A New Improvisation

Overview

What is a New Improvisation? We are not trying to invent a completely new form of improvisation, but rather to explore new ways of defining its parameters and to develop a different perspective on the practice itself.

Although improvisation is commonly understood as something free and unrestricted, it is often quite the opposite. When used as a performative tool, it is shaped by many unspoken conventions and dramaturgical expectations that have evolved over time. When used as a research tool, it is equally conditioned by parameters established by the creator.

Our attempt to define a New Improvisation is therefore not aimed at generating movement material for later composition, nor at producing performance in the conventional sense — that is, with predefined dramaturgy, narrative, or aesthetic intention. Instead, we aim to create improvisation as a kind of white noise: a continuous stream of movement in which forms emerge temporarily and dissolve again.

Primary Conditions

To support this approach, we developed the so-called logics (see previous chapter) and attempted to define a standardized flowchart containing the primary conditions and relations.

The following logical operators are used in the chart:

Symbol	Operator	Meaning
∧	AND	with
∧¬	AND NOT	without
∥	PARALLEL	simultaneously

ishikawa-beta
    New Improvisation

    Frictionlessness
        ∧¬ Influences
            ∧¬ Floor
            ∧¬ Walls
            ∧¬ Body traps
            ∧¬ Stop
            ∧¬ Time
        Escape velocity
            Point of no return

    Virtuosity
        ∧¬ Mistakes
        ∧ Conciousness
        ∧ Complexity
        Awareness∥Trance

    Burn for yourself
        Selfsufficient
        Endless stream of certain speed