Due to injury I was unable to participate in the Tuesday session, however I observed and witnessed the tasks and tools which were given to explore. I found that watching others enhanced my learning of strengths and weaknesses, it also made me more engaged on the fluidity of the interlinking movements.
I witnessed first hand when the centre of gravity goes to far over the partner causing the structure to be unbalanced, therefore they will collapse. Remembering to be aware of own weight and correct placing when going ‘Up’ as these are extremely important.
Initially I was anxious of entering the space, as we hadn’t jammed in two weeks. We had Fenia jamming with us and Tess playing the drums and peers using other instruments which created a more generic, unique and focused jam as a whole. I fully concencentrated and picked up on the musicality from the composition of instruments. Firstly when entering the space I walked around, allowing myself to feel accepted I created a relationship wi Sammy, my anxiety was eased when jamming in the space however my body felt tense therefore I was not in the space long at all.
I explored the instruments (maraca) composing and gathering myself until I felt ready to re-enter the space. I did so and made some nice explorations with Kelsea. We did have times were we lost connection when attempting new ideas which caused stops and pauses this therefore caused a decrease in momentum. I took myself away and tried to from the relationship again with Kelsea, I had not worked with her before this jam. I felt that I was repeating movements and getting stuck in table top. I left the space awaiting to form a new relationship with someone so I can experiment with this weeks tools.
I made interesting works with Courtney, using the ‘Up’ tools.
Facing opposite directions-Seesaw exercise
I was intrigued to try this exercise out as I missed out from the Tuesday session because of my injury. I found connections through the spine and side of the middle kinesphere during this exercise. I attempted my relationship with Courtney using knowledge and tools from previous weeks, we had been jamming for a while and pauses caused uncomftability so we left the space.
When entering the space I knew I would be working with Hannah as she had entered and was not creating contact with another body. I knew I worked well before with her so I empowered my explorations through this relationship, I found that I was most exporative wuth her. I found my spine as a jigsaw with Hannah and allowed her to hang over me. I walked travelling the space with this extra weight finding how the weight could be transferred playing with this sensation through the body. I was fully aware of safe practise during the ‘Up’ tools on the middle kinesphere.
We were given instructions and prompts from Kirsty:
“Don’t leave the space”
“Everyone in the space”
“Use the instruments, don’t be afraid”
“Only leave the space for no longer than 1 minute”
“Work with everyone”
I took these instructions and attempted to work with multiple bodies however it formed a relationship of myself and Chloe, we ended the jam with everyone taking to the floor.
During this jam I had to focus on my injury( shoulder) so I was apprehensive of taking weight, although throughout jam I fixed with other bodies not causing any strains.
Throughout my learnings this week I encountered the two forces of gravity, which arose within the reading, these being weight and force(Woodhull, A. 1979.Pp43-48). We are informed that equal weight from each person is vitalothersie one will fall. I have personally experienced this in warm-up exercises where weight is transferred through the middle kinesphere (back to back using the arms to keep connected) giving equal weight when back to back so there is the availability to explore this movement.
How important is balance?
We are influenced by understandings of how height of the centre of gravity affects stability. From experience this does make you less stable when being high during this sensation I feel vulnerable as my full trust is in my partner. Therefore u can reflect to Woodhull.
This weeks session and jam have made me think about ideas for my research lab.
How do we know when a partner is ready to receive full weight?
Does thinking of centre lines, kinespheres and planes help our composition when thinking of improvisation with another body- how can we use this knowledge to create exploratory contact?
Woodhull, A. Centre of Gravity. (1979) Contact Quartely/ Contact Improvisation Sourcebok I, Vol 4, Pp 43-48.