We're abundantly prepared for people to come into our space, to vocalize, to not have good boundaries. We're prepared for that. We've already had conversations about what if we're in the middle of our engagement and someone sits on a rock in the middle of our piece because it's a thing, it's a public walkway and we're in their space! It kind of is what it is. And to some extent, there's a measure of keeping your game face on and powering through. And the joy and beauty of improv is that we can kind of make the call in the middle of the play. If somebody is in our space and we have to manage them or acknowledge them or somehow engage in some redirection of that person, we can do that.
-Sadie Hawkins
entering the unknown
Improvisation is a political tool.
This assertion was affirmed by my conversation with Dr. Shay Welch, a philosopher and scholar of embodiment. Rather than entering into gestures built on “the orders of writing,”(1) by way of challenging codified movement vocabularies, improvisation can directly respond to political and personal questions being asked by the performer (2). What shows up through the body may not be aesthetically pleasing or commodifiable, but it is a kinesthetic and sensory way of gathering information that might offer insight into the trickiest of unknowns (3).
1. Adeline Maxwell, Dance in Chile, 2016
2. Conversation with Dr. Shay Welch, 2022
3. Conversation with Dr. Shay Welch, 2022
