MSU Improvisation Dance Class

This morning I visited DAN 253, Dance Improvisation, that meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 10:20 - 12:10. The students were working with their partners on scores that come from the idea behind dancer, choreographer and illustrator Remy Charlip. Charlip constructed something called the bed dance, which was an "Airmail Dance", one that creates a story without giving a story. The bed dance supplies the viewer with different shapes (usually danced on a mattress). However, in DAN 253, the students were allowed to stand, but had to move from one shape to the next shape in the order they were illustrated. The importance of the experience was to fill the "inbetweens" of the shapes. To collaborate with a partner using weight sharing and physical contact to explore the use of actively engaging in different body shapes. Sophomore Clare Eagle and freshman Ricky Price spoke with me about how the class has changed themselves as dancers and challenged them to expand their knowledge.