Tag: Contact Improvisation

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CI as a Form of Ethnic Dance

#Kealiinohomoku

It is good anthropology to think of contact improvisation as a form of ethnic dance. Currently, that idea is unacceptable to most Western dance scholars. This lack of agreement shows clearly that something is amiss in the communication of ideas between the scholars of dance and those of anthropology, and this paper is an attempt to bridge that communication gap.

Although claims have been made for universal dance forms or international forms in actuality neither a universal form nor a truly international form of dance is in existence and it is doubtful whether any such dance form can ever exist except in theory.

Nevertheless, contact improvisation is a product of the Western world, and it is a dance form developed by Caucasians who speak Indo-European languages and who share a common European tradition. Granted that contact improvisation is international in that it “belongs” to European countries plus groups of European descendants in the Americas. But, when contact improvisation appears in such countries as Japan or Korea it becomes a borrowed and alien form. Granted also that contact improvisation has had a complex history of influences, this does not undermine its effectiveness as an ethnic form.

So distinctive is the “look” of contact improvisation, that it is probably safe to say that contact improvisation dances graphically rendered by silhouettes would never be mistaken for anything else.

The question is not whether contact improvisation reflects its own heritage. The question is why we seem to need to believe that contact improvisation has somehow become a-cultural. Why are we afraid to call it an ethnic form?

We should indeed speak of ethnic dance forms, and we should not believe that this term is derisive when it includes contact improvisation since contact improvisation reflects the cultural traditions from which it developed.

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J.A.M.

joyous anatomical movement, just any movement, justify all motivations, just anatomical motivations, juried anatomical motivations, joint articulated motion, jointly arranged motifs, judiciously articulated meaning, juxtapose all meaning, jettison any meaning.

as with any jam, combine the known variables to suit your needs in the moment

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oti

If ballet is the “negation of weight” (Kuppers 2000, 123), I would say that Contact Improvisation is the negotiation of weight.

Petra Kuppers (2000) Accessible Education: Aesthetics, bodies and disability, Research in Dance Education, 1:2, 119-131.

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core, floor, contact

core_floor_contact.jpg

The distances between elements can vary.

The number of floor contacts per individual can vary.

The number of contact surfaces between individuals can vary.

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Epistemological Rigor

“Cvejić argues improvisation’s epistemological lack of rigor due to its reliance on the practitioner’s experience within the frame of the ineffable…” Bell, p.111

 

from Biba Bell’s review of Choreographing Problems: Expressive Concepts in European Contemporary Dance and Performance in DRJ 48/3 December 2016

Merriam Webster defines epistemological as “the study or a theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity”.

By studying improvisation through the lenses of Ensemble Thinking, the Six Viewpoints, Contact Improvisation, & Action Theater, the theory of the nature of improvisation becomes apparent. I would therefore propose that Ensemble Thinking, the Six Viewpoints, Contact Improvisation, & Action Theater could be seen as epistemological rigor. The rigor already exists. The frame of the ineffable does not preclude epistemological rigor. The theories of the aforementioned improvisation practices are embedded (embodied) in the scores of each improvisational methodology. The scores of these practices could be seen as the theories that transcend the ineffable. These theories live beyond the moment that performing disappearance à la Phelan.

“The consequence of the “monopoly” of practitioners’ knowledge in the field is a lack of proper theoretical study, of a comprehensive systematization…” – Cvejic, p. 130

The bias against practitioner’s tacit knowledge is evident in Cvejic’s position. A comprehensive systematization of improvisational epistemology already exists in theories such as Ensemble Thinking, Action Theater, Six Viewpoints, Contact Improvisation, et. al, already exists in the practices themselves. It is her inability to recognize the theories, as a relay between practices with any of the aforementioned methodologies (Deleuze), inherent, embedded, and embodied within each improvisation method.

 

As to the idea that there is a “monopoly”, well, yes, of course there is a “monopoly”, and rightly so. Physicists create the theories for physics, because they are the ones who study physics. Economists create the theories for economics because they are the people who study economics. Linguists create the theories for linguistics because they are the ones who study language. People who study improvisation (as it relates to dance) create the theories of improvisation. To know it you have to do it.

 

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response

“…the technique of Contact Improvisation, which prioritises the understanding of movement as response to direct physical stimuli through sharingweight with a partner(Novack 1990)”

the quote above is from Sophie Lycouris’ doctoral thesis.  And I think that this notion perpetuated by Cynthia Novack’s book is what is keeping CI in the dog house of dance. This book, I believe, seems to be the academic go-to for understanding Contact Improvisation. I wish academics would use a more updated notion of CI

And I think that the above notion of what CI is, is outdated and limited.  CI 26 years ago, maybe, focused on the movement in CI as a “response” to stimuli.  This is only half of the coin. The focus on “movement as response” is what I think Lisa Nelson has been quoted as referring to as CI not being an art form.

There is nothing in CI that precludes the dancer from creating movement before direct stimuli. I understand why the “response” side is emphasized.  Beginners all too often initiate movement without having the skills to execute their desires.  End-gaining in AT™ terms. But I fear that this is where most teaching of CI stops, at the listening and responding.

But that is merely the beginning.

So back to the dog house…by limiting CI to responding, practitioners give CI that limp noodle look, the “improvised” look. (Don’t get me started about whether or not improvised has a look. Does painting have a look?). And humans, being the animals that we are, assume a whole host of values when we see an iteration of something.  We, unless we know better, assume that everything of that thing we observe looks like what we have seen.  Think “first impressions”. If CI is noodley in one iteration, then CI is noodley.

This noodle-heit and then the assumption of cuddly hippie everything goes lackadaisical-ness ruins CI for the rest of us who practice it differently and desire to use the tool of CI for other aesthetics and logics.

(oh, Andrew.  Stop whining!)