I'm examining the passage from up to down.
I look at the range of the passage from
the small dance of standing
to the linked falls of walking, to large swoops
and dives from high points on other bodies.
The act of falling has come to include an
ability to adapt to the variables of distance,
position and direction,
and to intuit which part of my body
will take the first moment of impact.
The first part that touches the ground,
I can use as a lever.
By extending to that part, I can unify limbs
and torso to prepare a sequence which will
smoothly transmit my weight and
accumulated momentum into the floor.
Within the brief freedom of the fall, my body
can convert a sudden accident into a controlled descent.
The result of so many changes in spatial
and kinesthetic orientation in a short time has
caused me to understand space as spherical.
The sphere is an accumulated image
gathered from several senses.
Vision being one, as if quickly looking at all directions
gives me an image of what it might be like
to have a visual surface
all over my body instead of skin.
But skin is the best source for the image
because it works in all directions at once.
If we could turn the skin off,
we would appreciate it much more.
But the skin works most of the time on automatic pilot,
the conscious mind is alerted if
unusual stimulation appears on the surface of the body.
But I don't notice the touch of my clothes or
my weight in a chair most of the time.
In Contact Improvisation however, I find I am hanging
by my skin and relying on its information to
protect me, to warn me, to feedback to me
the data to which I am responding.
We are looking at material from 1972
training for the first performance of Contact Improvisation
at the John Webber Gallery.
It was a hot, muggy New York
City day, but everybody seemed gay.
What can be learned by catching a hurtling body?
The importance of timing.
That there is such a thing as correct preparation.
That understanding the technique with the mind is
different than understanding it with the body.
That momentum can be extended and used
once the initial impact is absorbed or deflected.
That the seemingly impossible juxtaposition
of a small woman catching a large man
has possibilities, most of them
leading to the floor.
But that is reasonable.
Trying to stop or hold too much weight is dangerous.
The idea is to discover what is simplest to do.
In a state of trust of the body and the Earth,
we believed we could learn to handle the forces
involved in the physical interactions between two people who
permit each other the freedom to improvise.
The first instant of any fall is crucial.
At that point, a roll may be prepared.
But if the preparation isn't made at
the first moment, falling takes place
without guidance from the faller.
What can a body do to be safe?
Commitment to something which isn't happening is
a barrier between me and my body's circumstance.
Memory of past judgments tells me
that prejudging is not secure, and memory
can't function consciously because at these speeds
I can't think my way to safety.
If thinking is too slow,
is an open state of mind useful?
Seems to be.
I remember deciding to learn falling skills.
These have become muscle memories.
I figured my chances of survival were greater with these
skills than without an assessment of things to come.
In this way, prejudgment and memory do play
a part in what is happening now.
Adults and children fall at the same
velocity although adults are more liable to
injure themselves because their mass is greater
in proportion to structural strength.
It's possible to develop responses
to deal with this safely.
Slides, rolls or full surface landings which spread the
impact of landing over as much of the muscle
area as possible, are useful in contact improvisation as
they are in the martial arts of Japan.
I am concerned with the possibilities of guiding the
momentum of the fall away from collision with the floor or partner.
A body could endure for decades.
I don't want to injure joints,
on the other hand, shouldn't focus on doom.
Can't exclude fear.
Efficient falls tend to turn into slides or rolls
transforming vertical momentum into horizontal travel.
I may find a last minute leverage from my
partner to enable me to land upon my feet.
My fall might be guided so it
spirals around the body of my partner.
Thus, a fall starting on the downward path can
be guided into a circle orbiting my partner.
And finally, its momentum used to aid in
regaining a high perch.
Contractive energy or tensions,
overpower the sensing of subtle movement.
And so gravity is masked.
Relaxed is almost right
but flaccid is wrong.
In exploring the small dance of skeletal
alignment while standing, I am sensing subtle
falls of parts of the skeleton.
One thing is clear - I have little memory
muscular or mental, of what I've danced.
The specific movements my body executes
when I improvise, do not register
consciously and I can't reconstitute them.
I feel transparent in the action, causing it
only a little, and holding no residuals.