To support me in reflecting on my experiences in this journal as effectively as possible, I have used the Gibbs Reflective Cycle, by Professor Graham Gibbs, first published in his 1988 book Learning by Doing (Crowe Associates, 2020).

Description:

Today we have been introduced to improvisation, which is not a movement activity that I have participated in before.  In the book Moment of Movement, Dance Improvisation, the authors state that ‘Dance improvisation fuses creation with execution. The dancer simultaneously originates and performs movement without preplanning. It is thus creative movement of the moment.’ (Blom and Chaplin, 1998, P. x) Simultaneous ‘creation with execution’, as the authors put it, is out of my comfort zone. The dance classes I have attended previously have always involved a set choreography and following a routine. I would describe today’s class as a guided improvisation to music. We were all creating spontaneous movements that were different from each other, with verbal and visual guidance from the tutor.

Feelings:

At the beginning of the class, I felt awkward and anxiously observed the tutor and my peers for direction in relation to what movements to make. I felt slightly embarrassed, not knowing how to move my body, very aware of all the other people in the room potentially looking at me. However, after my initial trepidation, I began to feel myself loosen up, as I listened to the music and allowed my body to move freely to the beats.

Evaluation:

I feel my biggest problem was my conscious mind was too involved, I was struggling to let go and allow my body to take over. At points, I observed as a group we were united in our movements and then at other times we almost divided into subgroups. It was nice to experience the variation and I can understand how improvisation could be used to break down barriers and bond a group of people.

Conclusions:

My conclusion from speaking to my peers, is that everyone was having a similar experience. We all felt relatively awkward at the beginning of the session, but this did ease as the session progressed. As we continue to get more comfortable with our own bodies and with each other, our inhibitions will lessen, and our confidence will grow.

Action:

I need to work on clearing my mind and following the music without pre-empting every movement I make in improvisation.

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