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Stephan had us focus on the details of looking at our body through a range of tools that can manipulate and generate new possibilities, focusing on bend, stretch and twist as a leaver for improvising. Improvisation is a negotiation with the patterns your body is thinking (Burrows, 2010, pg.27) expands on improvisation as means of producing movement as an embodied complexity that reaches 70% of our capacity and force, with 30%  space left for our body to develop. We generated an improvised rhythm from a singular body part to explore combinations of body parts in relation to our upper to lower body. This ultimately shaped new, fantastical ways our body can mould into shapes but respond to a twist or a bend in an unusual place like the ankle,  that can cause a reaction from our upper body to twist or stretch into our arm or head, as an example. Essentially it allowed our 30% of space to then repeat and rehearse an improvised rhythm which quickly embodied choreography setting into place.

Sporadic thoughts I decided to write down during this process were...

1) Unusual vocabulary of movement

2) What body part is moving

3) Feeling vulnerable

4) Successive and simultaneous

5) Revisiting movement, how it changed once we added direction and space into the equation.

>  Space-  after a while of moving, a phrase started to become familiar in my body. Using space I tried to make it small to begin with as it slowly expanded to an overly exaggerated visual. Appreciating my body to mind connection to develop my movement through extremes of shrinking and expanding, allowed me to explore possibilities to find a medium. This manipulated movement in some ways I really enjoyed and internally I felt more connected to how I was moving. However, it also highlighted some movements that I preferred moving through a larger dance kinesphere rather than smaller, and vice versa. However, my takeaway was becoming aware of both kinesphere as a choreographer.

> Action, Dynamics- Ultimately allowed me to figure moments in my phrase where stillness or slowed down tempo can really heighten/ intensify a phrase. Equally finding a similar balance through climax of movement when I feel a faster pace can be very effective to use.

(Burrows, 2010, pg.26) also discusses 'Cut and Paste' as an effective means by which a choreographer can explore the initial movement of improvisation, which can soon be filtered, developed or manipulated in a way that perhaps 'cuts' or expands motifs. However, highlighted previously is going through the process of using the extra space to remove, retrograde, repeat particular phrases that can result in being aware of what works and what does not. Reminding myself to push a medium of improvisation that can continually push me from staying within my dancers box of vocabulary. It is important  to remember 'cut and paste' as well as improvisation is not the only means to produce material. (Burrows, 2010, pg.26).

Welcoming myself back into the choreographic space is tiring but needed. There's a sense of comfortability and belonging that was found. (Brown, 2011) discusses the power of vulnerability as a being for a powerful purpose in life. Being aware of why and how we numb ourselves because although it's not a comfortable feeling, Brenae mentions how it is necessary to experience vulnerability. We numb vulnerability  but we need to find belief within ourselves, so you believe we are enough. Listening to this podcast has gifted itself to make me more aware of how self deprecating I can be when creating, decision making and so on. Moving forward I want to utilise diving down the rabbit hole of the human mind to see what random variables I can nudge and deliver to find useful directions and not be afraid of taking risks.

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Steve Paxton (1996) talks about when two things touch 'they experience the same pressure' just physics speaking. It's simple but it's a solid place. It is about energy and speed of manafestation that allows this trust with one another.

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ISTA Copenaghen, Steve Paxton's work demonstation, 1996

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(Forsythe, 2006) One flat thing, reproduced choreographed by William Forsyeth explores tools of using contact work, through lifting, giving and receiving weight. Ultimately inspiring relationships through contact. Using partnering work showed with myself and Taylor to create a duet that showed a continuous flow of giving and receiving weight, from any body part as a conversation and reaction from one another. This video was useful to watch as the dancers made each transition of movement seamless which ultimately gave each duet's execution visually look effortless with clear intention behind connectivity.

Myself and Taylor found ourselves exploring taking and giving weight using initiation from our arms to backs, I discovered how a simple rolling lift from my back onto Taylors initially was  difficult to achieve if our body alignment was incorrect through preparation, therefore rehearsing and walking through the body mechanics of each lift enabled us to understand where we needed to be correctly to create the right trust for one another.

