Devising: Day 2

Today, our lesson was based more on contact improvisation and exploring how we could create a piece based on this style.

Firstly, we watched a clip of performers showing contact improvisation at a high level, giving us ideas on the style. We then split into pairs having to devise a small piece of contact. I found this hard to think spontaneously, and to not think about things too much. However, the more you relax and let the piece flow, the greater chance of creating a piece there was, which was what I found anyway ! The main part I really enjoyed about this clip was how they explained what they were doing in terms of sharing balance and how effortless they made it look, although I didn't really get what they were performing, or if they were performing anything in particular. However, the concepts present aided me in my thinking of contact improvisation.

We showed our pieces and were told to go back and add a movement of weight balance and a lift.

Afterwards, we grouped up and began to think of how our group could create a small scene based on our stimulus. At first we found it hard to come up with ideas but decided slavery would be the best option as it gave us a broader scope. I think at first, we tried to overcomplicate things by doing lifts, however, we took the start back to a freeze frame and found creating the piece much more easily.

Below we brainstormed an idea of what we would want to include in the piece and the connotations of the topic of slavery.