Short Course 009 - Visual Improvisation
Introduction
Welcome to Short Course 009 - Visual Improvisation
In this course, we will explore the connection between the senses and different approaches to experiment with movement improvisation. By participating from your own space to experiment with visual mark-making, movement styles you will be encouraged to develop personal improvisation methods that you can share with others (or choose to keep for yourself).
Throughout this course you will be guided to focus on sound, or lack of it, to visualise sound and represent it bi-dimensionally through mark-making. The marks captured materially will then be used as a starting point for movement improvisation with no sound.
Before you begin, download your Working Document
Watch a short video of dancer, Jamila Boughelaf, giving an introduction to her practice.
Module 1: Theory
1.1 Aims of the Course
Watch a video of Jamila Boughelaf outlining the aims of this course.
Create a space for introspection and reflection
Improvisation in all of its forms, offers an opportunity for a meditative experience. As you engage in spontaneous expression, you can find yourself in a state where the boundaries between self and creation blur. Through movement, you can tune into the sensations of your body, exploring the emotional landscape within. Similarly, mark-making allows the subconscious to speak freely through spontaneous drawing or painting.
Explore new ways to bring awareness to processes of improvisation
By experimenting with different sensory stimuli, movement prompts, and creative constraints, you can build your own improvisational techniques and hone the ability to respond authentically to the present moment. Through this exploration, you can cultivate a heightened sense of presence and responsiveness.
Understand new interactions between sound, mark-making, and movement in the space
By observing how these elements intertwine and influence one another you can gain insight into the sensory experiences that inform your improvisational practice. Through this deeper understanding, you can learn to harness the potential of sound, mark-making, and movement, together to create immersive and multidimensional improvisational performances that engage both the senses and the imagination.
Module 1: Theory (cont.)
1.2 Drawing With the Body
Watch a video of Jamila Boughelaf explaining methods for using your body as a tool for drawing.
Movement as Art
Drawing with the body involves using movement as a tool for creative expression, allowing artists to communicate complex emotions, narratives, and social commentary through bodily gestures and actions. Thee significance of this form of artistic expression is its ability to convey raw authenticity and evoke visceral responses.
Performance as Art
Performance art invites us to rethink the boundaries between artist and audience, blurring the lines between creator and spectator. Because of the ephemeral nature of performance art, the live performance itself is often the primary artistic medium, with documentation serving as the sole remnants of the work. Performance art disrupts conventional modes of artistic production, prioritising process over product and inviting audiences to engage with the creative process in real-time.
Module 1: Theory (cont.)
1.3 Exploring Mark-making
Watch a video of Jamila highlighting different methods for mark-making.
Materials and Tools
You can use any materials and tools for mark-making, ranging from traditional implements like pencils and brushes to unconventional mediums such as charcoal, ink, and found objects. Feel free to explore the tactile qualities and expressive potential of each medium, considering how variations in texture, opacity, and fluidity can influence the marks they create. Experiment with the characteristics of different materials, to gain insight into how they can be manipulated to achieve different effects. By embracing a spirit of curiosity and experimentation, allow yourself to be guided by intuition and spontaneity in your creative process.
Techniques
Use a wide range of techniques to experiment, from controlled lines to expressive gestures and everything in between. You can explore techniques such as stippling, hatching, cross-hatching, blending, and scraping, exploring how each technique can be used to create a variety of visual effects and textures. Through honing your technical skills and expanding your creative vocabulary, you can discover new ways to manipulate your chosen medium to achieve different expressions.
Improvisation
We invite you to let go of preconceived notions and expectations, allowing yourself to be guided by intuition, emotion, and instinct as they make marks on the page. Through improvisation you can explore the interplay between intention and chance, discovering unexpected beauty and meaning in the spontaneous marks you create. As you immerse yourself in this process of improvisation, you can cultivate a deeper connection to your inner creative voice, finding liberation and joy in the act of making marks without inhibition or constraint.
Module 2: Practical
2.1 Visualising Sound
Watch a video of Jamila Boughelaf introducing a practical exercise on visualising sound.
Visualising Sound
Sound is a powerful tool that is capable of stirring emotions, sparking memories, and using the imagination. In this exercise, we challenge you to synthesise the auditory with the visual, transforming sound waves into a visual language of lines, shapes, and textures. Through this process of visualising sound on paper, you are encouraged to explore the intersection of sight and sound, uncovering hidden connections between auditory stimuli and their visual counterparts.
Your Turn
Q1. Visualising Sound
Select a sound to use.
See Working Document for details.
Listen to the different layers of sound.
See Working Document for details.
Imagine your tools as an extension of yourself.
See Working Document for details.
Try to capture the movement of sound through marks.
See Working Document for details.
Take notes as needed in Exercise 2.1 in your Working Document.
Module 2: Practical (cont.)
2.2 Movement Improvisation
Watch a video of Jamila Boughelaf exploring movement as improvisation.
Movement Improvisation
Movement is a universal language, a means of expression that transcends words. Unlike choreographed dance routines, movement improvisation is a practice of liberation, allowing you to move intuitively and authentically in response to internal impulses and external stimuli. You are encouraged to let go of self-judgment and inhibition as you engage in this exploration to embrace the present moment.
Your Turn
Q2. Movement Improvisation
Choose a body part
See Working Document for details.
Find the range of movement you can achieve with this body part
See Working Document for details.
Repeat this process with a different body part
See Working Document for details.
Try to connect both movements from one body part to another
See Working Document for details.
Take notes as needed in Exercise 2.2 in your Working Document.
Module 2: Practical (cont.)
2.3 Translating Marks to Movement
Watch a video of Jamila Boughelaf describing how to translate your mark-making into movement.
Translating Marks to Movement
Marks on paper carry with them a wealth of meaning, texture, and emotion. By trying to transfer this meaning into movement you can change static images into experiences. And, by exploring the inherent qualities of these marks (ie. their rhythm, texture, and energy) and allowing them to inspire and guide your movement, you can cultivate a deeper understanding of the expressive potential of both visual art and movement, discovering new avenues for creative exploration and self-expression.
Your Turn
Q3. Translating Marks to Movement
Look at the marks you created in Exercise 2.1.
See Working Document for details.
Forget about the sound that the marks are based on.
See Working Document for details.
Reflect on ways of interpreting the marks.
See Working Document for details.
Use your body to capture the marks through movement.
See Working Document for details.
Take notes as needed in Exercise 2.3 in your Working Document.
Module 2: Practical (cont.)
2.4 Merging Sounds, Mark-making and Movement
Watch a video of Jamila Boughelaf combining all practical explorations to create a short choreography.
Q4. Merging Sounds, Mark-making and Movement
Listen to your selected sound and look at your marks.
Working Document for details.
Choose whether to focus on the sound or marks and begin to move.
See Working Document for details.
You can gradually shift focus between both.
See Working Document for details.
Feel free to develop a short choreography.
See Working Document for details.
Take notes as needed in Exercise 2.4 in your Working Document.
Congratulations!
You have now successfully learned:
How to use the body as a tool for mark-making
How to visualise sound through mark-making
How to translate mark-making into movement