Readings
I understood a lot from this week’s reading, and I think that was because it was an easy read and we went through the reading in small groups. On page 216 it mentions about how we are touched can affect how we react (Bannon and Holt, 2012, 216), and I could relate this back to week 1’s exercise, with the touch to instigate a movement. Different amounts of pressure tell our body to move in different ways and I find this quite interesting, because why does our body choose to do this?
Despite understanding a few things in the reading, I did not understand the word proprioception. I have noticed that proprioception keeps popping up throughout the readings, and I was unsure even after doing a research about it. However, after the research I did and this week’s sessions I now have a better understanding of what proprioception is. Proprioception is a subconscious sense and happens at every moment of everyday. This sense allows us to control our limbs without looking at them. In contact improvisation we create movement off somebody else’s impulses without looking at what body part has been touched, and just go with the flow and not think about what we are doing.
Exercises
There is so much to remember within the surfing and rolling exercise and if you forget one, the exercise will not go to plan:
– Breathe to relax and the rolls will flow
– Not to lose contact
– Communicate if one is struggling
– Roll in the correct place to prevent injury
– Keep moving, the momentum drives this, do not stop moving
At one point I was concentrating on giving weight that once I had done, I forgot to roll again so we ended up laying there. We then had to start again because we had lost the momentum from our previous roll. From the reading Touch: Experience and knowledge, I had read that we can communicate with touch, however this was then experienced in this exercise (Bannon, 2012). I could read that my partner was struggling at times I could give them the extra push they needed to get over.
The stop start exercise was a lot harder than what it sounded. When moving it was easy, I knew I had to keep a stable stance for myself and my partner to prevent myself from falling, and to not drop my partner. The other part of the exercise was the complete opposite. It was hard to find different ways of giving weight in a safe way and not do the same as before. Another thing that was difficult was telling them to stop. Simple instruction. However, I would see a moment where I could lean on them but they had already moved on by the time I had said stop. I had to rethink of how I was going to lean on them, and it took longer than what it should have.
Jam
The first jam back was rather difficult to get into because I had not improvised for a few months. I only went inside the circle twice because I wanted to make relationships with people, however I did not want to disturb other people’s relationships that had already been created. Another thing was that I was not sure how to move with a partner for a long period of time. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed watching others in the circle making relationships and seeing how they used their bodies to stay in contact with one another. From watching others move I gained experience and I can use what I saw into my own practice for the upcoming weeks.
Surve, S (2009) What is Proprioception? Available from http://brainblogger.com/2009/06/09/what-is-proprioception/ [accessed 8 October 2017].
Bannon, F and Holt, D (2012) Touch: Experience and knowledge. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 2012, Vol.3 Issue 1/2, p215-227.