REHEARSAL 5 - 03/05/2024

Before this rehearsal, I struggled quite a bit in deciding where to go next. I did a lot of improvisations with the dancers in the previous rehearsal but without any set ways of creating material from that, so I knew I needed to go into this rehearsal with a more structured plan. I ended up going to watch one of the shows at Dance City called Surge and Sub:Version, which both gave me time to just sit and think about how I wanted to structure this rehearsal and gave me movement ideas surrounding quality, especially in regards to Tilly and being very linear.

Rehearsal 5 Plan:

• Conversation: Rehearsal Schedule, How are we feeling, Festival Updates
• Warm-Up: Contact Improv, Starting back to back, breathing + pulse
• Develop back rolls section, add start + end leaving on shoulder on knees, possibly can then move into a leaning sequence
• Go back to movement quality writings, each create a new phrase about a train of thought, whatever is going through their head and follow it no matter how weird.
• Me free writes: as they work what is my perception, as an individual, in contrast?
• Watch each other: free writes on what this phrase makes you think about, imagery, write for themselves as well how it felt.
• Add the other person into each phrase but interweave around the first person, how do they follow that train of thought
• Leaning sequence: Create 8 different ways of leaning/supporting each other, develop phrase moving/melting between them
• If time: Magnetised Improv

We started off with the same contact improv warm-up that we've been consistently doing to get more comfortable and weighted in the contact. When the second track came on I asked them to start thinking of that piece of music as a heartbeat/pulse to get used to the idea of using breath physically as a driver for their relationship with each other. 

Video of Contact Improv:

I then taught them a transition to get into the back-to-back rolls section that I did in a contact warm-up during the BA3 performance class last week. They sink down back-to-back from standing, and then Tilly pushes over her feet to a tabletop with Emily still on her back. I then also added some breath into the movements and ended the section with Tilly leaning on Emily's shoulder. I want to then develop this into a leaning sequence, moving between different positions of sharing weight along a diagonal from upstage right to downstage left. 

Video of Back-to-Back Rolls:

I then set them off on a creative task, revisiting the movement qualities we found represented each of them in week 1 and drawing out some specifics to focus on to create material that contrasted each other visibly. Once they both had their focuses, I set them off in creating a phrase as if they were moving through a train of thought. I left them to their own devices and told them that I was just going to sit and free-write about my perception of their way of working so I could think more about the ways they think, how they're similar and how they're different. 

Tilly Focus:                                          Emily Focus:

My Free-Writes:

I then asked them to perform it for each other and then write down thoughts about their own sequence and their perception of the other's sequence.

Video of Tilly's Train of Thought Sequence:

Tilly Self Perception:                          Emily Perception of Tilly:

Video of Emily's Train of Thought Solo:

Emily Self-Perception:                         Tilly Perception of Emily:

We then took these solos and I worked with them on interweaving the other person into it to make them both duets and develop some contact work. This worked so much better than my previous attempts at creating contact phrases as there was already a set framework of choreography to work around and build towards. We didn't finish them but did choreograph most of it which is a big chunk of partner work to add to the narrative of the piece and make the dancers feel more connected on stage.

Video of Tilly's Train of Thought Duet:

Video of Emily's Train of Thought Duet: