Performance Improvisation Ensemble

A Piece of P.I.E. Before “Indelible Marks & a portriat, unpacked”

onder5 — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:54:51 +0000

This quarter, P.I.E. has continued rehearsals in order to prepare for an upcoming performance on February 12-14. Annie Kloppenberg and Ashley Thorndike asked us if we would like to be an “opening act” of sorts for their MFA concert, “Indelible Marks & a portrait, unpacked”. This has been a great experience for us. We have been able to set up our own rehearsals, come up with our own scores, and challenge ourselves in new ways.
We will be performing in Studios 1 and 2 at 7:30 each night before the show and will all join in Studio 1 for a group dance just before the audience moves to their seats for the main show in the theatre. Our score consists of the use of different music in the two studios to create different tones, as well as ideas on trios, duets, and solos happening simultaneously throughout the various spaces. We have definitely challenged ourselves but we are excited for the show!
Thanks Annie and Ashley for giving us this opportunity and helping us figure all this out!!
Come see the show! Febrary 12-14 at 8pm in Sullivant Hall Theatre at The Ohio State University. And don’t forget PIE at 7:30.

Upcoming Performance in Collaboration with the Music Dept., Feb. 3

derenzo4 — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:46:49 +0000

Music major, Anthony Vine, has asked P.I.E. to perform in the school of music’s composition concert February 3. He has composed a 4 minute piece involving Albanian collage, and has organized rehearsal with us this past week at Weigel Hall. The participating members of PIE include myself, Vicki DeRenzo, Joanna Reed, Caitlin Ewing, Katy Gilmore, and Bernice Lee. Thus far we have practiced on the stage and tried out various loose scores with the composition. The more comfortable we are getting with the music, the more we are realizing what we would like to achieve in our improvisations. We are also receiving input from the composer, Anthony, so that we are sure to make his artistic vision come alive. This performance is ultimately about the music. Since the piece is short, we have decided to use more of a structured score. Also, since Anthony has requested stronger moments of togetherness, we are currently working with incorporating a set phrase we are all familiar with (a phrase Meghan Durham has created and happily gave us permission to use) . This experience/process is much different that what are ensemble is used to, and we are enjoying figuring it out together immensely. I can’t emphasize enough how good this experience is for us : )

Come see the show! It’s definitely going to be fun… February 3, 8pm, Weigel Hall

performimprov — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:16:27 +0000

As the new year begins, improvisation continues to thrive here at Ohio State. PIE continues with Annie Kloppenberg and Ashley Thorndike and in self-directed break-out sessions. We will continue to shares our scores, experiences, and insights here at the quarter unfolds and will look for a shared jam time, perhaps on Friday afternoons? Here’s a little inspiration for the new year from Susan Foster:

“Improvisation pivots both mind and body into a new apprehension of relationalities”

Here’s to the emergence of myriad new possibilities for mobile relationships to ourselves, our communities, our lives, and our world emerge in 2009.

Norah

I love P.I.E.

cewing — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:52:44 +0000

I felt privileged whenever I had the opportunity to improvise with P.I.E throughout this quarter. It was always a nice break from what seemed like a never-ending life of classes, papers and exams. I felt brought to life after each jam. The last showing at the informance reaffirmed the close ties that I have established within this group. I made an interaction with everyone in the ensemble—they felt necessary and genuine. Certain styles and tones come out of me with each individual. With Joanna, I think the shoulder in a high fashion sort of way. With Vicki, we partner each other and then laugh…we always seem to surprise ourselves. With Sarah, I smile and soften. With Meredith, my head usually ends up in her hand…there is always this sense of support and care from her. With Kelly, I feel like we are one dancer. With Ally, I think private and sequential with a downward pull. With Katie, my arms feel infinitely long with flowing and carving gestures. These are just pieces of what my relationship is with each person, but they always go far beyond the habitual. My relationship is a unique one with each person. It is the joy I feel in every exchange that connects the whole ensemble for me. In general, the ties within P.I.E. are special to me because they go beyond the walls of the studio. I have strengthened many friendships and made new ones as well. It makes me happy to know I will continue these practices with these wonderful individuals in quarters to come.

