Sunday 31 July 2011

Open Improvisation

Digression in nomadic improvising is one of its pleasures. So here I encourage you to take time with the sensation of pleasure whilst dancing.

Enter the space with only the intention of following your desire to move ...
.... what draws you?
.... what movement gives you pleasure?
.... what physical sensations in dancing do you enjoy?

... allow yourself to dwell in these kinaesthetically resonant places, enhancing them through your attention and your enactments...


Video: 'Drifting'- the dancer and camera move together in an open improvisation.
Video images from three versions of this open improvisation are layered together and given a colour 'effect' through FCP to echo the sensual pleasures of dancing whilst drifting through.

Saturday 23 July 2011

Transformations 3: skin and image

Developing the 'becoming insect' improvisation (below) to focus in upon the sensations on/of the skin.

Imagine ants crawl across your hand, arm, shoulder..
                                       they move across your check, back...
Imagine a swarm covers your body...

Let the sensations evoked give rise to movement...
note the changing texture of the skin, pay attention to the detail to the smallest (re)action.
(This task is inspired by butoh practices)

Video: Becoming Insect 2 - Ant
(two versions of this improvisation are overlayed - one filmed in close up, the other mid shot. A 'strobe' effect is added to echo the internal sensations not otherwise evident in the image)

Transformations 3: skin and image from Vida Midgelow on Vimeo.

Friday 15 July 2011

Transformations 2: becoming 'animal'

Three improvisations that evoke contrasting physical states .......

Becoming 'insect'....
Becoming 'reptile'...
Becoming 'bird'...
 
Working with the image of these creatures as an internal stimulus work to embody them.

Build upon the sensations these evoke in your body - the tendencies, tensions, twitches, twists and turns... such that you respond to and dwelling in, becoming 'animal', becoming 'other'.

Use the images of 'becoming animal' not to provide form, but to provide the inspiration. 


Video 1: Becoming 'insect' improvisation
(camera on dolly with quick shifts in position to echo the properties of the movement)

transformations 2: becoming 'insect' improvisation from Vida Midgelow on Vimeo.


Video 2: Becoming 'reptile' improvisation

Transformations 2: becoming 'reptile' improvisation from Vida Midgelow on Vimeo.

Video 3: Becoming 'bird' improvisation
(camera on a dolly enabling the shot to move with and around the dance)\

Transformations 2: becoming 'bird' improvisation from Vida Midgelow on Vimeo.

Friday 1 July 2011

Transformations 1

'Becoming'...
What is it to be in a constant state of 'becoming'?


'Transforming'
What is it to 'transform', or to be 'transforming'?


Becoming Animal
Lay upon the floor. Eyes closed. This journey to the vertical is like a tracing of evolutionary development… working through images of animals you explore the possibilities of movement, of locomotion, as if your bodily structure were that of another creature. Remember you are not trying to ‘be’, but rather you are seeking to explore the bodily co-ordination that emerges for these structures.


A single celled organism… like jelly held in a membrane…
Gradually you start to sense appendages, cilia and fins that can create locomotion.
Like a snake you undulate.
Appendages become limbs… like a salamander or lizard.
Finding ways to lift your belly off the earth… you might find yourself as if a four footed creature – a cat perhaps… tumbling, jumping, playing.
Beginning to sit… your pelvis hangs between your legs… deep folds in the hip sockets – a low squat… you propel yourself across the floor… the ape in you takes form.
Extending upwards… homo erectus... your hip and shoulder joints open… two feet taking you forward… your arms reach to the sky.
Reverse the journey.
(adapted from Andrea Olsen)

Stills: from becoming animal
(selected still images from 'stages' in the improvisation process)







Video: from becoming animal
(timelapse of all the images taken through one cycle of the 'becoming animal' improvisation)

Transformations: 'Becoming Animal' Improvisation from Vida Midgelow on Vimeo.