Chance Approaches

As part of my new “Monday’s Mentor”, I’m trying not only to discover and be inspired by other dancers/choreographers, but also employ ideas or approaches from these people to aid my own practice.

Something I was very impressed about regarding Cunningham was his approach to dance practice, realizing the potency of routine and old information, but being able to integrate new information, technology and chance approaches.

Participating in Isabel Lewis’s workshop in Vienna was eye opening. Not a usual class, Lewis proposed an exploration into a new “class” concept. Embracing the impact of technology on a dancer’s life, the ability to multitask, and continual information overload; the workshop experimented with warm up’s created by YouTube, and improvisation encouraged to the split visual cues of the Pussy Cat Dolls and existing contemporary dance choreography.

Practically applying such experimentation, I wanted to find random, fragmented “workouts”, and employ these in my conditioning routines. I’m hoping it’ll keep things fresh, give me new ideas, and push me beyond my current scope of practice.

Here’s two video’s we used in Lewis’s workshop, and two I wish to begin with:

And for a little more groove:

It’s a fun way to begin stretching beyond your comfort zone, and a way of engaging with past popular fads, with much of the physical information still relevant to today.

Let’s see how we go…