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Relationships, partnering, and developing trust

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Relationships, partnering, and developing trust

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As you can see on the video, having a clear conversation between the two before being lifted is very important so that each other is aware of when to go. This could either be through eye contact, verbal and/or both, and it was clear because of nerves I wasn't ready which Stephan agreed and could sense this. However having this conversation between us made me feel comfortable and also ready for the responsibility in my role because I knew he was in his. This process ended up progressing into an advanced lift which wasn't planned but goes to show how easy a process of making can be and can progress with good communication between the dancers. This can leverage into many new explorations of lifts, relationships and pushing boundaries- this makes me less nervous for when I want to explore for future pieces that begin to build connections through relationships of partnering.

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Blom, L.A. and Chaplin, L.T. (1982) ‘Approach’, in The intimate act of choreography. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, pp. 3–6.

Burrows, J. (2010) A choreographer’s Handbook. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Forsythe, W. (2006) One flat thing, reproduced2, Numeridanse tv . Available at: https://www.numeridanse.tv/en/dance-videotheque/one-flat-thing-reproduced (Accessed: 10 December 202AD).

Graham and Hoggett (2014) The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre. London: Routledge.

ISTA Copenaghen, Steve Paxton’s work demonstation, 1996 (2009). YouTube. 21 November. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdcu3t3Z8NA&t=1s (Accessed: 10 December 2023).

The power of vulnerability | Brené Brown | TED (2011). YouTube. 3 January. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o (Accessed: 08 December 2023).

Smith-Autard, J.M. (2004) Dance composition. New York: Routledge.

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How we found our process- what tools we used

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How we found our process- what tools we used

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Suen’s process desired an end result that even from the initial process had no desire to be perfect. We determined an outcome in just under two hours, that utilised a few short phrases of movement, manipulated and developed into a 7 minute piece. We explored this project as dancers taking direction from Seun actively leading us as our ‘movement director’. Beginning the session with an improvisation exercise, individually exploring movement that formed inspiration from watching us all move in the space. Responding to his questions of focusing on a particular body part, feeling of belonging, reaction to our environment- how other dancers were moving In the video shown above we determine our own ending to the performance by becoming aware of each other in the space.

Some thoughts I wrote down through this process were

Valid perspectives of seeing the performance.

Would each performance be unique if we were performing this particular piece consistently

How can we invite different possibilities?

This experience has inspired me to take away different directions creatively and adopt a choreographic leadership role. Ability to produce material in a short amount of time. Ability to collaborate with other dancers that can utilise their unique style and bring them together.

It is important to reflect on what I have personally gained as an artist and explored in terms of tools used when creating choreography and how certain choices can expand possibilities. Learning how active my responsibility is within my choreographic leadership among others in group projects. Understanding my development so far can only benefit me for future collaborations that employ choreographic tools and theory as means of research for when I dive deeper into group projects. Learning about choreography has needs of adapting an active way in which we learn to choreograph. Just by reading, watching or hearing about doesn't ultimately teach us to choreograph. (Blom and Chaplin,1982, pg.3) Being grateful for failure but also honour improvisation as a tool for setting choreographic explorations. 'Our Approach will be to provide situations, in the form of improvisations, where learning results from experience', Boom and Chaplin, (Approach, pg.5)

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Intensive 3- Opposition, dance for camera

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Intensive 3- Opposition, dance for camera

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We were prompted to use the word 'opposition' as our stimulus for a dance for camera piece. Hugo initiated the narrative strongly as influenced by the song "He Loves Me'. We formatted our sections of movement in the studio- each section having a different female dancer being introduced, an idea behind infatuation for Hugo. Because of the personal narrative we wanted a personal setting and our idea was to film it entirely in one shot in Hugo's house.

Using tools from our workshops with Stephan exploring relationships and trust I wanted to pull from these to enable us to showcase relationships through our contact as each character has a unique way of interacting with Hugo.

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Following on from this I think I am happy with the outcome of our film, and realised the many tools and exploring taking risks can affect the outcome positively. For example, the idea behind the camera filming is personally quite invasive which I think worked well, especially when myself and Hugo are dancing on the bed. We realised challenges during filming which were

1) limitations of dancing on a bed compared to in the studio

2) unable to fulfil our initial idea of filming one shot

Using our tools explored within Lami Yovenburg workshop helped us to define our character and relationships between each other. We asked ourselves collectively who our character was, what is their story in relation with how we portray her on screen. Pulling from the Yami workshop helped us to really build and portray a character which assisted with generating intention behind our movement and experimenting with certain camera angels. The beginning shot of myself is close up which we wanted to start with as my character was someone who is very needy and jealous so enjoys the attention, having a close up section helped to create this atmosphere of someone who isn't afraid of closeness.

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Full performance video