Connected by our Conscious Awareness

Almost a week ago now since I found myself with about 18 other contact improvisation dancers as we moved in harmony (well most of the time we did) together for about 3 hours as we followed Nancy Stark-Smith's 'Underscore'.

It was very special to share these moments in one of the WAPA dance studios in Mt Lawley, near Perth WA. We joined with about 50 other countries who were dancing at the same time all around the world.

It was like praying together but it did not matter what spiritual tradition you were in, as each group of CI Dancers in each country were connected by our conscious awareness of each other as we danced and also stood in silence at the beginning of the underscore and at the end.

Wonderful group of people we have here in Perth and such a joy to join with them, even though I am relatively new to contact and as always, I took great pleasure in observing the improvisation and skill of transferring weight with their bodies...lots of fun!

The Global Underscore

Will be taking part in The Global Underscore this Sunday night. Should have mentioned it a week ago and you could have come with me... 

                    Date: Sunday 23rd June

Time: 9pm- 1am

Venue: WAAPA*

What is the Global Underscore? The Global Underscore is a simultaneous practice of the Underscore around the world (read below for a little more info of the Underscore).

                   The Underscore

The Underscore is a long-form dance improvisation structure developed by Nancy Stark Smith. It has been evolving since 1990 and is practiced all over the globe.

The Underscore is a vehicle for incorporating Contact Improvisation into a broader arena of improvisational dance practice; for developing greater ease dancing in spherical space—alone and with others; and for integrating kinesthetic and compositional concerns while improvising. It allows for a full spectrum of energetic and physical expressions, embodying a range of forms and changing states. Its practice is familiar yet unpredictable.

The practice—usually between 3 and 4 hours—progresses through a broad range of dynamic states, including long periods of very small, private, and quiet internal activity and other times of higher energy and interactive dancing.

           

There are 20+ phases of the score—each with a name and a graphic symbol—which create a general map for the dancers. Within that frame, dancers are free to create their own movements, dynamics, and relationships—with themselves, each other, the group, the music, and the environment. Each Underscore is unique, providing rich and often inspiring experiences of the human and artistic phenomena of dance improvisation.

The GLOBAL UNDERSCORE is an annual event in which the Underscore is practiced simultaneously for a 4 hour period by people all over world near the summer solstice (northern hemisphere). In 2012, there were 70+ sites. Claire Filmon proposed the event to Nancy in 2000 from a desire to connect dancers all around the planet to dance and to compose together in the moment and organized it until 2010.

 www.globalunderscore.blogspot.com

To participate in an Underscore, one should have some experience with Contact Improvisation and attend a talk-through of the Underscore (Perth will do this at 9pm), which often takes about an hour.