Prior to the workshop I found this weeks reading rather useful. Susanne Ravn’s sensing weight in movement, looks at ‘how the weight of our body’s can be perceived from within when moving’ (Ravn, S, 2010, 21) . Throughout the workshop I found this quote inspiring as it allowed me to think internally about my weight whilst falling and rolling to the floor. I questioned whether it would move me to the floor along with gravity, or resist not allowing me to fall to the floor effortlessly. The data within the reading states that ballet dancers had a greater tendency to acquire a vertical balance, which allows centred control of their mass. However, when looking at contemporary dancers she found them with weighted limbs and relaxed joints, something which I tried to achieve throughout the workshop. I attempted to give up my control, allowing my body to be connected to gravity.

During the workshop this week we focused on not being in control of our bodies, allowing gravity to take control rather than resisting against it. We discovered ways to you gravity to enable us to fall and move without causing injury. We began the class with watching a video of Steve Paxton’s ‘Small Dance’. Where we saw a skeleton structures small movements in an upright stance in order to stand in a stable position. It was fascinating to see the amount of movement standing up right could cause, and also the amount we resist gravity. The video clip made me think ‘Do I actually move this much?’When I performed the task I noticed how much my body was resisting gravity, causing me to perform movement in order to stay stable. Moving on we were asked to release this resistance in order to let gravity take control. Throughout this task I noticed my body weight always shifting to the right or backwards causing me to come off balance and move backwards, allowing gravity to take control this caused the class to fall/roll to the floor. I felt relaxed throughout this exercise as I felt a real trusting connection with gravity, knowing the floor would always be there However, I felt rather afraid of falling forwards head first, this I believe would be because the head is deemed to be the most precious part of the body. If I were to perform this exercise again however, I would put more trust into the ground and experiment moving my weight forwards to the floor.

The next exercise which we experimented with was the cat and the owner. In pairs the person who was the cat was to give their weight to the owner whom would make strong structures for the cat to rest upon. We then developed this by rolling in to other poses as a cat would. I found this method very helpful, as before this I was reluctant to give my full weight. However, I discovered trust in my partner knowing they would always be a supportive structure for me to rest my weight on. When we swapped roles and I become the structure, I felt at home. Being the supportive structure felt natural to me and I felt able to take my partners full weight. Despite this I would like to move forward and be the over dance more to allow me to experiment how much weight I can give to my partner. The next step was to flow in and out of being the cat and the owner. This I felt helped with the flow of the movement. I often forgot who was the under dancer and who was the over dancer, I felt less apprehensive with giving my weight allowing a real connection to arise with me and my partner.

To end the workshop we were asked to split into groups of 4 and write down any questions we may have about Contact Improvisation.

From a variety of questions we discovered that the topic which came up the most was how different environmental factors could effect improv.

From this we came up with a task for the following week:

Location: Inside/outside, different flooring, compact/open.

Sound: Silence, Music, People around

People: People watching, Public, Duo, groups
I look forward to discovering how these factors effect improv.  And will our expectations change?.

Within the jam this week I focused on giving my weight to my partner allowing them to guide my body in several directions with their hands as well as other body parts. Specifically focusing on giving my full weight to my partner, whilst being conscious of the movement I was trying to pursue, in order for it to be safe. Throughout the jam I tried to work with as many people as possible in order to explore with different weights. I found myself to be a good structure for my partner to balance on. However, I was fairly shocked when I found myself fully comfortable with giving several people my full weight incorporating taught rolls and balances from the previous workshop.