We began the class this week by watching Steve Paxton’s Magnesium (1972) and compared it to Earthdance (2010) by Blake Nellis and Brando. These pieces were created with almost forty years between them and in them you can see many differences between the early stages of Contact Improvisation and the technique now that it has been further developed. Both are fast paced however, Earthdance has a much smoother movement quality to it and seems much more controlled and understanding to one another’s movements. It also creates more of a relationship between the pair. This is not to say that Magnesium was incorrect, it was just the early practitioners exploring the limits of the body. The forty years shows the progression in the tonal qualities of the piece, more knowledge on landing and strength and a further practice and understanding on how and where to make surfaces of the body available for your partner. Below is a recording of Earthdance to help illustrate the ideas that I have brought forward.

After this we moved around the space keeping our head attached to the floor at all times. We then found a partner and had to keep complete head to head contact throughout. I became much more relaxed once I was with my partner and enjoyed our duet very much, I also found that I bonded with that partner more than I had done in any previous exercise. I think this was due to us giving each other the weight of our heads and therefore creating trust, this connection was furthered by how much of a close proximity we had to remain to one another.

Moving on from this with the idea of making surfaces more available, we began rolling over our partner. Starting at a low level one partner would make a pebble shape and the other would roll over them so that they became back to back midway through the movement, keeping the neck and head relaxed. We then progressed to the base partner being on ‘all fours’ and continued the rolling action. I found this much more difficult than I had originally thought however, once I had practiced a few times I became more confident in the action and during the final improvisation in the class and the improvisational jam I continued to explore this idea as well as the idea of my head being in contact with my partners. I think it has opened up the ideas for partner work for me and allowed me to trust my partner more.

Brandes, Aaron (2010) Contact Improvisation: Blake Nellis & Brando @ Earthdance. [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQRF2sLK1vY  [Accessed 12 October 2014].