Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance

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Action Research: Dance Improvisation as Dance

Technique

Peggy Schwartz

To cite this article: Peggy Schwartz (2000) Action Research: Dance Improvisation as
Dance Technique, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 71:5, 42-46, DOI:
10.1080/07303084.2000.10605145

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/07303084.2000.10605145

Published online: 11 Mar 2013.

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 Action Research:
Dance Improvisation
as Dance Technique
PEGGY SCHWARTZ

or several years I have been believed that if I committed myself to reiterating the viewpoints of these au-

F thinking about dance improvi-

sation as a technique in its own
right-that is, as a movement form
the exploration of improvisational
forms, then I would simply be side-
stepping the hard work of being a
thors, I decided to write from my own
experience with different forms of
improvisation: Dalcroze eurythmics,
that depends on the mastery of a par- dancer. After all, in most college pro- contact improvisation, authentic
ticular set of skills that imply and re- grams and private studios, improvisa- movement, group dance improvisa-
veal a particular aesthetic. Improvisa- tional dance, if it was offered at all, tion, Laban-based studies in improvi-
tion eludes easy definition. It is usually was considered an incomplete form, sation, improvisation as performance,
included in college programs as a use- to be studied in the service of more experiential anatomy as applied to
ful choreographic tool, as part of a mature dance development or used improvisation, and so on.
sequence of choreography or compo- by dance therapists. Technique. I found that others had
sition courses. Myexperiences with and Over time, I have studied and recognized the importance of the rela-
passion for improvisation have led me taught many dance techniques and tionship between improvisation and
to look at it as a dance form that has an many forms of improvisation. In re- formal technique. Wendell Beavers
integrity and coherence that is as im- cent years, my work has been powered (1993) defines technique as "basically
portant to the development of danc- by a desire to understand improvisa- figuring out what works, remembering
ers as the more traditional study of tion as a technique, to develop a se- this, and not starting from zero the
modern dance and ballet. quential pedagogy for it, and to grasp next time." In addressing the develop-
I have studied improvisation since its underlying principles. My experi- ments in improvisation of the last 25
the age of three, beginning with ences have given me a clearer under- years, he says,"Allof this work includes
Dalcroze eurythmics, which provided standing ofimprovisation-of its rela- learning to work with body feedback
the basis for all my further work in tionship to other dance forms and its and self-observation on the subtle level
dance. I was introduced to modern potential to positively influence both ofsensing, perceiving and doing." Such
dance when I was eight years old and dancers and non-dancers. improvisation calls upon the dancer to
to ballet when I was 12. AsI progressed, reinvestigate the meaning oftechnique
I thought ofmy initial improvisational Preparatory Research itself: as Beavers argues, "Dance's most
work in eurythmics classes as "baby Improvisation. In preparing to write this neurotic moments historically... have
stuff' compared to the "real" dance article, I read from many of the won- come when technique dictates content
technique I studied later. Neverthe- derful books available on improvisa- ... The idea is not to do without tech-
less, I was alwaysdrawn back to impro- tion, written by Eric Franklin (1996), nique but to reinvent it over and over
visation. When I rediscovered it in Alma Hawkins (1991), Daniel Nagrin again in whatever way the movement
California during the 1960s, with A. (1994), Barbara Mettler (1960) , requires." This desire for reinvention
A. Leath, Anna Halprin, John Gra- Lynn Blom and Tara Chaplin (1988), is as old as modern dance itself. It re-
ham, andJani Novack, I felt as if I had Joyce Morgenroth (1987), Georgette states the kind ofinvestigation that early
returned home. Schneer (1994), and others. I leafed modern dancers insisted upon for
Yet I was still divided: I thought that through back issues of Contact Quar- themselves and their followers: if ev-
one had to choose between being an terly, where much dialogue on impro- eryone has the potential to dance, then
improvisational dancer or a technical visation has been published over the everyone has the potential to develop
dancer. There was a part of me that last 15 or 20 years. Yet rather than his or her own forms of dance.

