Improvisation is not an exercise

“We know that improvisation is one of the canonical exercises of universal teaching.” – J. Rancière

While I do agree that teaching, whatever the subject, involves a healthy measure of improvising. I would, however, say that improvisation is not an exercise, but a temporal relationship that can be exercised during a given exercise.

Is improvisation enacted phenomenology?

When improvisation is true to its intent, it never knows where it is going. This is because it is present-centered in its descriptive aims, accounts for temporal change, and does not have appropriate and inappropriate topics. It might move from Zen to dance to baseball to washing dishes, and even isolate a purity of attention that under certain circumstances connects them all. Improvisation develops unpredictably, according to the contents of consciousness.  – Andrew Wass

original text below

When phenomenology is true to its intent, it never knows where it is going. This is because it is present-centered in its descriptive aims, accounts for temporal change, and does not have appropriate and inappropriate topics. It might move from Zen to dance to baseball to washing dishes, and even isolate a purity of attention that under certain circumstances connects them all. Phenomenology develops unpredictably, according to the contents of consciousness.

Sondra Fraleigh

A Vulnerable Glance, Dance Research Journal, v. 23 issue 1 1991, p.11)

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_A7V3U1Oeg]

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.