This is my Improvisation task, and it was based off Scene 6 and the two quotes 'Have you made any plans?' and 'Take an overdose, slash my wrists then hang myself'. It was a Question and Answer task where they had to create motifs based off these statements and play around with the idea of 'The Helper' and 'The Patient'. I think that this was a good way for the dancers to interact with each other as well as playing around with quotes from the play.
Practical Research
UNIT 8: Collaborative Performance Project
Practical Research w/c 28th February 2023
Following the practical tasks carried out within sessions this week, reflect on the work and what you have learnt from it.
List the exercises and give a description of the instructions for each:
How did you respond to each of the exercises, how did you feel when performing them?
What were the positives/challenges of each of the exercises?
Which exercise did you prefer that you would do again?
Improvisation Tasks:
Painting the floor Task – This was an exercise where we had to travel down the room on the floor using a variety of ways to travel. This included using different rolls and slides and another part of the task was staying below a certain level too make sure that we were adapting our levels to make sure that we were using unusual and strange movements. I thought that it was a challenge to try and find unusual ways to roll and travel down the room, but I liked the freedom of being able to travel on the floor. Another positive was that we could use our own imagination to find new ways to go down the room.
Matrix Task – This exercise involved us imagining that there were lasers coming out from the walls and going across in front of us. We had to travel down and up the room avoiding the lasers by finding new ways to get over or under them for example. I felt strange performing this one as it looked weird when we were trying to avoid the lasers. The positives for this exercise were that I was able to expand new ways to get over the ‘lasers’ and tap into my imagination. A negative for this exercise was that it was difficult to not think about the next movement, as I was thinking about it too much therefore the movements were almost the same.
Follow The Leader – This exercise involved us all standing in a clump in the centre of the room, and we had to follow someone that was in front of us. We did this exercise with different leaders and facing different directions of the room. I felt more confident when doing this exercise as it was someone else coming up with the movements, however I was scared when I was leading but I did enjoy it. A positive to this exercise was that by facing a different direction and travelling while following someone is that you are more switched on and can take ideas from other people. A challenge for this exercise was that when you were leading, you had to think of new movements to what the people before you did. This allowed you to think more and expand into unusual and strange movements.
Shape – This exercise involved us going in groups of 3’s and 4’s at the side of the room and the first person would go and make a shape, the second person would make a shape around them, and the first person would get out of that shape and make a new one, and the third person connected to the second person and this process repeated across the room. This allowed us to use our bodies to make new shapes and find different ways to get out from the shapes when we are connected to each other. A challenge to this exercise was not just thinking about the same shapes that everyone uses and trying to think of shapes that are unusual and more challenging to connect and get out from,
Choreography Workshop:
Music – This exercise was used by playing 5 different types of music and we had to dance to these pieces. Each time we started by lying down on the floor until we got inspiration from the music to start dancing
Pairs – This exercise involved being in pairs and every 15 seconds a person would turn round and pick out one movement for 30 seconds and then another move. The second person would then turn round afterwards and complete this same task. This was repeated 3 times each and the movements that were performed were selected and put into almost a routine in pairs. It was a six-movement routine in total.
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UNIT 8: Collaborative Performance Project
Practical Research 3rd & 8th March 2023
Following the practical tasks carried out within sessions this week, reflect on the work and what you have learnt from it.
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Improvisation tasks:
Give a description of the instructions for each:
How did you respond to each of the exercises, how did you feel when performing it? Would you use it again?
QUESTION & ANSWER – For this exercise we had to go in pairs with another dancer and we had to dance almost like we were having a conversation with that person. One dancer started doing a short phrase and then the other would respond. I really enjoyed this task because it allowed you to do different dynamics within a variety of lengths of phrases. I would use this again because it allows us to connect with our partner and think of different dynamics and directions.
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CIRCLES – For this exercise we had to improvise and create movements that are circle like, leading with different parts of our body. Once we had done this, we had to put together a sequence of these movements are show everyone. After, we showed a partner and we had to merge our phrases to create one phrase as a duet. This allowed us to perform and create different circular movements with a variety of parts of our body. I would use this again as it helped me to do new movements and with other parts of my body.
FOLDING & UNFOLDING – For this exercise we had to improvise from one side of the room to another and we had to fold and unfold using different shapes and parts of our body. We were told to make sure when we unfold, we do it opposite to the way that we originally folded. We had to use a variety of angles to think of new movements. I would use this one again but we could develop it by only using one level for example, like keeping it all on the floor or all up high.
OIL IMPROVISATION – For this exercise we had to improvise while imagining that oil was running through your body. While we were doing this, our teacher would say ‘shake off the oil’, and we had to change our movements to do this. After she said, ‘let the oil go through slowly’, so you would change the dynamics of our movements. I would use this exercise again because it allowed all of us to expand our movement knowledge and do dynamics and directions that we would never normally use.
MORNING ROUTINE IMPROV – For this exercise, we had to think about what we do as our morning routine and the order in which we do this routine. Once we did this, we had to turn this into dance and show for example ‘brushing our teeth’ through dance. We had to think of new ways to show this rather than being too realistic with our movements for example. I think this was the hardest exercise because of the new movements we had to think off but I would use it as it expands your imagination and movement knowledge.
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