42 Vol. 71 No.5. JOPERD. Mey/June 2000

 StudentVoices. I also listened to what public schools, in a firehouse in Buf- and about dance as an art form.
my students had to say.I had a lengthy falo, in church basements, in gyms, What I am suggesting is that the
discussion with six advanced students and currently in the Five College principles of movement that I teach
based on a set ofquestions I had given Dance Department, which includes using a particular improvisational ap-
them to ponder. These questions in- diverse programs such as an experi- proach are applicable to improvisation
cluded: What are you learning in your mental liberal arts program at Hamp- in general and to training in more for-
improvisation classes? How does the shire College and a more traditional mal dance techniques. These principles
learning occur? Are there skills that B.F.A. program at the University of can prepare students for cross-disciplin-
can be practiced? Can you monitor Massachusetts-Amherst. I always seem ary learningand performance and help
your own development? When you feel to begin with the same set of instruc- them develop body strength, flexibil-
you are improving, what is it that has tions. With rhythmic music as accom- ity, rhythmic acuity, spatial awareness,
improved? What sequences make paniment, I tell the students, "Take a ensemble skills, and anatomical and
sense to you and help you develop walk." Then I add variations that in- kinesiological knowledge. In the re-
improvisational skills? What are the
goals of improvisation? How does it
affect your performance? Does this
approach help you to dance well?What
does it mean "to dance well"? Has
improvisation affected your view of
"dancing well"? I also looked through
papers written by teaching assistants
in response to the rather open-ended
question, "What is technique?"
Curriculum. I thought hard about
why I sequence courses in the way I
do. What is the place ofimprovisation
in a college curriculum? Why is im-
provisation often viewed simply as ma-
terial to be included in beginning com-
position classes? How do we convey to
colleagues the possible connections
between improvisational training and
other dance techniques? What are the
principles that underlie various forms troduce movement vocabulary and mainder ofthis article, I will detail these
ofimprovisation? Are these principles foster group awareness (e.g., "Change principles and describe my students'
similar to or completely different from direction," "Follow someone else"). perceptions of the general notion of
those that underlie training in other From there, I often proceed to body- improvisation-as-technique.
technical forms? Are they principles part awareness. I introduce simple
or simply generalizations based on my exercises for leading and following, PrInciples of TeachlDg
own personal aesthetic preferences? for activity and passivity, for tension Improvisation
Are the principles the same if one is and relaxation, and for spatial and SelfAwareru!SS. Self-awareness in dance
teaching improvisation as choreo- rhythmic awareness. involveslearning to monitor the prop-
graphic sourcing, improvisation for Many teachers ofimprovisation are rioceptiveinformation receivedthrough
performance, or improvisation as a familiar with this basic methodology. movement and through the senses, de-
way of experiencing the moment? If Yet through the use of these exercises veloping one's kinesthetic sense, and
improvisation depends on under- over many years with many students, I learning kinesiological principles
standing the creative process, am I have discovered that improvisation can through experience. This kind of
implying that the study of the cre- be approached at both basic and ad- awareness is central to certain forms,
ative process is a technical discipline? vanced levels, much like tai chi, Gra- such as contact improvisation, but it
Like improvisation itself, the ques- ham contractions, and a ballet barre. also enhances performance in ballet
tions seem limitless. This approach emphasizes self-discov- and modern dance. Self-awareness in
Learningfrom Experience. For more ery: I know what students can learn improvisation requires the dancer to
than 21 years, I have taught all age through any particular sequence, but develop mind-body feedback in order
groups, in many different environ- I also know that I may be surprised at to enhance the flow and synchrony of
ments: in a performing arts magnet any moment by what they discover all movements.
school for fifth-to-twelfth-graders, in about themselves, about movement, Tension and Relaxation. Tension and

