Improvisation: Not Spontaneous?

What are we really saying when we say 'in the moment' or 'be present'?

And what exactly is improvisation? The term as become so widely spread, it no longer describes one idea, mind-set, or working method. Gaga, Open-form Composition, Spontaneous Composition, Forsythe, Contact Improvisation...  I can not simply "improvise" for you. (Which is what my 11-year-old niece requested when I had to explain to her I don't have any dance 'routines' but I mostly improvise. My response was "Let's do it together, it's more fun that way!"). I too was being vague in this context, unable to give a clear picture to a young, inspiring dancer about what kind of field she was up against.

Let's start to be critical about what we are asking from ourselves when we Improvise. What are we really doing here?

There's some sort of phenomenon in which we expect ourselves as dancers to be able to differentiate between acting according to a (inner) sensation that is happening right now and the knowledge that we have gained from the past, (which actually enables us to make decisions and predict the future). Thusly, we can not separate ourselves from our knowledge.

What is Improvisation?

What if we approached it this way:

We are knowledgeable about what we are doing. We are putting ourselves into situations of pressure, or the unknown, or collaborative communities and forcing a response to that instance. We are risking.

We are not trying to think out of the box, always creating something new, better, innovative, different than before. We are looking at "what's inside the box?"

The questions I have now:

Where is the revolution of improvisation beyond being 'innovative'?

Where are the risks in the arts that actually matter?

(Thanks to Joào de Silva for his lecture today on Improvisation and Risk-Taking. Many of the ideas here come from him. Best of luck on your Phd)

Week 3: Auditions

The last two Saturday I took part in two different auditions. It's always nerve-wracking to some extent, I don't always know how to prepare, what to expect, and if it's a situation I'd even like to see myself in. 

Last Saturday, the 2nd, was the infamous Jan Fabre. Antwerp-based, visual-artist-turned-theater-maker Fabre is a handful. I had heard only negative things about him as a person and very mixed reviews on his work. He recently got lots of Belgium media attention for his continual throwing of cats in his latest work. 

And that's not all... Here are the audition notes: 

"The 24-hour Project will be a Fabre project about Greek mythology, a search for the origins of tragedy. A battlefield of love and war. The actors wake and sleep on stage. For twenty-four hours Fabre directs his images using their stolen dreams.The 24-Hour Project cannibalises theatre. For a whole day and night the remnants are digested and ejected through the passage where everything ends up. In this way Fabre metamorphoses theatre. Has done all his life."

Contrary to the project itself, the first round was packed tightly into 1,5 hrs. I have never been so pushed, manipulated, displayed, and humiliated. We did a 'warm-up' of fast-moving turns, jumps, and acrobatics, solo improvisations to Michael Jackson, embodied killer animals and died for ten minutes, stared in the eyes of another completely motionless, and stood like columns while each of us introduced ourselves one-by-one and spoke a short text. 

He uses dancers as if their bodies and talents are clay to be sculpted, to be pushed to the limits of psycho, crazy, and grotesque. I was nearly the color blue so  he could use me to paint his artwork with. Where was the human relation in all of this?

Look, I like crazy. I love extremes. I want theater pieces to make you uncomfortable and questioning. This level has to come from a vary real place, it needs to be developed and trust between the director, performers and spectators needs to be in place for there to be any meaningful necessity for the extreme. 

Fabre didn't have my trust, my appreciation, my willingness, so how could I make the spectator also believe in what I was doing?

I didn't make it to the callback, and I would have walked out had I have been. I knew he was crazy... but I had to see it first hand if he was still a credible artist. 
If this man didn't channel his 'crazy' toward art-making.... he might just be a serial killer. 




So:

Yesterday's audition was far from this scene and it was a welcomed calmness. 


The choreographer, Elio Gervasi, is soft-spoken and kind-hearted. We worked mostly in improvisation. He gave a small warm-up with connections in Counter- and Release techniques, loosening up our joints and becoming available for movement. We learned an arm phrase that was big, spirally, and free of counts. To this we improvised the leg and bodywork. After a short break, we came to to watch, one-by-one again, a solo improv in the circle. The atmosphere with time was supportive and encouraging you to move like you.

However, I didn't connect with a lot of what Gervasi was asking for. He was difficult to understand through his accent and even passed that didn't give clear tasks. 
As I gathered by the end, he was looking for pure movement. Nothing expressive, with performance 'code', tricks. Just movement. 
I wasn't sure to what extend this meant. What about dynamics? and different textures? Qualities of movements? I had spent the last week with Peter Jasko explore all the different ways a body could move, have qualities, and be dynamic. And now I was asked to be a moving body...

I assume I'd understand it a bit better if I worked with him for longer. There is a simplicity that was alluring to me. He lets the body speak for itself. And a release to allow yourself to just be. I missed the challenge. I want to step into the studio every day to discover something new, pushing myself to different directions, abilities, possibilities. Where was the drive? the struggle? the NEED?

I'll hear back from him on Tuesday.

Week 3: What have I gotten myself into??

Wow. It has been a Great 2 days. 

I've signed up for more than I can handle this week and I'm totally digging it. 

First, in the morning I'm taking technique class with Peter Jasko. You could call it technique, but it's mostly improv—based, where we are busy researching our own movements. 

After this, I continue with Jasko with "Spontaneous Composition". We further research movement, adding layers of qualities and possibilities. We play solo as well and in groups, trios, duets.

Just for an idea of the movements and obsurdity of what I'm working on this week, here's some inspiration from Jasko:

After these 5 hours, I have a lunch break. Time to collect my thoughts...

And from 5-8 I take another very active workshops "Physical Verses" with Damian Jalet who worked with Sidi Larbi often. We explore centrifugal force with our center and limbs flying and spinning around the floor. Then we go into some other tasks, learning repetoire, working together as a group, and continuing harvesting centrifugal force in our own bodies. 

Some work from Jalet:

Needless to say... it's all too much for me. But i'm enjoying it oh so much!

I'm covered in bruises on my hips and knees and elbows because I get into this state where I'm exploring movement in such a different way, I end up in places I've never been before. 

Especialy with Jasko's work, he emphasizes the moving from the body, the body knowledge. Instead of mentally preparing what's going to happen next, you go for it. The focus is not on analyzing what the state, or feeling, or quality of the movement is, the focus is on 'doing' before even knowing where you're going. 
It's a kind of work that I'm really excited to be tapping into. I'm usually the more brainy thinker, and I'm thoroughly enjoying trusting in my body and seeing what already exists in it. 

I'm building a lot of trust in myself. and letting go of the fear of going to unknown places. 

I reach by the end of the day a level of complete exhaustion, and in this zone, when I continue to push the physical limits, I start to discover new things and develop new trust in my movements, stamina, and improvisation qualities. 

Day 3 of week 3... It's a killer!