1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,300 I'm examining the passage from up to down. 2 00:00:17,300 --> 00:00:19,300 I look at the range of the passage from 3 00:00:19,300 --> 00:00:21,500 the small dance of standing 4 00:00:21,500 --> 00:00:24,800 to the linked falls of walking, to large swoops 5 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:27,700 and dives from high points on other bodies. 6 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:36,900 The act of falling has come to include an 7 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,200 ability to adapt to the variables of distance, 8 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:42,100 position and direction, 9 00:00:42,100 --> 00:00:44,800 and to intuit which part of my body 10 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,000 will take the first moment of impact. 11 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:54,100 The first part that touches the ground, 12 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:56,100 I can use as a lever. 13 00:00:57,500 --> 00:01:00,500 By extending to that part, I can unify limbs 14 00:01:00,500 --> 00:01:03,400 and torso to prepare a sequence which will 15 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:05,800 smoothly transmit my weight and 16 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:08,400 accumulated momentum into the floor. 17 00:01:10,900 --> 00:01:13,500 Within the brief freedom of the fall, my body 18 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:17,700 can convert a sudden accident into a controlled descent. 19 00:01:21,100 --> 00:01:23,800 The result of so many changes in spatial 20 00:01:23,900 --> 00:01:27,900 and kinesthetic orientation in a short time has 21 00:01:27,900 --> 00:01:31,100 caused me to understand space as spherical. 22 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,800 The sphere is an accumulated image 23 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:36,900 gathered from several senses. 24 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:43,000 Vision being one, as if quickly looking at all directions 25 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,200 gives me an image of what it might be like 26 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:47,100 to have a visual surface 27 00:01:47,100 --> 00:01:49,700 all over my body instead of skin. 28 00:01:51,700 --> 00:01:55,000 But skin is the best source for the image 29 00:01:55,300 --> 00:01:58,100 because it works in all directions at once. 30 00:01:59,700 --> 00:02:01,700 If we could turn the skin off, 31 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:04,600 we would appreciate it much more. 32 00:02:07,300 --> 00:02:11,400 But the skin works most of the time on automatic pilot, 33 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:13,800 the conscious mind is alerted if 34 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,000 unusual stimulation appears on the surface of the body. 35 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,500 But I don't notice the touch of my clothes or 36 00:02:21,500 --> 00:02:23,700 my weight in a chair most of the time. 37 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:30,900 In Contact Improvisation however, I find I am hanging 38 00:02:30,900 --> 00:02:34,500 by my skin and relying on its information to 39 00:02:34,700 --> 00:02:38,100 protect me, to warn me, to feedback to me 40 00:02:38,100 --> 00:02:40,500 the data to which I am responding. 41 00:02:43,500 --> 00:02:47,400 We are looking at material from 1972 42 00:02:47,500 --> 00:02:50,200 training for the first performance of Contact Improvisation 43 00:02:50,500 --> 00:02:52,000 at the John Webber Gallery. 44 00:02:53,100 --> 00:02:54,700 It was a hot, muggy New York 45 00:02:54,700 --> 00:02:57,300 City day, but everybody seemed gay. 46 00:03:04,700 --> 00:03:07,500 What can be learned by catching a hurtling body? 47 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:12,700 The importance of timing. 48 00:03:14,300 --> 00:03:17,400 That there is such a thing as correct preparation. 49 00:03:19,500 --> 00:03:22,200 That understanding the technique with the mind is 50 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:24,600 different than understanding it with the body. 51 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:30,700 That momentum can be extended and used 52 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,700 once the initial impact is absorbed or deflected. 53 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:39,300 That the seemingly impossible juxtaposition 54 00:03:39,500 --> 00:03:43,100 of a small woman catching a large man 55 00:03:43,100 --> 00:03:45,600 has possibilities, most of them 56 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:47,200 leading to the floor. 57 00:03:57,100 --> 00:03:58,800 But that is reasonable. 58 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:03,000 Trying to stop or hold too much weight is dangerous. 59 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:09,300 The idea is to discover what is simplest to do. 60 00:04:22,300 --> 00:04:25,100 In a state of trust of the body and the Earth, 61 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,100 we believed we could learn to handle the forces 62 00:04:28,300 --> 00:04:31,400 involved in the physical interactions between two people who 63 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:34,000 permit each other the freedom to improvise. 