Photo by Kathryn Enright

finishing the PIE this fall

gibbons72 — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:20:41 +0000

This quarter of improvisation exploration has been a true joy. I feel as though I’ve gained so much knowledge just from talking and moving with each of you. Both in how we have developed together, encouraged each other in different ways and been supportive while taking risks in class and during break out sessions. I can only hope that this continues in some way shape or form.

Our final performance at the department informal showing felt solid in that there was a mutual trust among our ensemble to take care of each other and our impulses, to nurture the piece into all that it could become. Something I think we’ve been talking a lot about and struggling to build all fall. When off stage there was a real sense of feeling both our own and each others impulses, resisting of giving in to that magnetic pull in order to support the moving world or picture on stage. We had moments of eye contact that caused me to melt in the moment, the pure physical experience of filling negative space, finding a point, point line, moving space or merely playing with speed time and dynamic change.

Thank you to all of you for making this quarter to lovely, and a special thank you to Nora for all your enthusiasm and support.

Happy Holidays!

So proud!… (and corny!) : D

derenzo4 — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:20:03 +0000

In retrospect, I am extremely proud of all of our hard work this quarter! From week to week, I really felt our group awareness and unification improve. Before this quarter, I don’t think I realized how important the connection between the group would be, meaning every single person plays THE most important role at all times. Whether you are initiating something, reacting to it, contrasting it, enhancing it etc., you are completing the piece. Whether you are in downstage, upstage, center stage or even backstage, you are completing the piece. And this completion happens best if you are completely aware of and on the same page as everyone else sharing the space with you. I also learned a lot about conviction. If someone begins an idea with conviction, the ways in which one is able to support that idea become much clearer. In other words, noodling is never a good thing! (unless of course you have the clear intention of “I am going to noodle now”) I couldn’t believe how content we all felt after our performance opportunities. There are of course always things to work on, but overall we seemed to always put our best foot forward. Oddly enough, I felt that our nerves only seemed to help our focus. Concerning our performance at the Informance, multiple people came up to me afterwards and skeptically asked, ” So how much of that was reeeeally improvising?” To me, that was the biggest compliment ever; we’re actually making work! I really can’t wait to continue on as PIE in the future. Improvising as a group is always such an exciting rush- I hope we never stop!… okay, corniness ends…. here!

A delicious quarter of PIE :-)

onder5 — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:17:27 +0000

In brainstorming about what I wanted to say in my last blog post of the quarter I tried to think back to the very first class day we danced. That first dive into dancing with each other this year feels like forever ago. That proves to me how far we have come as an ensemble in these ten weeks. From the Forsythe Improv Technologies work to the breakout sessions, the ensemble has certainly grown.
As a way to sum up the quarter I will list a few of my most vivid memories from the class:
first breakout session on top of the Architecture building when a man came into the space yet completely ignored us, our first introduction day to the Forsythe work and how we left class that day seeing lines everywhere, score: three people dancing up and down the space three times, the nerves as we sat squished together waiting to perform as an ensemble for the first time, and most recently the great feeling of being emersed in the movement while dancing at the final informance.
I definitely feel all of these moments, and more, helped our group gain a deeper knowledge of improvisation as well as how we each personally view improv as performance. Thanks for a great quarter, PIE!!!

“And That’s A Wrap!”…sort of…

bowden466 — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:07:41 +0000

Well this has been an eventful and fun quarter…for Improvising at least…! Now that we have reached the end, it is time to look back at all that I have learned this quarter, ponder my improvements and short-comings, and think about any future I may have in Improvisation.

It has been a real honor to join PIE this quarter. I must admit that I did not realize all the things I was involving myself in when I added the class last-minute. Last year I decided that the best way to change the terrified feeling that came over me whenever I was asked to improvise was to simply immerse myself in exactly what made me so uncomfortable. Taking an improvisation class with Bebe Miller was a great way to start and opened a lot of doors for me from there. I became a lot less nervous about the idea of improvisation but still not quite comfortable or confident in my endeavors. Therefore, the only logical solution was to take yet another class. What I did not realize was that, in taking this class, I was automatically immersing myself in an established group of talented and experienced improvisers nicknamed “PIE”.

