Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2026 - CA 124 D100

Improvisation Tools and Scores (3)

Class Number: 4223

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 5 – Apr 10, 2026: Tue, Thu, 12:30–2:20 p.m.
    GOLDCORP

  • Instructor:

    Daisy Thompson
    daisyt@sfu.ca
    Office: GCA 2540
    Office Hours: By appointment

  • Prerequisites:

    CA 122 or permission of instructor. Corequisite: CA 123.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Movement improvisational skills will be explored in a variety of solo, duet, group forms through structured movement themes and scores. Emphasis will be on sensory awareness, elements of movement, and composition.

COURSE DETAILS:

Whether as performer, maker, or teacher, an important element of your artistry is to explore the power of your expressive body. Dance practice and performance reveals and enhances our kinesthetic capacities through what Maxine-Sheets Johnstone describes as “knowing ourselves as movement – not as bodies that move”. By knowing ourselves as movement, we can draw attention to the infinity of our moving body’s capacities and its affective reach. This course introduces the student to dance improvisation as an integrated technical, compositional, and performance practice. We will explore a nexus of ideas, intentions, and movement concerns, gaining a deeper understanding of the complexity and depth of improvisation as a vehicle for tuning into the present moment, attentiveness to the emergence of nascent ideas, performance practice, and enhancing awareness and response to ever-changing contexts. These skills will be developed through structured exercises and scores that include solo, duet, and group activities, activating greater sensory awareness, sharper intuitive decision making, and a compositional sensing of the individual body in relation to the broader action and architecture. Additionally, we will explore the use of text, sound, and images, and we will delve into readings that analyse different artists’ methods and practice. To further expand your understanding of improvised composition, performance, and technical practice, assignments will include practical score-making tasks (solo and group), short written assignments, and a work journal with weekly reflections.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

  • Advance and further develop kinesthetic, intellectual, relational, energetic, and creative capacities in one’s own dancing and dancing with a group within improvised performance structures.
  • Develop a strong connection between the imagination and the moving body.
  • Become versatile with different approaches to movement scores and creation.
  • Demonstrate personal ownership of embodied movement, and awareness of how one is affected by and affects a group creative and collaborative space.
  • Develop a nuanced understanding of the benefits of risk taking and rigour.
  • Interact safely and respectfully with other students towards creating an affirmative shared experience.

Grading

REQUIREMENTS:

Grades will be based on the following (subject to change):

Participation – 35%:  consistent commitment to the working process and a proactive approach to practice. This includes timely completion of practical and written assignments, attitude, thoughtful participation in discussions, attendance, playfulness, risk, generosity, leadership, respectful and active collaboration.

Creative assignments – 40%:

- 15% Solo score 5-7 minutes
- 25% Group score (4-5 people) 15-20 minutes

Short Written assignments (2-parts) – 25%:

- A) Work Journal (10%) personal reflections, questions, sketches, ideas, observations on both classes in each week(150/200 words for each entry)

- B) Process reflection of group assignment (15%) 3-pages 

Materials

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.