Simple Subtraction, evening edition.

Monday Night Improv found me in the middle of my first contact improvisation class. I hadn't fully made the connection that I'd mostly been doing solo improvisation, maybe interacting with other dancers, but definitely not much actual contact with other dancers in the class.

And in keeping with the day's oblique strategy, the instructor had us do the bulk of the class with our eyes closed! After alot of time with a partner, we were told to go off on a solo exploration of the space with our eyes closed. By the end I was stunned at what a good sense of the layout of the room and my proximity to others had become. This was mainly due to SOUND. I also tend to move very slowly, and counter-intuitively felt more free to have phrases that involved alot of rapid movement and traveling across the room. There was a pliability to the air that made me not afraid of crashing into anyone. When an encounter happened, I couldn't help but feel like I was being attacked by zombies....but in a fun way.

So! Improv lesson of the day:

simple subtraction of one element leads to the amplification of others.