May/June 2000 • JOPERD • Vol. 71 No. 5 43

relaxation are specific modes of self- nique classes, or simply watching oth- and performed several times in for-
awareness. All movement, and thus ers dance, students need good obser- mal and informal settings. A faculty
all technique, involves the contrac- vation skills to answer a variety ofques- member danced with them regularly,
tion and release of muscles. Focusing tions. Where is movement being initi- but the group was student-directed. I
on muscle use, as something separate ated? How is the body organized for had taught most of these students in
from training for particular move- movement? How is movement re- beginningcomp (an improvclass) and
ment sequences, often allows dancers solved? Is there a pattern for develop- advanced comp. Two of them had
to discover when they are misusing ing and shifting movement? Leading taken a course with me at Hampshire
their bodies. Barbara Mettler, a mas- and following exercises allow the College entitled "Techniques of Im-
ter teacher of improvisation, calls this dancer to practice observational skills provisation." I had met with two oth-
"instrumental" work. at a kinesthetic level, in a sense by- ers about a half dozen times to impro-
Activity and Passivity. The psychic passing the eyes. vise and work with imagery in dance.
reality of activity and passivity as it Imagery. Finally,I work with imagery, Most of them had continued to seek
translates into physical reality affects representational or abstract, and how my advice and guidance even when
many aspects of performance. Many it is generated. For me, it is at the level no longer formally studying with me.
dancers know the experience of "be- of imagery that the creative process all Our work together deepened their
ing danced," the moments ofembodi- comes together. An image might understanding ofembodiment and of
ment when body, mind, spirit, and emerge from a movement, or an im- their own creativity.
music all become one. This oneness, age may be what initiates a movement. Balanced Awareness. When we met
I believe, has much to do with the I encourage students to play back and for our discussion, the students had
play along the activity-passivity or do- forth between these two ways of using much to say. Like so many modern
ing-nondoing spectrum, as well as imagery, in the hope that they will learn dancers, they loved talking about the
with the sense of freedom created to identify images that are meaningful processes ofdancing and the develop-
when one's training and one's ability to them and embody these images in ment ofstyle and form. In response to
to release oneself from active applica- movement. I want them to give their questions about skill, they felt that
tion of training merge. This freedom imaginations free rein as they watch awareness was crucial to its develop-
allows the dancer to disappear, in the each other dance and respond to each ment and that improvisational work
sense that Stephen Nachmanovitch other's movements. enabled them to find a balance be-
describes in Free Play: "For art to ap- These, for me, are the basic materi- tween internal and external awareness.
pear, we have to disappear. This may als of most any form of improvisa- One student described internal aware-
sound strange but in fact it is a com- tional dance teaching. Another key ness as learning "what makes you tick
mon experience... It is possible to be- principle is, of course, helping danc- as a mover so that you can work with
come what you are doing; these times ers expand their range of movement others." They felt that they had learned
come when poufl-out you go, and responses. While I foster this growth to balance this awareness with the ex-
there is only the work" (p. 51). It is in part by introducing the elements of ternal visualization ofspace and imag-
during these moments that the im- dance from a Laban-based perspec- ery in different forms. One student
age or music or feeling or quality tive, teaching Laban Movement Analy- commented that acting as a perfor-
being evoked is most clearly revealed sis itself is not my goal. mance skill had taken on a new mean-
through the dancer-what we now ing for her. She now understood that
call embodiment. Student Perceptions it involved a different sort of aware-
Leading and Following. Learning to of Improvisation ness; that acting was "doing" rather
move along the continuum between The "Improv" Company. As described than "pretending." They all agreed
activity and passivity is important for earlier, I recently gathered six students that improvisation helped in "getting
group improvisation as well. Knowing together for a formal discussion of past one's brain," "remaining vulner-
kinesthetically when to generate and improvisational dance. I had worked able in the moment," "learning to trust
when to receive movement signals a very closely with four of them for three oneself, one's senses, and each other,"
readiness to go to the next step, which years, while one was newer to my and "going into the unknown." They
is effective leading and following. classes, and the sixth had worked in- felt it was very important that they
Leading-and-following exercises pre- tensively on improvisation with col- had experienced dance as a process,
pare dancers for improvisational work leagues of mine and asked to be in- as an ongoing act of creation.
of any sort that involves more than cluded in the discussion. They were Dancer as Creator. Improvisational
one person. part ofan "improv" company that they work also helped them see that the
Observation Skills. Both visual and had started as part ofthe student dance student can create the movement. This
kinesthetic observation are crucial to company at the University of Massa- led them to view technique and tradi-
improvisation. Whether they are per- chusetts-Amherst. This improv com- tional dance in a completely new way.
forming, rehearsing, attending tech- pany met twice weekly for two hours, By performing leading-and-following

