Dance - the use of improvisation.

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Dance

By the use of improvisation, rehearsal and performance we compiled a number of sequences, which essentially led to a structure of a dance. The work reflected the knowledge and understanding of the purpose of performance that we had acquired of the genre of contact improvisation. Steve Paxton was the founder of contact improvisation he saw potential of fusing together athletics, gymnastics, martial arts and movement. The focus is on the physical sensations of touching, supporting, leaning, falling and counterbalancing as if bodies are conversing. We used this style in order to convey that a relationship was occurring. The stimulus for our piece was a section of dance performed by V-tol called 'Where angels feared to tread'. The balcony section has 3 cubicles in it where a physical conversation takes place in each one. It shows the use of the restrictions of space to add tension and climax to the dance within the individual cubicles. This was the main stimulus for the use of the lift in our dance, which later evolved, into many different marked out areas in a certain space.
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The workshops we attended throughout the improvising stage of the dance gave us an insight and experience into the technique and genre of contact improvisation. We came to realise that the main principle of the technique was to support each other's weight in action and to manipulate around one another. We then began to put the dance into context and decided upon using marked off areas for each group to perform in to show the restricted area if we created a room. This idea was became our stimulus the balcony scene from; 'Where angels fear to tread'. We ...

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