Notes on improvisation scores for Spring Child:
Improvisation with the sensation of being a small child / baby in the womb but also fusing this sensation with the process of making sumi ink…
Sumi ink is made through a process of grinding stone, kneading the sumi ink ‘dough’ and becoming fluid ~ going through a vigorous process.
See visual reference for sumi here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C11efHySvG-/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Improvisation score based around coming out of the shape of the scrolls and coming back into them ~ working with the remembrance of shape and crumple.
Improvisation score:
Womb —> seeing the world through the limbs ~ the extremities, limbs and a floating spine.
Coming into a fever dream state.
Incorporating the language of a circle or enso in Japanese.
Following the flow of rivers and internal friction —> water flowing over rocks.
Carving inside yourself and kneading.
Breaking away from the stimulus.
Creating a phrase utilising these concepts —> with the process of writing calligraphy in the air and on the floor.
Creating a phrase around Japanese summer festival celebrations, reducing this phrase to simple movement, incorporating a scroll —> moving in the essence of the movement.
Reconciliation and longing.
Improvisation around embodying an elder or Obāchan herself…
Bringing in the hunch, the quirks of an older body.
Walking stick and enduring strength / tenacity.
Drawing on present day and ancestral duality.
When is the movement fast and spontaneous?
Creating an improvisatory setlist:
Know what freedom there is in the improvisation and how to scratch certain elements.
Allow yourself to improvise within these recognizable ‘landmarks’ and know where you can take the lead.
If this was a graph, where do you want the peaks and troughs to be in this improvisatory work?
Scrambling the landmarks.
Questions that arose throughout the residency:
What is ‘going hard’ in this improvisatory context?
How can you create dynamism in this improvisatory and ambiguous world?
How to reduce something down to its essence?
How to find flow… when do you want to keep the structure rigid?