44 Vol. 71 No.5. JOPERD • May/June 2000

 that freedom." "Not worrying about
counts has brought me to a new level,
a new way of fulfilling the dance."
"Dance [used to be] an escape from
reality. At the end of the dance I felt
blank. Where was I? Now I feel physi-
cally present throughout the perfor-
mance." "I used to think of dance as
the organization ofsteps and how they
look and positions. Now I think ofit as
movement through space. Music and
space are connectors. I get through
the steps to something new."
Teaching. The manner in which im-
provisation is taught affects how stu-
dents ultimately perceive it. The
teacher of improvisation needs to
know when to assert a personal view-
point and when to back off, when to
push for risk-taking and when to ac-
cept the need for groundedness. My
exercises in improvisation classes, they come next, when to develop a theme, students described successful teach-
found ways of making movement in and when to drop it. They spent a lot ing as that which allows them to dis-
technique classes their own. They had of time practicing the evolution of cover principles of movement with-
more awareness of movement itself one movement into another. They out overwhelming them with infor-
and of other dancers. One student kept practicing being simple, quiet- mation (i.e., "giving the right amount
commented, "I see other dancers now ing the inner judges, reaffirming for of information at the right time").
as people as well as dancers. Improvi- themselves and one another that cre- They also felt that a good improv
sation has to do with the spirit." They ativity is within the self and life is the teacher needs to be passionately im-
observed dance differently and were source, so that they would not "have mersed in the material, and should
quicker to identify quality, style, at- to pull it in from the air." be able to give them a wide range of
tack, initiation, and motivation. Most Performance. As for performance it- imagery and a "safe" work environ-
important, they had learned that it is self, the students felt that improvisa- ment, where they have permission to
in these improvisational processes that tion had helped them learn that they take risks. Trust was very important
true "creation occurs." could make choices in set choreogra- to them-trust in themselves, in each
Structure and FQT1Tt. When they were phy. They could still make discoveries other, in their teacher, and in the
first creating the improv company, the in structured performance and find creative process itself.
students felt that they needed a cer- ways to keep it alive by allowing the A Technique for Life. All in all, the
tain amount of structure. As they be- self to be in it-"out of the brain and students had begun to see improvisa-
came a performance group, they had in the moment." As one said, "Being tion as a technique for life, as a source
to decide where their focus would be. in the moment has become a tool, not of information for living, and tech-
On contact improvisation? Voice? a goal." Improv training helped them nique itself as an evolving process
Text? Props? What tools would they tune into the nuances of movement rather than a set of goals. They spoke
need for each? They settled on being dynamics, musical phrasing, ensemble of "dancing well" as "dancing fully,"
a "movement-based improv group" work, and many other aspects of per- as "integration" of the self, the envi-
and grappled with identifying which formance. Their views of dance itself ronment, other dancers, movement
skills they would need to perform well. and of their relationship to their own concepts, and so forth. They had let
They decided that leading and follow- performances had undergone signifi- go of competition with others in or-
ing and working in duets were the cant changes as a result of improv der to see what they could learn. In
most basic activities that they would work. Witness the following state- other words, they had learned how to
need to practice. They would need to ments: "[Improv work] trained me to learn, whether in the dance studio or
develop structures for performance enjoy dance more, to let go of the fear in life itself.
and work with organic movement of making errors." "I don't worry any-
form. They would also have to learn more about messing up, don't get up- The 8e1f-Retlective Teacher
how to develop material during pe;'- set after performance if I made a mis- In her teacher-training courses, Bar-
formance, how to sense what needs to take. A choreographer needs to grant bara Mettler said, "Always know where

Mey/.twe 2000. JOPERD. Vol. 71 No. 15 45

you are with your material." That state- non-dancers bring to the same mate- nique and perJormance. Champaign, IL:
ment felt both very right and very rial, with movement that is unencum- Human Kinetics.
challenging when I first heard it. The bered by any dance cliches. Hawkins, A. (1991). Movingjrom within: A
challenge is that the more I learn, the Many dance programs now include new methodJor dance making. New Jer-
more it seems there is to learn about various forms of improvisation as part sey: A Cappella Books.
this endless process ofconnecting cre- of their curricula. But it is still often Mettler, B. (1960). Materials oj dance as a
ativity with discipline in bodily form. viewed as secondary to the "real" tech- creative art activity. Tucson, AZ: Mettler
My teaching of improvisation some- niques. I look forward to a time when Studios.
times strikes me as utterly basic, as so improvisation is acknowledged as Morgenroth, J. (1987). Dance im/JrO'tJisa-
simple that anyone could do it. At more than a preparation for choreog- tion. Pittsburgh, PA:University ofPitts-
other times it seems so vast and so raphy. It is a way of dancing that has its burgh Press.
complex an endeavor that I wonder own principles, logic, and forms, and Nachmanovitch, S. (1990). Free play: The
who I am to think that I can get any- it can enhance work in other classes poweroj imprfJlJisation in life and the arts.
where near the heart of it. and on the performance stage. Even Los Angeles: Tarcher.
The fact is, improvisation is by its more important, a commitment to im- Nagrin, D. (1994). Dance and the specific
very nature both basic and advanced. I provisational work can lead to per- imageimprovisation. Pittsburgh, PA:Uni-
think of cycles and spirals, and of how sonal growth that extends far beyond versity of Pittsburgh Press.
we sometimes ascend to a new level of the dance studio. Schneer, G. (1994). MfJlJement improvisa-
performance and understanding and tion in the words of a teacher and her
sometimes swoop back down to the References students. Champaign, IL: Human Ki-
beginning again. I always marvel at the Beavers, W. (1993). Locating technique. netics.
way in which advanced dancers can Movement Research. PerformanceJourna~ 7.
concentrate so intently on the simplest Blom, L. A., & Chaplin, L. T. (1988). The Peggy Schwartz is the chair of the Five
movement themes, at the pleasure they momentof movementdanceimprovisation. College Dance Department and a professor
can take in finding depth within the Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pitts- of dance at the University of Massachu-
basics. And I also delight at the inven- burgh Press. setts-Amherst, Amherst, MA 01002.
tiveness, exuberance, and freshness that Franklin, E. (1996). Danceimagery for tech-

Stei nberr;
Continuedfrom page 41

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46 Vol. 71 No.5. JOPERD• May/June 2000