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To begin the lesson we participated in an exercise that involved the use of spirals. In pairs, we were required to stand back to back and our aim was to activate our spine by keeping in contact with our partner but moving in different directions around the space and formulating different levels. Personally, I was surprised by this exercise as I felt that my movement potential increased and I found that my partner and I were engaging in a fluid performance because the connection between the spines made it easier for me to move around the space. Furthermore, this exercise entailed me to vary the use of my dynamics. In contact improvisation I predominately move around the space at a slow, sustained space however the spiral task allowed me to move at a more faster pace and it was seen that me and my partner were travelling from one end of the room to the other quite quickly.

The majority of the lesson included creating and refining our contact scores that were to be performed at the open studios. My group collectively decided that it was necessary to add more rules so our score appeared more varied. Therefore, we took this time to adjust our score, responding to any feedback and refining any parts that looked messy. Our final, developed score included the following rules:

• A minimum of four dancers had to be out of the space at all times
• Everyone would start out of the space then one dancer would begin the score by entering the space and when this solo is occurring, another dancer must enter to form a duet
• The aim of the duet is to travel to the opposite side of the room
• If a third person joins the duet to form a trio, they must initiate the change of direction and level. However, dancers should be interchanging the levels at all time but if they haven’t been able to vary the level then the person entering the space would be a cue for them to change the level
• Every time an individual entered the space, they would have to make up their own role to influence the dance and this should change every time they go in
• The score would end with the ‘small dance’. It was not set when the dance ended but when you felt ready to stop dancing, therefore not everyone would stop at the same time but it would be a matter of listening to the group and one by one each person would stop moving until the dance came to a gradual stop

Each group in the lesson performed their score twice to the class and once each group had performed they would be provided with constructive feedback and then were given the chance to perform their score again to respond to feedback given. The first time we performed our score it was noted that we could have used the space more effectively because as a group we have a tendency to clump together, usually upstage centre dismissing the downstage area of the space. As a result, as a group we felt that instead of having a minimum of two people out of the space at all times, which was included in our original score, it was more beneficial to have a minimum of four dancers out the space. This is because the audience will be given more time to focus on certain solos, duets and trios that were being devised in the space and they would feel less overwhelmed as there would not be too much happening. Additionally, to use the space more effectively, we noted that we should make use of all the empty spaces available and this make the space feel less crowded.

Another point of feedback that we got given was to allow the audience more time in watching the duets, solos and trios. This is because if a duet was occurring, people in the group would tend to enter the space to form a solo and the audience may be distracted from the duet to focus on them. Therefore, if something interesting is happening in a duet or trio, we should allow the dancers to proceed with what they are doing so we don’t take the emphasis away from them and then make a decision on when it is right to enter the space. Furthermore, when trios were happening in the space it was noted that one person would automatically become the under dancer and have to take the weight of the two over dancers. As constructive feedback it was decided that if a dancer was to enter a duet they did not necessarily have to put weight on them or force to become the over and under dancer, they could simply support the duet by offering certain surfaces and structures.

Open studio performance

As part of the open studios, we were required to perform our contact improvisation scores in our groups. As the audience entered the space we were in mid flow of a contact improvisation jam. Once all audience members had taken their seats in the studio, each dancer left the space individually until all dancers were out of the space and then we could begin our score. I felt parts of this performance were successful but there was aspects that I think I could have performed better or I have shown evidence of in class. During the performance, I felt that I utilised the space well and I distributed the role of the under and over dance equally, stepping away from my role and primarily being the under dancer. Additionally, in class I have noticed that I usually stick to performing on the floor but in the performance I discovered that I varied the levels more and there were many moments that I would stand up and perform at a higher level. On the other hand, there were parts that I didn’t feel were as effective as they could have been. This was because when I was performing the score, half way through I forgot some of the rules so I primarily engaging in just random contact improvisation. As well as this, I do not feel as if there were many uses of lifts. Therefore if I was to perform this again in the future I would ensure that I would try to incorporate more lifts to make it exciting. When I stepped out of the space during the score it was interesting to see how focused everyone was. As I was watching it appeared that everyone was aware of which parts of the space were free and where each dancer was in the space. Also, I felt when I was performing with other dancers in my group it was apparent that they were focused on what they were doing and they were listening to my body in order to create a safe and interesting duet or trio.