As a first year Master of Arts student in the Dance Department here at Temple University, I take a Corporeal Improvisation class in the course of my degree. I am taking it this term with Marion Ramirez, and we have been working on our final projects as the end of the semester approaches. We were asked to select a non-studio setting to meet with our partner to improvise in a site-specific manner for a total of 4 hours. My partner, Tia, and I selected 30th Street Station in which to improvise twice for 2 hours over two weeks.
We were incredibly fascinated by the walls of this structure, as each wall of large stone blocks had their own unique cracks, colors, and patterns; we found from watching each other and watching videos of our duets that our dancing seemed to have a subtext related to surface due to our interactions with the walls. Additionally, having worked on head-tail connection and spirals in class with Marion, wild spirals and dramatic swings of weight rebounded our bodies off the walls of 30th Street Station. As seen in the video, this semester culmination in weighted spirals led us on an enjoyable whirlwind journey.
Click the link to see video footage!
E HENN blog post for 11 21 2014
-Erica Henn, 1st Year M.A.