(Was)Daily Dances: 2012

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Woodstock 2012

Another shot of Steve Norton, Flandrew Fleisenberg and Liz Roncka performing in the Boston Commons in August 2012.

Image from improvised performance with Steve Norton and Flandrew Fleisenberg. We performed as part of the Woodstock Festival in the Boston Commons. August 2012.

Ice 'n Sneakas (in-house dance)

Musical Excerpt from Optional Featuring Jane Wang and Christophe Delerce

July 2012 Mobius Cambridge,MA USA

Excerpt from Optional

Improvised quartet: Jane Wang Yuka Takahashi Christophe Delerce Liz Roncka

TapeMouth -Improvised Trio with Steve Norton and Lou Cohen

Delerce and Roncka July 2012 Boston, MA USA

Improvised duet with Liz Roncka and Christophe Delerce
July 2012
Boston, MA

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Thoughts on Presence:Engagement with the Less Desirable

As an improvisor I cultivate my ability to sense and surrender to the present moment: what do I see/hear/feel/touch/taste/think in this very moment and circumstance. I do allow my memory and imagination to activate based on what I perceive here and now, but my primary concern and focus is the details of now. This may seem obvious, but it is a difficult practice, one that requires vigilance. I realize that when we are lost or dissatisfied in the present situation, we often turn to a more clear or pleasant memory or projection into the future to cope the time and space at hand. As an improvisor, I must develop skills and courage to confront the challenges of the moment: to accept the confusion or immobility of the present in order to move to a new place. If I reject, deny or subvert the discomfort of the present, then my presence is gone and truth has vanished, progress and mobility is stalled. Engagement and embrace facilitate change, I remind myself.

Excerpt on Process from Email with a Collaborator

Excerpt from an email I wrote to a fellow collaborator(Jason Sanford of the band Neptune) regarding my approach to developing an improvisational performance work. "Usually I have a jumping off point and it goes from there. In this case, my interest would be demonstrating the possibilities of the instrument, utilizing the specific details of the space, exploring the particular physicality/movement that arises when interacting with the instrument and other artists. While I do this I usually end up with some kind of feeling, emotion, scenario... sort of spontaneously. Then I attempt to apply composition elements to all of that. I do all of this with a lot of improvisation and try to exert very little control... i like to let the elements involved control the situation with their natural properties.. rather than imposing more than a loose structure.... sometimes. Different situations require more control: ie. when there is a lot of tech involved or necessary cueing for lights, sound, etc."

Sunday, May 27, 2012

the game

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The Beginning of Something

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Liz Roncka teaches Movement Improvisation

Thursday Nights Starting April 19
7:30-9pm $15
No pre-registration required

Green Street Studios
185 Green St.
Cambridge,MA

This class is open to everyone and anyone interested in increasing his or her creativity, awareness, sensitivity and responsivity to the environment. We approach improvisation as a performance form and cultivate our skills in movement invention and instant composition. However, we remain conscious that all of life is an improvisation. The skills we build in class are applicable to all parts of our lives... inside and outside of the studio. Come explore.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Wash Your Time

I am very happy with this excerpt as an example of what I consider "good" improvisation. What does that mean? "Good" improvisation? For me some of the hallmarks of successful improvisation are:

1)Responsivity: when something happens we take it into the improvisation. We do not shut things out or down (a choice the other improvisor makes, a sound from outside the room, etc)..... we integrate.... we "yes" things. We find the sense in what occurs.

2)Immediacy: there is not a delay in our responses. We allow our intuitive response to come into action without pausing or blocking to analyze. We trust our experience and innate knowledge of composition to organize our response(s).

3)We are improvisors, not a dancer and a musician. I think it is essential to consider yourself an "improvisor" not a dancer or musician or actor if you are improvising. I believe those labels block our abilitiy to respond in an honest way. We are trapped in the definition of our role. As an improvisor, everything is at your fingertips. One is not limited to movement or sound or text. (What is important though is to know what medium you are able to work in with some level of control... going out of your medium and out of control is not "good improvisation".

4)Changes of Leadership: I enjoy this clip because I feel Jane and I take turns leading, following/supporting, working in simultaneous solo and duet. There is seamless movement and transition between these roles.

**** I have many other things to say about what is happening when improvisation is really cooking. This is just a small commentary on why I like this particular clip.

Thanks for watching and reading !!!