parity through difference
i am teaching an improvisation module this semester and we are halfway through. my intention in this module is to help the students develop their own improv praxis through sharing my own.
if i simply taught the students «what i do», it would be composition, not improvisation. so i began the semester by exploring the philosophy of improvisation and putting it into a theoretical context.
for the first few weeks we spent at leat half the lesson (three hours) on theory. sitting and talking, discussing things such as post-structuralism and acting methods. the practical part of the class dealt with basic body skills and raw movement generation (they are acting students not dance students).
i teach the entire second year (it is a three year ba-hons) so they are split into two classes. i teach the classes asynchronously, i don’t always teach them the same things. of course there is some basic parity, and where necessary i level things out explicitly.
each group has it’s own dynamic which is related to the individuals within. as i said before, i want to help them develop their own improvisation practice. this means addressing the group needs rather than sticking to a boilerplate lesson.
from week to week the level of parity between the two groups shifts. sometimes they may get 30% the same info/skills, others 70%. so how do i know that in general the two groups are receiving the same experience. i.e. parity for assessment and my teaching / sharing? i look at the outcomes.
this week, after a week off (reading week) both groups came in, and did a ten minute warm up. we then set out an open score (no touching, at least four people in the space) and did a thirty minute group improvisation. after that they all did seven minute solo improvisations.
both groups are equally capable at improvisation because i give them such different content. and most importantly, because they apply themselves to their own praxes. it is great to see them unravel the reasons behind tasks and the puzzles i have set them.
we are working towards a performance in december (thirty mins each group). later on in the term (if they agree to it), i will post some video of the work on this blog.
asynchronous teaching within a module delivered to multiple groups is not always a good approach. but for me, and especially with improvisation, it seems to work well.
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