Dance improvisation is widely used in contemporary dance practice however, it is a skill that many trained dancers find hard to master. Teaching and leading dance improvisations can become daunting for even the experience dance artists however it is often the most simple of tasks that are the most effective. Improvisation can be used for a number of purposes in dance and is a very valuable choreographic tool. Many performance companies also use improvisation as part of their performances however it is during community and educational workshops where many dance participants experience improvisation. The following exercises can be used as starting points for a range of improvisation sessions and can be given to a variety of participants from young people to professional dancers, students to the elderly.
Body Awareness
Take a look at your hand. Imagine you have never seen a hand before. Notice the slight hollow of the palm, the lines around the bumps of the hand, the print on the fingers. What do you think it can do? Does it walk? Fly? Crawl? Try and make it ripple, spurt, stiffen, quiver, clench, scratch, hang, pulsate, drum, point. See if each part of the hand can move by itself. See how far you can move each part. Imagine the hand has a life of its own, its getting excited and more frenzied. It’s running away from the body. Let it go. Now throw it away, really throw it away. Apply this same process to the face, spine, feet, hips, head and other body parts. One by one, throw away those parts after you have explored them fully. Have you got rid of everything? Have you thrown away your waist, your shoulder? Now throw away your whole body, make sure you have really thrown it away. Check that you haven’t forgotten to throw away a piece of you. Have you thrown away your right shoulder, your left knee? Now get them back and have a dialogue with them (the meaning ‘dialogue’ may need to be discussed before the exercise begins in order for the participants to understand this instruction). Now try having a dialogue between your face and your left foot. Slowly add other parts to the dialogue until your whole body is moving. STOP! Now move the body as one unit. Make one simple statement then end.
Use of Language
It is essential that the instructions for the above improvisation are clear which may mean that you will have to break them down even more than they are here in order for the participants to understand and fully develop their exploration. It is also advisable if leading a workshop for inexperienced dancers, to participate in the improvisation yourself. This will give the participants more confidence to explore their own movement and will allow the less able people to copy you to gain initial ideas and enforce understanding.
This exploration can lead to a set choreographic task where the participants choose one body part and create a phrase based only on that one body part. This is only one idea for a starting point for improvisation. Improvisations can be based on a range of stimulus including pictures, music or simply abstract movement.
Source
- Franklin, Eric (1996) Dance Imagery for Technique and Performance, Human Kinetics: USA
- Franklin, Eric (1996) Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery, Human Kinetics: USA
- Blom, Lynne, Anne (1982) The Intimate Act of Choreography, University of Pittsburgh Press: USA
Amy Watson - Amy-Louise is Artistic Director of the dance theatre company 90 Degree Rotations and has a PGCE in Dance Teaching.
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