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Dance Improvisation Festival set at UW-Madison, September 29-30, 2000
Nationally known guest artists, dance scholars and members of the community were invited to explore dance improvisation in a weekend festival sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Dance Program.

Dance improvisation classes for adults and kids as well as contact improvisation workshops, lectures, a panel discussion and two nights of performances incorporating dance and technology were be held at the Dance Improvisation Festival, September 29-30, in Lathrop Hall, 1050 University Avenue. All activities were free and open to the public. The performance lineup for Friday and Saturday night consisted of:

  1. A Contact Improvisation: all participants
  2. Duet: Gloria McClean and Peter Jones
  3. Cartooning: commentary on "Duet" by Karinne Keithley
  4. Voice Conducted Movement Phrases: Led by Dave Pedersen
  5. Solo Axis: Kevin Frey, Horn
  6. A Passion Play (Friday night): Kent De Spain
    Wisconsin Nights (Saturday night): Kent De Spain and KJ Holmes
    Structures: Kent De Spain
  7. Within: conceived by Jeffrey Gray Miller and Tonya Leholm
  8. Three Movements: Led by Jin-Wen Yu
  9. Trapeze: facilitated by Marcia Miquelon
  10. Thrice: KJ Holmes, Peter Jones and Karinne Keithley
  11. Open Floor with Guest Artists, local performers, and students:
    Ebru Aydar, Amy Bethel, Joanne DaCosta, Lori Dillon, Kevin Frey,
    Heather Good, Kate Hewson, Susan Liu Haskell, Tonya Leholm,
    David Pederson, Nora Stephens, Melissa Strzelinski, Andrew Fearnside,
    Jeffrey Gray Miller.
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Festival participants include the following guest artists from around the country:

K.J. Holmes, internationally and nationally renowned contact improviser, dancer, singer, and poet based in Brooklyn, NY.
Kent De Spain, University of Georgia-Athens dance artist, researcher, and leading authority on improvisational process in movement.
Peter Jones, Mount Holyoke College, MA nationally known dance musician, composer, and creator of works for piano, chamber ensembles and combinations of percussion and keyboards.
David Gere, UCLA art critic, assistant professor of dance history and theory.
Karinne Keithley, performance artist, choreographer, dancer based in New York.

Gloria McLean, performer, teacher and choreographer based in New York and this year's Bascom Henry Professor at the UW Dance Program

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"

Dance (movement) improvisation, with its physical-psychological significance and immediate motion, is often used to enhance creativity, performance, self-liberation, and group-awareness," says festival director and assistant professor of dance Jin-Wen Yu. "Broadly speaking, it helps one understand life."

In another form of movement known as contact improvisation, two or more dancers share points of balance, support and movement. Touch, weight and momentum provide a base of support for this very physical partnering form.

Both improvisation and contact improvisation have become two major techniques in contemporary dance training. They are not only incorporated as choreographic approaches but are also presented as performing forms.

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Karinne's Words of Wisdom:

Ok, so this is my idea, not hers. But during the Festival, Karinne Keithley made several comments, either in reference to the activities or in direct response to the questions, which I thought were worth recording and elaborating on. Any errors are on my part, not hers...

  • "The pleasure of watching improv is watching people think... Choreography is the artifact of thinking."

This was in response to a question about "Why do we do improv?" during the Panel Discussion on Saturday. It applies to all forms of improv, really, and is related to Steve Paxton's concept of the improv-as-puzzle: the fun for the audience is watching and relating to the person figuring out the puzzle.

  • "Character comes from a reduction of attention to the body."

    In response to a question from me about the way she (and KJ) seemed to come up with "characters" during their improv dances. I was struck by the way this relates to the characters of the commedia del'arte (another improvisatory theatre form and another of my passions). The reduction she refers to is attention to a certain status of the body or body part--for example, noticing that her spine is held stiffly, and focusing on that, lends a natural progression into a "character" for the dance.

  • "Choreoqraphy is simply a more refined (improv) score."

    After being asked how her improv dancing felt different than choreographed works, Karinne made this remark, which basically erases the artificial divide between choreographed dance and improv. Again referring to Paxton, who said that if you go into improv without structure you will find that your body becomes a structure, the consensus at the panel discussion was that the same liveliness that makes improv so exciting is present in a performance of Shakespeare. The difference lies in the ability to explore the structure, and the danger inherent in taking the chances.

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