Dance Training Journal: 4/13/15

Dance Training Journal: 4/13/15

The shift in how we approached walking 8 steps in each direction during the warm-up dance was new. For this one, I chose to approach levels, which brought me to some new places. I noticed that Robin, was doing some very low-to-the-ground crawl work, and that affected my motions, by bringing my hand to the floor more often.

We had a brief review of Intiations, specifically, Impulse, Breath, Weight shift, and falling to gravity. We also reviewed Fading, Follow through, sudden stops, and ending in strange shapes.

Our exploration of rhythm, in open improv was a lot of fun. I noticed that i was very, very comfortable in the free, constant flowing mode, and that while I was capable of swift, sudden changes, that overall, I preferred flow in my work. 

Exploring different ways to fall, such as directionally, fast or slow, sliding, or spirals, got.... freaky. even though I have explored falling like a ragdoll, both in and out of the class multiple times in the past, I discovered, there are many, many, more ways to fall than I had considered before today. 

Our "walking, running, falling" improv was a hoot. I tried lots of new things, and I noticed that my outer awareness extended into the room better, which allowed me to do better with synchronizing with others during the group work. 

For the "dramatic action" exercise, getting free, dramatically was pretty simple in the literal sense. Imaging I had on handcuffs and leg irons, going through the motions of forcing them off was fairly simple. Making it more "abstract" involved me making motions impossible to do with actual bonds on, and towards the end, I explored the idea of one half my body being artificially 'weighted' down by bonds that were not there, while the other half, was 'lively' and free.