Term Two: Contact Improvisation and Complicite

What is contact improvisation?

Contact
improvisation uses your own body and the bodies of those around you in a group.
During contact improvisation you must be very vigilant and focused because the
entire exercise is entirely improvised and you must be cautious and aware of
others around you for health and safety reasons. Contact improvisation is
essentially observing the physicality and movements of another person,
interpreting their physical movements, and then responding in an appropriate
way. Contact Improvisation is in a way a dance
form or even an artistic sport, in which the point of contact with another
person provides the starting point or stimuli for an exploration of movement on
your part. It is based on the communication between two alive
bodies that are in physical contact and the relationship between the two
physical bodies and how they interact. During this exercise you should
be able to feel a palpable and tangible energy that passes through your own
body and into the body of your partner.




Contact
improvisation stems from the idea that each body is unique. Dance is
spontaneously created by the impulsive interaction of two different bodies,
regardless of preconditioned reflexes and accepted notions of size, weight and
strength. Dance partners sustain physical contact and rely upon mutual trust
and support. It is process, not product, which counts in contact improvisation
dance; aesthetically-pleasing results are shunned in favour of an
inward-looking spiritual integration of mind and body. As such, it is no
surprise that its appeal has spread beyond professional dancers and
choreographers.




 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/body-language-contact-improvisation-dance-uses-touch-to-achieve-perfect-harmony-between-mind-and-body-roberta-mock-found-it-a-liberating-experience-1425425.html




Who
invented it and why?




Steve Paxton invented contact
improvisation in the 1970’s with the intention that it could become a form of
expressing postmodernism into the world of dance.




Contact improvisation is an evolving system of
movement initiated in 1972 by American choreographer Steve Paxton. The
first performance work recognized as Contact
Improvisation is Steve Paxton's Magnesium (1972) which was performed by Paxton
and dance students at Oberlin College at Warner Main in Warner Centre. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_improvisation



What qualities do you need to be successful
at contact improvisation?

To
be successful at contact improvisation you must be very energetic, committed
and focused. You must be trusting in not only your partner but in yourself and
your own body. You have to be honest and truthful during this exercise and
allow your gut instinct to lead your body. You must disconnect from your mind
and only communicate feeling and emotion through your 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 and it also builds confidence and the capability of
students to take risks.  It builds
respect in that we must accept and work with each other’s ideas 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.




Describe the process of conducting the ball
of energy exercise.




You
should initially pair up. You must imagine that there is a small ping pong ball
spinning around inside your body, and that this tiny little ball contains lots
of energy. You should allow your body to instinctually feel where the ball is
travelling to next and whether or not it makes you move your arms or your leg
or your head. Then when you feel that the moment is right you should pass the
ball of energy from your own body and place it into your partners’ body. Much
like contact improvisation the ball of energy exercise is essentially all about
observing the physicality and movements of another person, interpreting their
physical movements, and then responding in an appropriate way. You should be
able to feel the palpable energy and you must give your partner an ‘offer’ so
that they can respond to your movements with the same level of maturity and enthusiasm
that you responded to their movements.

During
this exploration of your own body and the body of your partner you should
disengage from your mind, and not think through what your next movement will be
– you should feel it from your gut, and allow this feeling to control the
movements of your body. You must disconnect from your mind and only communicate
feeling and emotion through your physical movements. During this exercise you
want to avoid taking an even slightly unenthusiastic approach because for this
to work you must be 100 percent committed and on task for the duration of the
exercise, or you will not benefit from it at all.




Once
you have mastered the technique for this exercise there are various different
levels in which you can increase the challenge for your mind and body whilst
still exploring with different movements. First of all you should try isolation
of different body parts. Essentially this means experimenting with different
given circumstances such as ‘only being allowed to use your arms’ ‘not being
allowed to use your left leg’ ‘you can only use your head’ ‘you entire body
must be on the floor’ ‘you must always have one hand on the wall’ ‘you may only
use your left hand, right leg, and torso’ and you can experiment with as many different
stimulus like this as you can think of. The aim of this is to open up a realm
of different physical possibilities to you, and to make you confident in the
exploration of your own body. Another interesting stimulus you may add is music
or a repetitive four beat background rhythm whilst you explore with the ball of
energy exercise. 




Another
way of expanding on the ball of energy exercise is to manipulate the amount of
people participating, and their relationship to one another. An example of this
is to have two people passing a ball of energy from one to the other; however
they must hold hands for the duration of the exercise. This Is one of the
expansions that I participated in during this exercise, and I found that it
made me more aware of my partner and our interactions were magnified greatly. I
also found that by working in a closer proximity to one another more accidental
collisions were made and the restrictions of what is socially appropriate to do
became completely extinct. Some of my own ideas of expansion on this exercise
are to manipulate the amount of people participating, and their relationship to
one another by having people work in a trio so that there is another person in
the group that you must be aware of, or even solo work where you focus more on
your own self development in contact improvisation. All of these various
different ways of experimentation of the ‘ball of energy’ exercise have merit
to them, and are valid form of physical exploration, however you should in no
way be discouraged from being creative and coming up with your own spin on it.




