Looking back on my initial ideas of improvisation, it would seem that I have been completely naive and somewhat ignorant to what the practice really is and what it captures. I believed improvisation to just be ‘dance without plan – without a predetermined direction – without any known end.’ (Midgelow, 2012, 10). Yes that is what improvising is, but there is so much more to it.
How can I engage in a practice with my prejudices? Where do I go from here?
I’ll let go of my preconceptions and start from scratch.
My companion, ‘LANDSCAPE OF THE NOW A Topography of Movement Improvisation’. (De Spain, 2014) will help me along the way.
I’m throwing a beanbag through space… to my partner. I am aware of the people around me doing the same.
I hear a bean bag drop. I drop to the floor.
I throw the bean bag. I freeze in a position.
I throw the bean bag. I make a noise.
Am I improvising?
Yes. I cannot second guess when someone will drop the beanbag, or where I will land in space from catching a beanbag, nor can I prepare a noise. I am improvising.
Throwing bean bags became our score.
We created a finite score. The end point is identifiable through the gradual reduction of people throughout the score.The emptiness of space signalises the end.
The choice that surrounds me leads me to space.
The space around me.
The space I am moving in.
The space between me and my partner.
The space other people are moving in.
With space I have a constant choice.
Where can I move in space? Where do I move in space to avoid collisions? Is there free space that I can utilise? Can my partner foreshadow where I am moving in space? Can my partner maintain a connection whilst I move around in space; are there any obstacles that can prevent the connection?
The fixed is when to move on to the next development. Twenty is the fixed number of throws. Each development consists of twenty throws; each pair will throw twenty times. After twenty throws, a new development begins. The cycle is repeated, until the last development is reached.
Dropping of the beanbag becomes the unfixed. We cannot second guess when it will be dropped, there is no set timing. Only the word ‘drop’ announces that we must fall to the floor. We must adapt our movement accordingly. If I am midway through running, I will not suddenly stop and drop, I will incorporate the running into the fall. If I am in a freeze position, can I maintain parts of the freeze while dropping? These are decisions that are taken in the moment, there is no fixed way of when, where and how.
Our score attends to showing each development in a systematic way. The score functions as a canon:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5
__ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
______1, 2, 3, 4, 5
_________1, 2, 3, 4, 5
___________1, 2, 3, 4, 5
The audibility of counting to twenty, five times sets a pace for the performers and audience. It becomes a signal for the development change, and for a new pair to be introduced. The loss of this half way through the score results in confusion. The speed in which the beanbag is being thrown within each pair fluctuates, making the development changes harder to identify both as a performer and viewer. Keeping the counting as a constant throughout would aid with the clarity of intention.
Improvisation is an interesting practice. A practice where ‘dare is its lure’ (Buckwalter, 2010, 3).
Improvisation dares me to try the new, dares me to discover more.
Buckwalter, M. (2010) composing while dancing AN IMPROVISER’S COMPANION. USA: University Wisconsin Press.
De Spain, K. (2014) Landscape of the Now. New York: Oxford University Press.
Midgelow, V. L. (2012) Dear Practice… The experience of improvising. Choreographic Practices, 2 (1) 9-24.
