Personally, I have been totally gripped by contact improvisation from the moment I was introduced to it. I adore the sensation of shifting weight and the danger of the dynamic and trust the art form creates between two people. The dance form appeals to my love of science, specifically physics. Contact Improvisation creates honest authentic dance, it brings a dancer back into their body, back into the moment, and really doesn’t allow any room for “over-doing.” My love and curiosity about contact improvisation is what lead me to suggest that Carrie and I research Steve Paxton. I quickly found out his interests are even more closely related to my own.
Paxton’s body work with the material for the spine is very much up my alley. I am very interested in the anatomy of the body and how its restrictions and configuration limits and expands movement, which is a concept that is very much of Paxton’s mind set. The exploration of the muscles surrounding the spine, the core of all movement, is an exploration I not only respect a lot, but I would like to experiment with myself. I really enjoy that his work focuses so much on bringing the dancer back into their body, back to the basics of movement. This aspect of his work makes it accessible and applicable for many different types of people: Trained dancers, elderly, children, disabled, ect.I really respect the accessibility of his work. His work with the disabled shows the range of his work. He has worked with the cognitively disabled, the blind, the physically handicapped, the old, the young, and even trained dancers. His work allows any person to go through an exploration of their own body, and to reignite movement in a world consumed by material. For me, it is not his specific choreography that has been his great contribution to the dance world, but rather his unique process and the explorations he has worked with such as, Material for the Spine, his work with pedestrian movement in Satisfying Lover, his creation of Contact Improvisation and the exploration of the physics between two people, and over all the benefit of movement for people from every walk of life.
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Without Paxton’s work, many types of movement may be taboo or considered non-dance. He broke the boundaries of “what is dance” and allowed pedestrian movement stand on a stage alone. Without him, one probably wouldn’t see walking in dance, and even gestural movement would be less accepted. There clearly has been a shift in the dance scene toward the awareness of the body and its limitations, and even more importantly respecting those limitations. This respect is very much initiated by Paxton’s work. This respect is the reason why at 73, Paxton continues to dance. He respects the limits of his body and lets this influence and feed his work. Without his influences on the dance community, the face of dance would look dramatically different.~Rachel
I also very much so enjoy contact improvisation, and find Steve Paxton's work to be very interesting. I think it is so great how he brought in the pedestrian type of movement into the dance world and how his concepts have now been accepted and are used quite often.
ReplyDeleteI can closely relate to this as well. I began my college career as a physical therapy student. I still have a strong interest in the use of the body. I find it facinating all of the muscles and nerves and how they connect, and more importantly how we use them. I believe that this interest in the body is what has brought me to dance. I love exploring the ways in which we can use our bodies in both the pedestrian and full on dance ways.
Your blog looks great! I really enjoyed reading it! Thanks for sharing!
- Chelsea Bushman
That's very interesting, I was actually Pre-Physical Therapy until this semester when I switched my focus to Dance therapy. I discovered that I need to treat the body more holistically which is another very interesting aspect about Steve Paxton. I love how he focuses on the need for movement for mental well being. He talks about how the increase in technology really decreases our movement and how that effects the population both mentally and physically.
ReplyDeleteThe interaction of the muscles and bones, as well as, the effect of breathing correctly, is without a doubt my favorite part of dance. Steve Paxton often approaches dance very analytically, which I personally enjoy because it doesn't allow for emotionally over-doing.
I'm glad you enjoy my blog! If you ever want to discuss the overlap of anatomy and dance let me know. I'm always excited to discuss the overlap of science/math and art!
~Rachel