Evaluate the benefits of the ball of energy
exercise. What is your opinion?




There
is a wide variety of benefits that are available from not only the ball of
energy exercise, but also from contact improvisation all together. There are
many physical benefits such as the strengthening and toning of muscles, but
also there are a lot of intellectual benefits for the mind in this work. For
example, in my experience of the ball of energy exercise I found that before
participating I allowed various social barriers to prevent me from being fully
engaged with my own physicality, however by the time I had completed the ball
of energy exercise I discovered that these metaphorical boundaries had all been
demolished in the course of the exercise. Also, a lot of this exercise is to do
with the torso and the stomach muscles, which are strengthened greatly during participation.




I
did however find some physical discomfort in the exploration when we were given
the stimuli of only being allowed to work from the floor, simply because my
injured knee was placed under a lot more pressure and this limited the variety
of things I could do. However I still continued the exploration
enthusiastically and whole heartedly, and therefore benefitted greatly from it.





Why is it important for you to be able to
listen and to 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. 




What sensibilities do you need to be successful
in a contact jam?

Sensibilities

sen·si·bil·i·ty

  [sen-suh-bil-i-tee]  

noun, plural sen·si·bil·i·ties.

1. Capacity for sensation or feeling; responsiveness orsusceptibility to sensory stimuli.

2. Mental susceptibility or responsiveness; quickness and acuteness of apprehension
or feeling.

3. Keen consciousness or appreciation.

4. Sensibilities, emotional capacities.

5. Sometimes, sensibilities. Liability to feel hurt or offended;sensitive feelings.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sensibilities?__utma=1.332983985.1353361905.1354055717.1355335994.3&__utmb=1.2.10.1355335994&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1355335994.3.3.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=221437464 



To
be successful in a physical theatre contact jam you need to be able to
demonstrate many different sensibilities confidently. You need to be able to be intimate
with another person and therefore you should also be capable of
comfortable self exploration. A contact improvisation jam has potential to
be an extremely dangerous exercise, meaning there are many sensibilities that
are extremely important to develop before practicing the technique.




The
ability to make physical offers to your partner is one of the extremely
important sensibilities in a contact jam, as is the ability to accept other
people’s offers and then to respond appropriately to these offers in a mature
way. With so many individuals working closely together, it is vital to offer
physical movements to others that allow your partner to create an originally
organic physical response and as one movement flows in to the next, there should
be a palpable energy in the room during the contact jam. 




Maturity
is also a very important sensibility that all of the training actors must
employ during a contact jam, because the entire exercise involves vigorous
spontaneity and intimate physical contact with other training actors, therefore
it is extremely simple to ruin the entire improvisation if any individuals within
the group are uncommitted to the work. The focus of the entire group will be
instantly diffused and the palpable energy in the room is lost. Mutual respect
is also required for the focus of the group as well as yourself in order to
understand your own personal physical boundaries. 




Another one
of the sensibilities needed to be successful in a contact jam is spatial
awareness. Although contact improvisation requires a very flexible body (something
that personally I found quiet difficult and an area of my personal being that I
must work on to improve) a contact improvisation jam can often include a very
very large amount of people in a small confined space and therefore lots of
collisions and even injuries are likely to occur. It is absolutely integral
that you are aware of any collisions that occur and react accordingly, but you
should try to avoid them and being especially aware of the nature of those
around you.




Describe the process and application of
combining text with contact.




The very
first step in combining test with contact improvisation is to introduce the
group of training actor’s to conversation during contact improvisation. All of
the participants in this exercise must ensure that the conversation is
disengaged (it just flows from their mouths, and it rides on the action). The speech
does not essentially have to take place straight away; it is up to the individual
training actor and their own gut feeling in their body when they feel the words
should come out and are appropriate to the current situation. This entire
exercise is about using the combination of organic movement and speech to
create a completely spontaneous conversation that has a clear narrative, but is
also full of potential and palpable energy. In my class exploration of this
exercise, we used an specific extract from MISS
JULIE to help us develop our skills concerning physical theatre, contact
improvisation and text. In our class exploration the extract that we used works
best when students are in mixed gender pairings because the two characters I
the extract were JULIE and JOHN and it was also very useful for me that the
lines were very short and simple and therefore easier to remember. 




Discuss the value of actors studying
improvisation and justify all your comments. 




In my
personal opinion contact improvisation is extremely valuable for learning how
to explore how your own body moves physically and to help training actors come
to the realisation that your body is full of physical
potential. Learning how to be at one with your own body and leaving your mind
behind takes some time and some definite getting used to, but with consistent
practice it becomes much easier to disconnect yourself from the intellectual
part of your brain, and to allow your primal physical instincts to take control
over your own body.

