Improvisation and performance

For me, when Jose Garofalo comes to town, I get a chance to perform. Usually, he plays a song, asks me if I like it, and I listen to it that day. Then, in the evening, we dance to it. One hour of getting used to dancing together after a year NOT dancing together, plus a song I have never heard before—it’s a challenge!

On the other hand, improvisation demands your full attention. You can’t think about whether you are doing the “right” thing with your foot or your body or the audience. Everything is focused on dancing WITH your partner, creating something ephemeral that will never be repeated.

Here are our performances for 2019. They are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination: that’s not what improvisation is about. However, we were not just going through the motions, sleep-walking through a choreography. For better or worse, each is a new creation; and some are beautiful :-)

Note: I just noticed that the titles on the two last videos are on the wrong videos—must get that fixed!