the dance form, largely for reasons of safety. This idea was rejected in favour of establishing a forum for communication, and the newsletter consequently created became the journal Contact Quarterly. The journal reached volume 38 in 2013, and continues to be published by the non profit organisation Contact Collaborations, incorporated in 1978.



What qualities do you need to be successful at Contact Improvisation?



I have learnt that to be successful at contact improvisation I must be energetic, focussed and committed. It is important that I let go of all insecurities and worry's because I must be completely confident and comfortable with my partner to make sure that there is no awkwardness present in the performance.


I was pared with someone that I did not know very well, I was not comfortable and trusting so I was tense and that was visible in my performance. However after feedback from the teacher, I disconnected with my mind and thoughts, and instantly felt that I had become more flexible and fluent because I had a belief in my own ability.



Additionally, I have learnt that I not only have to be trusting with my self and my own body but my partner too because if you do not trust your partner, you are not completely comfortable, as a result you may be tense. This does not only lower the quality of the performance, but you could hurt a muscle.


Furthermore, I have learnt from todays lesson that I need to be honest and truthful. I should allow my gut instinct to lead my body. It is important to disconnect from my mind and only communicate feeling and emotion through my physical movements. Because contact improvisation  invites an individual to create spontaneous movement without rehearsing it may be used to enhance one's overall self exploration of their physicality. It stretches our ability to think quickly whilst building confidence and my capability to take risks. It builds respect, in that we must accept and work with each other's idea and it promotes and encourages students to assume a leadership role in the exploration and creation of movement.


Overall, many different qualities are needed in training actors to be successful at contact improvisation, however during the exercise itself various attributes such as resilience, versatility and creative problem-solving skills are built upon.



In this exercise I was slightly tense because I was unsure of movements and positions, therefore my overall performance was not fluid. To improve I have been watching various physical theatre plays online and I have been practising some of the positions I have learnt over the course of Physical Theatre so that they become more natural to me.


Additionally, I have been performing the 'Sun Salutation' exercise every morning so that I am relaxed because I have found that I am generally quite a tense person, possibly due to stress. Performing this exercise has started to have a positive effect on me because I have found that my overall posture and physicality has changed. For example, I had a slight hunch, my neck was slightly bent and my head was slightly facing downwards. However, now I have an upright posture, straight back and my head simultaneously facing upwards. Additionally, my breathing has become more relaxed and calm.
As a result I enter my physical theatre lessons feeling refreshed and relieved of all stress that I may have had in the morning.

Describe the process of conducting the Ball of Energy exercise: 

In this exercise we had to pass the ball of energy back and forth to our partner using various different parts of the body.


Firstly, I passed the ball of energy from my upper to lower arm through my fingertips and to my partner. I believe that at the beginning of the exercise I was not familiar with my partner and so I did not feel comfortable to challenge myself with my movements. However, over the course of the exercise I let go of my mind and conscious and as a result, I was able to use my whole body to pass the ball of energy.  

For example, I passed it from my upper body to my lower back and down towards my right leg. I did this by carrying an impulse that electrified through my body carrying an energy that was contagious to my partner. It is important that during this exercise I let my body take control, you have to be spontaneous using instinct in order to let the ball continuously flow in a way that is natural to the body.

Evaluate the benefits of the Ball of Energy exercise. What is your opinion to it? 

I believe that the Ball of Energy exercise was beneficial to me because it allowed me to come into contact with every muscle in my body, I became more flexible and in touch with my body; at the start of the exercise my body was stiff and my muscles were tense. However at the end of the exercise I noticed that my movement flowed, the transitions between my movements were soft and fluent and I noticed an overall positive change in my body. This was because I had become more comfortable with letting the ball of energy take control and explore my body. I was not planning where it would move next, my movements were spontaneous and instant, as a result my performance was more aqueous. 

Why is it important for you to be able to listen and be honest during contact improvisation work? 

It is highly important and essential for you to be able to listen during contact improvisation work because the basis of the work is observing the movements of another person, interpreting their movements, and then responding in an appropriate way; therefore listening is a key skill required for contact improvisation work.

Listening is important not just because of the quality of the piece but also for safety as well. Keeping an ear out for your partner is essential when performing contact improvisation because when an actor is in full flow of a piece they may not notice if their partner is in pain or in danger. These risks can be minimised by girls tying hair back, all actors wearing appropriate clothing and so on but in this sort of work there are always potential hazards.

Honesty is a key factor of contact improvisation. Although it can take time to gain a comfortable amount of trust and honesty, particularly with a new partner, it is vital when creating improvised physical work. Genuine natural response between actor’s opens doors to a far wider range of physical possibilities, as mentally manipulating a piece can ruin its fluidity and its truth. The organic honesty required for even basic contact improvisation makes the ergonomic movement far easier to achieve and also helps with developing meaning in a piece.

To further my understanding of Contact improvisation, I have been watching videos of actors using this technique. 

I came across this video:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ED8hNoulZv4

Watching this video was beneficial to me, I found that throughout the majority of the exercise in class I was using my legs and arms to contact my partner. However, the actors in the video really thought about how they could connect in a deeper more passionate way.

 For example, they used their core and back to lean on each other without using arms and legs. I thought this was really effective because as an audience their connection and impulse was visible and so their movement carried a clear meaning and emotion.

Additionally, I have learnt from the video that in order to create a more fluid piece, transitions should not just be moving using your hand and feet but moving through other body parts such as your core, side of body, knees, inner thigh and arm etc. This keeps the connection alive, in relation to my performance in class today I felt that after I had performed a movement and then used my hands to move to the next position, the vibrance and energy disappeared and so the magic was lost. In the screenshot above you can see an example of how the actors used their side to move. I thought this was creative and successful because the passion of the piece was still present and no energy had dissipated after a position was complete.