This class provided me with much more than in-class instruction. It gave me many chances to experiment by myself or with my classmates outside of class as well as several performance opportunities. My confidence as an improviser as well as an all-around dancer has been a bit shaky this quarter but I feel that I have come to a moment of break-through in my dancing career both personally, mentally, and physically. My lack of confidence while improvising has held me back at times and I still have moments where I am too tentative, but luckily I was surrounded by friends/classmates who pushed me to get over my timidity and rise to their level of fearlessness, openness, and physicality. I feel that I have come far this quarter and learned to really enjoy something that used to intimidate me greatly. I hope that I can continue to be a part of this fabulous group filled with talented dancers and improvisers so that I will continue to grow and improve personally.

A quarter of PIE

stehura4 — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:16:46 +0000

PIE’s improv performance in the Department of Dance Informance last Friday seemed to be the perfect ending to a very eventful, informational and jam-packed quarter. Our ensemble really came together as one, whole unit and implemented a lot of the ideas we have been practicing all quarter. I think the most important thing our ensemble got out of this quarter was learning how to maintain a group awareness. This was reiterated in multiple articles from our reading, including “Dwelling in Possibility” by Ann Cooper Albright who talks about her awareness of the world. Our awareness allowed us to pay attention to what our individual scores needed at any given time because we had a knowledge of what was going on around us and were invested in the piece as a whole. Even when multiple events were going on, we focused on ways to tie them all together, whether through relationships, quality of movement, dynamics, etc.

This quarter, we also focused a lot on finding themes through movement, relationships, space etc. Compositionally, bringing back movement ideas from earlier in the score, instead of always introducing brand new ideas, really gave our pieces cohesion.

Another very important facet of our studies this quarter was the work we did with Forsythe material. By starting out with point-point-line explorations, I’ve really noticed a huge change in everyone’s dancing in terms of specificity. That knowledge really stuck with us and I have noticed a clarity of intention in everyone in the ensemble.

The last few ideas that seem very essential to our ensemble and this past quarter together are personal choices, like how we choose to keep ourselves interested in what we’re doing. A lot of that involved our personal explorations inside the group. These explorations would be anything from sticking with one idea and pushing the limits, to starting a brand new idea and drastically changing dynamics. Overall this quarter, I thought our ensemble effectively stressed the importance of unity- from the beginning of the scores in our “warming up into improv” to maintaining our awareness of each other throughout. We really grew together as PIE and started off what will hopefully be a long, continuous practice and a fabulous ensemble!

Photo by Kathryn Enright

In Conclusion…

performimprov — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:58:51 +0000

This quarter was a collectively structured experience facilitated by a faculty member and designed to support student interest in continuing ensemble work in improvisation. Together we worked to become more aware of our attention in the moment and to gain insight into our own preferences, habits, and signatures in our individual as well as collective improvisation practices. We looked to many sources to gather new ways into making interesting movement choices in our own bodies and in relationship to each other. These sources included strategies and philosophies from Norah’s improvisation background influenced by Simone Forti and William Forsythe, from the group’s experiences last year with Annie Kloppenberg and Adriana Durant, from the many voices in our shared text “Taken by Surprise” and from the special guests who joined us including Julie Fox, Ashley Thorndike, Noelle Chun, Nita Little, and Ann Cooper-Albright. In self-directed break out sessions each week students structured improvisation laboratories of their own in large and small groups often working with site-specific ideas, Dave Covey’s ARC dances, and in interdisciplinary situations. The blog became an on-going log of our development together and increasing clarity in terms of values and interests. As planned we moved from more faculty direction at the beginning of the quarter to more student directed learning at the end of the quarter in order to branch into the continuation of the Ensemble in the Winter (and even Spring) as a collective directed by students.