In my
opinion learning how to let the spoken lines ‘ride’ on the physical action provided
can be difficult if you are not fully concentrating and focused on the exercise.
Even the slightest distraction can diffuse the tangible energy in the room and
ruin the entire exercise for everybody else participating – therefore it is
essential that you are 100% on task and focused for the entire duration of the
exercise.  Also if any individual within
the group feels the need to be inappropriate this can also ruin the exercise
and defocused the rest of the group.




In
performance contact improvisation provides a very convenient way to produce organic
physical movements that have potential to be the stimulus for your partner/s to
use for an appropriate physical response. Using your own natural instincts
during contact improvisation instead of the intellectual aspect of your mind can
also help to unlock new movement potential within each individual actor. With any
added stimulus, contact improvisation has the potential to become anything, something
artistically and visually beautiful that people could interpret in a variety of
different ways.




Research the theatre company complicite 

The British theatre company Complicite was founded in 1983 by Simon
McBurney, Annabel Arden, and Marcello Magni. Its original name was Théâtre de Complicité.
"The Company's inimitable style of visual and devised theatre [has] an
emphasis on strong, corporeal, poetic and surrealist image supporting
text" (Stephen Knapper, 2010, Contemporary European Theatre Directors).
Its work has been influenced by Jacques
Lecoq. The company produced their first work in 1983. In 1985 they won the
Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The company is based in London and use
extreme movement to represent their work. Their productions often involve
dazzling use of technology, such as projection and cameras, as well as lyrical and
philosophical contemplation of serious themes.

The company's lineup changes
frequently, though McBurney continues to be the artistic director. Complicite
is currently more active as an international touring company than within the
UK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complicite





 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 

 


Complicite is an internationally
acclaimed theatre company, based in London. Led by Artistic Director Simon
McBurney, the Company has won over 50 major awards worldwide.

The Company’s 2008/09 production of
Shun-kin, based on the writings of Jun’ichiro Tanizaki, will be on tour later
this year and will be seen in London, Paris, Tokyo and Taipei. A Dog’s Heart –
a new opera by Alexander Raskatov, based on the novella by Mikhail Bulgakov and
directed by Simon McBurney – can be seen at ENO in November. Other recent work
included Endgame (London West End), Measure for Measure (National Theatre and
world tour) and The Elephant Vanishes (Barbican, Setagaya Public Theatre and
world tour).

Alongside its productions Complicite
runs an extensive education programme which informs and reflects its artistic
output.

http://microsites.nationaltheatre.org.uk/61124/productions/complicite.html

FINAL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

Today we performed our physical theatre pieces in front of the whole strand. I worked in a group with Molly and Nora to create our piece of contact improvisation based physical theatre.

Our piece began with me being 'asleep' on the floor specifically in the fetal position, then awakening and observing and then responding to the environment around me. We did this as a representation of the growth shown throughout our piece and to indicate the clear narrative or birth, life and death which overshadowed our work. I found this particular opening very easy in rehersals for me, because I did not feel any tendencies to fake emotion, I honestly did feel the emotion in my gut as I was looking around and interpreting Molly's and Norah's movements and the physical pictures that they created. Also in my opinion our opening physical images created on stage were so ellaborte and interesting that I am certain all the members of the audience had a variety of different interpretations of it. 

We then continued to move through the choreographed movements of our rehearsed piece. During devising time on our piece and rehersal time we decided as a group that we would like to restructure our piece for the audiences individual interpretation. So we reorganised quiet a few of our physical pictures, and re-ordered them in order to create a loop hole from which we could repeat a small section of our piece continuously. 

We did this because our stimulus was a photograph containing lots of fire and destruction, which as a group we interpreted to mean apocalypse. We then agreed that we wanted our piece to have a sense or disorientation and disorder whilst also having a clear distinct narrative, therefore we used the idea of 'equilibrium, dis-equilibrium, equilibrium restored.' 

In my opinion this went hand in hand with our given stimulus and allowed us to be imaginative in our creation of organic movement that consistently maintained fulidity. 

There was also a section of our piece which was completely improvised, and different each individual time in execution. We decided to do this because of the nature of this terms work: Contact improvisation and Complicite. 

Personally I believe this section of our pieced worked a lot better in rehersals because although we were all aware that all of our physical movements were improvised and 'un scripted' we were not being watched by any type of audience. In our final performance today I personally felt very conscious and aware of the fact that I was entirely improvising my physical movements whilst being assessed on said movements and being watched by the entire theatre strand. Although this unnerved me a little today I still think that the contact improvisation section of our piece worked very well, whilst also complementing the nature of our work. 

After the performance, my physical theatre teacher will made a specific comemnt to me individually to work on my flexibility for future performances, which I fully took on board, and now intent to do more yoga in order to improve this. 

Overall, in my opinion our piece went extremely well, and I am truly proud of what we achieved today.