Maura Keefe compares baseball and contact as being the same thing, and I did not understand. However, she explained that both are an improvised activity that creates movement from other people’s actions (Keefe, 2003, 231). This point stood out from the reading because, I feel my body making an unconscious decision on how to move from the action the other body has made. My body then takes influence from that action, to create the next movement.
Within contact improvisation there needs to be an evenly distributed weight between two bodies, otherwise the movement could injure someone. This rule needs to be applied for all going up pieces however, I especially feel this while going up in the two new tasks: the arm to arm shoulder lift and the backbend lift. When practicing both tasks, myself and my partner had moments where we were not stable. We found this was happening when our bodies were not connected in the right place. Once we jig sawed together we was able to find the balance of where our weight should be, and keep stability.
When moving in contact improvisation, it is important to remember that there is no hierarchy and that both, or all participants should be contributing and not make one individual the leader to follow. In the jam this week I feel like I stood by this point, and equally listened and contributed my ideas. Apart from at the beginning, I felt myself lead because it was hard trying to listen to 2 other bodies when we could not get all our backs to connect. After spending time experimenting of how to move as a trio, it became easier to negotiate where bodies were and what they were doing. I found that moving in a group was easier to sense with the eyes closed rather than open, because I was able to connect with the bodies I was touching as well as the bodies around a lot more. There was nothing to distract myself, therefore I was able to zone in breath and start to concentrate on other sensations my body was receiving. Due to my vision being at loss, I was not bothered how I looked when moving, whether that was ugly or pretty. It may not have looked right for someone else, but it felt right to move the way I was. Another positive note was not knowing who I was working with. As a result, I was thinking have I worked with this body before? Although I used this to my advantage, I imagined that whoever I was working with, was someone I had never worked with before. A fresh start, to create new movement that has never been seen and ‘something which will never be again’ (Sheets-Johnstone, 2017, 8). I had this image in my head because I know that I can get into a pattern of how to move with certain people because of its familiarity.
Keefe, M. (2003) What’s the score? Taken by surprise: A dance improvisation reader. Middletown, Conneticut: Wesleyan University Press.
Sheets-Johnstone, M. (2017) Thinking in Movement. Contact Quarterly, vol 42: 1, pp. 7-12.