The latvian academy of culture

The Name of the Course: Improvisation and Contact Improvisation

The Scope of the Course: 7 terms, 448 practical classes and lectures.

21 credit point. Type of Assessment –

a theoretical and practical examination.

VI.The Author of the Course: Lecturer Olga Žitluhina MA

The Content of the Course: The objective of the course is to discover and develop students’ artistic imagination in movement and dance. It provides an opportunity to extend and improve the quality of their possibilities of movement by making them reveal themselves in various ways of expression. Improvisation teaches to develop a new quality of movement in time and space. Contact improvisation teaches to improve the creative and artistic potential, figurative imagination and communication through the language of movement, thus providing mutual enrichment and enhancement.
Preconditions for the Acquisition of the Course: General training in movement and dance.
Thematic Planning:

THEMES	Week	Type of classes and hours
Term 1
An insight into the history of the development of the improvisation of dance.	1, 2, 3, 4	L2
The most interesting and notable improvisators.	5, 6, 7, 8	L2
(S.Paxton, I.Raiener, T.Brawn, D.Zambrano,
A.Harwood, A.Halpvin)
The essence of contact improvisation and an insight into the history of its development.	9, 10, 11, 12	L2, L2, L2
The significance of contact improvisation in the art of choreography.	13, 14, 15, 16	L2
Term 2
The significance of improvisation in the art of choreography.	17, 18, 19, 20	L2, L2
An acquisition of the key elements of improvisation: movement and communication.	21, 22, 23, 24	P2, P2
An acquisition of the key elements of contact improvisation.	25, 26, 27, 28	P2, P2
A feel for kinaesthetic.	29, 30, 31, 32	P2, P2
Term 3
The creative process.	33, 34, 35, 36	P2, P2, P2, P2
Releasing of the creative potential in the art of improvisation.	37, 38, 39, 40	P2, P2, P2, P2
Releasing of movement and making it free.	41, 42, 43, 44	P2, P2, P2, P2
An adjustment of movement to the floor.	45, 46, 47, 48	P2, P2, P2, P2
Term 4
Associations and imagination.	49, 50, 51, 52	P2, P2, P2, P2
A feel for kinaesthetic.	53, 54	P2, P2, P2, P2
An adjustment of movement to space.	55, 56	P2, P2, P2, P2
Training of attention and reaction in relation to space and the partner.	57, 58, 59, 60	P2, P2, P2, P2
Acquisition of the differentiation of energy.	61, 62	P2, P2, P2, P2
The use of kinaesthetic and its deliberate application to enhance the chosen movement.	63, 64	P2, P2, P2, P2
Term 5
Abstraction.	65, 66, 67, 68	P2, P2
Trust and relaxation.	69, 70, 71, 72	P2, P2
Acquisition of the law of gravity and it application in relation to space.	73, 74, 75, 76	P2, P2
An acquisition of the law of gravity in relation to the partner.	77, 78, 79, 80	P2, P2
Term 6
Movement and its quality.	81, 82, 83, 84	P2, P2, P2, P2 P2, P2
The elements of movement: time, space and energy.	85, 86, 87, 88	P2, P2, P2, P2 P2, P2
An adjustment of the elements of the game to the previously acquired skills.	89, 90, 91, 92	P2, P2, P2, P2
The significance of a surprise in contact improvisation in relation to oneself and the partner.	93, 94, 95, 96	P2, P2, P2, P2 P2, P2, P2, P2
Term 7
The scheme of individual growth: a sense of one’s own inner world, a sense of the world around one, a sense of oneself as part of a group, a sense of oneself as part of the world.	97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106	P2, P2 P2, P2, P2, P2 P2, P2, P2, P2
The differentiation and variation of the structures of contact improvisation.	107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112	P2, P2, P2, P2 P2, P2, P2, P2 P2, P2, P2, P2 P2, P2, P2, P2