It is no exaggeration to say that the 21st century is the age of body, and many areas including arts, education, social welfare and psychotherapy focus on growth and change of human beings through body. Recently, people look for reflections on loss of...
It is no exaggeration to say that the 21st century is the age of body, and many areas including arts, education, social welfare and psychotherapy focus on growth and change of human beings through body. Recently, people look for reflections on loss of humanity due to mechanization of communication and life without development and practical alternatives. I attempt to examine values for creative life in various areas through conversation of body, so called contact improvisation, the direct communicative alternative.
Contact improvisation is to interact by movement through contact between bodies, and movement is done under the premise of communication. Communication means something flows freely, without being blocked. The meaning of communication is not simply a means of making something go through well, but the effort to make us coexist well, thereby changing us. Such coexistence and change take place when we get along well with the other party, and to achieve it, the body, the host, should stand upright first; it should be lived body.
For contact improvisation of this study, the body, the subject of communication, involved the characteristics of integrity of body and mind, reactivity of internal concentration within mutual relation, and immersion which allows spontaneous flows. From those features, the study could derive communication factors of not a unilateral but a bilateral conversation, adjust different with the other party, free spirit and liquidity getting rid of stereotype and prejudice, and optimal reaction which listens to with open mind. Also, for practice of contact improvisation, the study could derive communication factors of relaxation of body for flexibility, physical reaction of contact and harmonious and creative conversation. By inferring techniques and practice of factors for such smooth communication, I could apply and investigate the values. For the values, Artistic, educational, sociocultural and healing values came out.
First, the artistic value reacts and expresses body relaxation and the flow of movement through open body with the concept of body which reacts intellectually. Like this, it not only becomes a means needed for artistic work for motions of experts, but also makes all people including adolescents and adults with body that can feels and express contact experience harmonious and creative artistic reactions. In addition, it doesn't have unilateral communication between dancers and audience, but the form of communication they have together at a moment. Second, for the educational value, it is helpful for education of humanism because of discovering self-values, mutual respect, admitting difference between the other party, attentive listening, prejudice, and open mind, enhancing challenging consciousness by making them accept risk within movement with the other party. Third, for the sociocultural values, it can be used as a medium of communication which can overcome the current individualistic social problems by harmonizing self-formation and social structure based on the form that realizes the possibilities of individual behavior for cooperation of contact improvisation. Fourth, as the values of healing, it helps them adapt to the current environment which gradually combines spirit and body positively by arousing imagination and the world of unconsciousness and perceiving awareness and behavior of themselves; with contact improvisation, they can get rid of anxiety by communicating with the other party and adapt to amicable interpersonal relationship and self-awareness environment. Along with that, it can be important healing method which can discover new self and go forward to positive emotion and social participation.
Thus, for restoring personal relationship in this age where communication is a main topic, it is thought that the study on communication factors and the values of it contained in contact improvisation which resolves it direct reaction between bodies has important significance. It is suggested that artistic, educational, sociocultural and healing values of communication through contact improvisation can be basic material for developing creativity in a variety of fields as well as good results.