64 00:04:40,300 --> 00:04:43,000 The first instant of any fall is crucial. 65 00:04:44,900 --> 00:04:48,000 At that point, a roll may be prepared. 66 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:50,300 But if the preparation isn't made at 67 00:04:50,300 --> 00:04:52,800 the first moment, falling takes place 68 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,200 without guidance from the faller. 69 00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:58,700 What can a body do to be safe? 70 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,400 Commitment to something which isn't happening is 71 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:12,600 a barrier between me and my body's circumstance. 72 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:17,500 Memory of past judgments tells me 73 00:05:17,500 --> 00:05:24,700 that prejudging is not secure, and memory 74 00:05:24,700 --> 00:05:28,400 can't function consciously because at these speeds 75 00:05:28,500 --> 00:05:30,800 I can't think my way to safety. 76 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:37,500 If thinking is too slow, 77 00:05:37,500 --> 00:05:39,700 is an open state of mind useful? 78 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:42,100 Seems to be. 79 00:05:48,700 --> 00:05:52,400 I remember deciding to learn falling skills. 80 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:55,100 These have become muscle memories. 81 00:05:56,900 --> 00:06:00,600 I figured my chances of survival were greater with these 82 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:04,800 skills than without an assessment of things to come. 83 00:06:05,700 --> 00:06:08,600 In this way, prejudgment and memory do play 84 00:06:08,700 --> 00:06:10,700 a part in what is happening now. 85 00:06:13,900 --> 00:06:16,300 Adults and children fall at the same 86 00:06:16,300 --> 00:06:19,400 velocity although adults are more liable to 87 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:22,100 injure themselves because their mass is greater 88 00:06:22,100 --> 00:06:24,400 in proportion to structural strength. 89 00:06:25,900 --> 00:06:28,500 It's possible to develop responses 90 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:30,300 to deal with this safely. 91 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:35,000 Slides, rolls or full surface landings which spread the 92 00:06:35,100 --> 00:06:37,500 impact of landing over as much of the muscle 93 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:42,000 area as possible, are useful in contact improvisation as 94 00:06:42,100 --> 00:06:44,200 they are in the martial arts of Japan. 95 00:06:45,900 --> 00:06:48,700 I am concerned with the possibilities of guiding the 96 00:06:48,700 --> 00:06:55,600 momentum of the fall away from collision with the floor or partner. 97 00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:58,900 A body could endure for decades. 98 00:06:59,500 --> 00:07:03,000 I don't want to injure joints, 99 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:08,000 on the other hand, shouldn't focus on doom. 100 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,700 Can't exclude fear. 101 00:07:14,100 --> 00:07:18,200 Efficient falls tend to turn into slides or rolls 102 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:22,600 transforming vertical momentum into horizontal travel. 103 00:07:29,700 --> 00:07:32,700 I may find a last minute leverage from my 103 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:35,900 partner to enable me to land upon my feet. 104 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:39,100 My fall might be guided so it 105 00:07:39,100 --> 00:07:41,600 spirals around the body of my partner. 106 00:07:45,100 --> 00:07:47,700 Thus, a fall starting on the downward path can 107 00:07:47,700 --> 00:07:50,400 be guided into a circle orbiting my partner. 108 00:07:50,500 --> 00:07:53,400 And finally, its momentum used to aid in 109 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:59,300 regaining a high perch. 110 00:08:04,300 --> 00:08:07,000 Contractive energy or tensions, 111 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,000 overpower the sensing of subtle movement. 112 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:13,100 And so gravity is masked. 113 00:08:15,900 --> 00:08:18,100 Relaxed is almost right 114 00:08:18,100 --> 00:08:20,100 but flaccid is wrong. 115 00:08:24,100 --> 00:08:26,600 In exploring the small dance of skeletal 116 00:08:26,700 --> 00:08:30,600 alignment while standing, I am sensing subtle 117 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:33,300 falls of parts of the skeleton. 118 00:08:37,700 --> 00:08:41,600 One thing is clear - I have little memory 119 00:08:41,700 --> 00:08:45,000 muscular or mental, of what I've danced. 120 00:08:45,900 --> 00:08:48,600 The specific movements my body executes 121 00:08:48,700 --> 00:08:51,000 when I improvise, do not register 122 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,200 consciously and I can't reconstitute them. 123 00:08:56,300 --> 00:08:59,900 I feel transparent in the action, causing it 124 00:08:59,900 --> 00:09:04,000 only a little, and holding no residuals.