Rendering capable through dissensus and disturbance: An investigation in group improvisation / Ben McEwen (2019)

Rendering capable through dissensus and disturbance: An investigation in group improvisation, by Ben McEwen.

Beginning from an interest in how dissensus and disturbance might be used as the basis for contemporary dance group improvisation practices, an interest that stemmed from concerns about climate change and politics, I undertook studio-based exploration with a group of nineteen participants. We drew on aikido, contact Gonzo, contact improvisation and David Zambrano’s Passing Through, and the writings of Donna Haraway, Anna Tsing, Beth Dempster and Félix Guattari to develop a collection of open-ended practices, passing the practices between us in a process modelled on Haraway’s string figures. There was an emphasis on touch-based connections involving pushing, pulling, colliding and sticking, which we practised through playful antagonism, rendering one another increasingly capable of responseability to disturbances. Care was given to creating a working environment in which participants were able to act with a high level of agency and that their interests and contributions were valued. The outcome of the project was the collectively owned practices, a forty-minute sharing titled Cascades and this written document.