*** Sensation ***
Earplugs were offered to those who wanted to try the focus while excluding sound.
Some comments from the evening:
At first I thought that contact improvisation was only about sensation. But now I realize that one can dance from a place of narrative, emotion, I can enter different archetypes like the trickster, I can get into momentum or aggression or any number of states that are not sensation based.
This is the focus jam that has sunk in the most for me. I found myself more still, quiet, and soft. I was taking in qualities rather than putting out all the time. I was taking time—feeling the dance was happening to me, rather than me making it happen.
Not having a led warm-up opened up the time to work through many layers. I ended up in my emotional sensation.
When I arrived I realized that my feet felt numb. So I started with the sensation in my feet.
The concept of “sensation” felt just too huge. So I paid attention to the sensation in my periphery -- in my hands and feet. From the edges I slowly arrived into my core.
I consciously changed my dance so that I could feel the different kinds of sensation I wanted to feel. I played with gushy and mushy all the way to aggressive.
I was dancing with earplugs the entire time and found that I had a hard time orienting. I had not realized how much I use the sensation of sounds, like footfalls and breathing to orient myself in the room.
I learned that I’m a momentum junkie. Momentum uses a different part of the brain than sensation. I have a large capacity for momentum, but a smaller capacity for ongoing attention to sensation. When I put my attention to sensation the details of the topography becomes clear and opportunities appear -- ledge here, under-arc there, scapula to offer support. These opportunities often create the opening to enter momentum…oops, there I go again...
I strongly noticed the sensation right at the top of a lift where the body begins to come down, but the stomach stays at the top.
I found myself naming the sensations: “soft,” “warm,” “quick”…
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