Food for thought on "Improvisation"
Improvisation (also called extemporization) is the practice of dancing, acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or new ways to act. This invention cycle occurs most effectively when the practitioner has a thorough intuitive and/or technical understanding of the necessary skills and concerns within the improvised domain.
The skills of improvisation can apply to many different abilities or forms of communication and expression across all artistic, scientific, physical, cognitive, academic, and non-academic disciplines. For example, dance, music, cooking, presenting a speech, sales, personal or romantic relationships, sports, flower arranging, martial arts, psychotherapy, the arts, and much more.
Improvisation is an important aspect of music in general. Musical improvisers often understand the idiom of one or more musical styles—e.g. blues, rock, folk, jazz—and work within the idiom to express ideas with creativity and originality. Improvisation can take place as a solo performance, or interdependently in ensemble with other players. When done well, it often elicits gratifying emotional responses from the audience. Very few musicians have ever dared to offer fully improvised concerts such as the famous improvised piano recitals by classical composers/pianists like Franz Liszt.
Just as music, dancers also improvise in modern, contemporary dance and especially in belly dance. Most folkloric dance was improvised using the 'root movements' that was known to the area or culture. Branches of movement being new introduced movements from other influences or other cultures became the evolution to the dance movement or new genre of music created.
Improvisation is used as a choreographic tool in dance composition. Experimenting with the concepts of shape, space, time, and energy while moving without inhibition or cognitive thinking can create unique and innovative movement designs, spatial configuration, dynamics, and unpredictable rhythms. Improvisation without inhibition allows the choreographer to connect to their deepest creative self, which in turn clears the way for pure invention.
Philosophically, improvisation often focuses on bringing one's personal awareness "into the moment," and on developing a profound understanding for the action one is doing. This fusion of "awareness" and "understanding" brings the practitioner to the point where he or she can act with a range of options that best fit the situation, even if he or she has never experienced a similar situation.
The mental and emotional states needed to practice the art of improvisation are very similar to the practice taught in the religious and philosophical art of Zen, and many of the same concepts are used in both practices.
Techniques of improvisation are widely trained in the entertainment arts; for example, music, theatre and dance.
To "extemporize" or "ad lib" is basically the same as improvising. Colloquial terms such as "let's play it by ear," "take it as it comes," and "make it up as we go along" are all used to describe "improvisation."
Contrary to popular belief dance improvisation is not only about creating new movement but is also defined as freeing the body from habitual movement patterns. Dancer and choreographer Michael Jackson combines improvisation in both of those definitions, insisting that he has interest in performing a dance to Billie Jean only if he can do it by a new way each time.
Stand up comedians often improvise, one particular famous comedian Eddie Murphy feels that it is necessary to do this on the set of a movie, leaving script behind.
There is something to be said about the 'energy and feeling of authenticity, of newness, of spontaneity' that is loved in good improvisation. Never tired and over-rehearsed, like a worn out choreography or script.
Naturally there are pros and cons for both. Here are some"
For Improvisation, fresh, new, spontaneous, easy and natural, your mind is free to connect to the audience, your ability to create anywhere at anytime with any music makes your repetiore huge. Genuine spontaneous expressions in dance are so much more convincing than rehearsed ones. Just as a spontaneous smile
The down side of improvisation is that you have bad days and good days, and your dance will be accordingly. A well rehearsed choreography is great for days like this, falling back on a well planned and neatly executed performance. A more complicated dance composition can be thought out and put together cleverly through the practise of these movements, including other members in the dance. The choreographed dance is a polished and fine tuned performance.
A good combination is partly choreographed and partly improvised.
Your workshop is going to cover mainly how to use the "left side of the brain to improvise" with the intention to develop using the "right side of the brain" to improvise.
Many people are more Logical or Left Brain thinkers more than Right Brain thinkers or Creative Thinkers. We all have both, but often lean more to one side than the other.
We will do exercises that will get you to use your left-side of your brain as a starting point and invite the Right Side in sporadically, each person using their own unique "Root Moves" and 'branches'.
Lastly the GildedSerpent Website had an interview with the Famous Egyptian Bellydance Star "Lucy", and these are some of her thoughts on Raks Sharki and improvisation.
QUOTE of the interview
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Lucy does not believe that one can properly perform Oriental dance with a set choreography. Lucy does not dance choreography. Throughout the weekend, she emphasized this fact. Therefore, she did not teach us choreography. Instead, she urged us to follow her as she danced extemporaneously and to learn from her techniques.
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Lucy’s dance is 100% tied to the music. She has a profound understanding and feeling for Arabic music. When she dances, she becomes one with the music. The nuances of the melody, the rhythms, the cultural context of the arrangement (or the song), and the emotions contained in the music transfer through her soul and translate her body movements into dance. While Lucy's movements are from the "vocabulary of Oriental dance," she gives these movements a voice that is uniquely her own as they communicate the message of the music to her audience. Thus, Lucy instructed workshop attendants repeatedly, "Listen to the music! Feel the music; dance to the music!"
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Lucy believes that each dancer has a unique gift to share and must allow her heart and personality to shine throughout her dance. She urged us to be proud of being dancers and to always enter the stage with confidence that our dance is a gift that is worth giving.
More Notes as we do the exercise will be given in the Class.
Happy spontaneous shimmmies to you!!
Ishtar Improvised Raks Sharki to Kuwait Musician Amedoo "Habibi Ya Eine"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pzn9J5WHuU
Ishtar Improvised Raks Sharki to Omar Khorshid's Nagham Fi Hayati
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WX4yInEcc4
Ishtar Improvised Raks Asaya Oriental style
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeEPW6yMOtw
Improvised Tabla Solo at Mermaid Show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2bSGBCkZDk
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