Jerwood Bank 2007

Everyone has been working pretty much in isolation for over 2 weeks. It’s hard to show your work in progress for the first time and the first feedback session was inevitably difficult.

Each person had quite alot of material to show but, after putting it under the micoscope, it’s now clear that many of the ideas and the resulting movement needs to be challenged and pushed on to another level.

Today we asked them to look at 2 things which were explored through simple improvisations:

1. Detatch the physical movement from the idea or image it originated from
E.g. If the original thought was ‘pushing a ball under water’, the physical exploration would be pushing with resistence and a possible release.

This then, could lead to a freer movement exploration, less tied down by imagery which may now be too restricting.

We then asked if they could improvise, putting the detatched, physical idea into the lower body to encourage a move away from the upper body being the primary vehicle of expression.

2. Identify the physical traits of the material you have, and find the opposite aspect
No character is one dimentional. You can use an opposite to accent or highlight what you want to be seen….

To help with this we asked them to work in pairs. A watches B. A tells B the main physical traits of the material in 2 words. They then find an opposite or contrast. B then improvises with the new physical thought.