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(jan 2010 - this is a partial emerging draft which i'm currently developing.)
i love the deep cooperation that can happen in contact improv. like any partner dance, this kind of coordination depends on a shared sense of form's distinct way of moving - the shared language of the dance form by which partners cooperate. my ci teaching is best when i organize my lessons around conveying the ci way of moving. unlike other partner dance, however, ci's way of moving is not to be found in set patterns, and the "form" - the way of moving - can be elusive. what, then, is meant by "contact improv's way of moving", and how do we teach it?
exploring this question has been extremely fruitful, and there is much juicy material to explore further. i describe below what i mean by "the ci way of moving", and an example of this teaching premise in action, using aspects of the way of moving to design and deliver a small series of ci classes.
if not in patterns, where is contact improv's way of moving found?
conveying the central movement qualities is essential for any dance form. in most other kinds of partner dance, dancers learn the form by practicing its patterns - step sequences, rhythms, postures, formal roles, etc. advancing in a form may include more or less departure from its' pattern templates, but basically, it is by embodying the templates that partners meet each other in that form's way of moving.
in contact improv, partners instead explore how to move together by mutually following shared points of contact. doing this, they gradually discover and explore ways to coordinate more deeply with each other (and, not accidentally, with themselves). the movement possibilities are limitless, yet there are characteristic movement qualities that emerge because they enable better cooperation.
the most useful qualities balance a tension between partnering and improvisation - they best support connection with the least unnecessary restriction [collaboration]. the qualities that work well become part of the common ground on which ci partners connect - the shared language that constitutes contact improv's way of moving.
every dance form has its own such characteristics, but in ci teachers have no set patterns by which to lead students to its essence. instead, ci teachers must acquaint their students with the central qualities through illuminating exercises.
conveying the way of moving
it is not enough, and sometimes not even illuminating, to just describe the way of moving's qualities. describing them does not convey how to do them. learning to embody the qualities takes discovery in practice. the exercises below are aimed at conveying some of these essential qualities through moving.
i don't want to mystify anything, though, and descriptions can help get oriented - help to notice the things that work well in the course of exploration. so here are descriptions of some central contact improv movement qualities. people have different takes on what is crucial, and how to describe it, but i think these ring true with many experienced practitioners.
some central contact improvisation movement qualities
discovering the dance from your connections, rather than imposing some preconceived path.
"going where you're going" - following your own and your partner's balance / imbalance, momentum, impulses, etc - with the understanding that "where you're going" is constantly changing.
moving organized around center of mass - individual and shared. along this line, sharing centers - coordinating closely enough to share changing balance / imbalance.
(this is not different than most partner dance forms, but instead of following patterns, partners mutually discover their shared and changing pathways, pace, rhythms, postures, etc, in the moment.)
inter-responsiveness - all partners following, rather than any leading, allows you to develop mutual coordination like an integrated organism. [inter-responsiveness]
"filling in the gaps": finding material by paying close attention to what's happening, rather than concentrating on introducing external stuff.
courting surprise - widening your attention, to notice in what's present more than just what you expect.
releasing rather than controlling - avoiding unnecessary restriction or forcing.
note that these movement qualities are different than mechanical skills and techniques, like weight support, falling, rolling, and so on. while these skills and techniques can hint at on the underlying movement qualities, the skills are not the way of moving. in teaching, they are used to lead towards the movement qualities. in dancing, they are tools, to be adopted and adapted only when they serve the moment, rather than fitting the moment to the techniques. doing the reverse can get in the way of shared discovery of dances with your partners.
the class series
series of four 1.5 hour classes, conducted in october 2009. (we used nancy havlik's group rehearsal space at the md youth ballet, while the group was on hiatus.) participants were around 15 to 20 people of diverse age, ethnicity, dance experience, and ci experience, from 0 to several years. 1.5 hrs is fairly brief period in which to achieve any depth, but that may have worked in my favor, requiring good planning and time economy.
the ultimate aim i chose was a ci movement quality that i see as essential but somewhat elusive, something i refer to as "going where you're going". i haven't found a concise way to describe it that isn't mystifying, and even misleading. more thorough descriptions, on the other hand, are too complicated - not immediate enough to be useful.
instead of explaining the quality, i used a simple movement exercise that demonstrates how it is useful. while the exercise is fairly plain and direct, it depends on some more elementary skills. it is these layers of skills that motivates the exercise series which i describe below.
(most of the exercises i use are more or less variants of things i've learned from other teachers - in many cases, from nancy stark smith. in thanks, i try to mention who originally exposed me to each. conversely, i indicate the few cases where i think i originated the exercise design.)
class 1
going where you're going / following through
this is the motivating goal of the series, in the form of an exercise that involves an opportunity for a sudden ride that depends on the partner offering the opportunity to "go where they are going".
[...]
class 2
[...]
class 3
[...]
class 4
[...]
perspective
organizing my lessons around contact improv as a way of moving clarifies my lessons and accelerates my students gain of direction, adeptness, and confidence in their practice.
while it's helpful to aim for a particular aspect, it may be inevitable that the lessons involve a mixture of elements, some less immediately germane than others. "Tug on anything in nature and you will find it connected to everything else." --John Muir. Ultimately, the lessons across the tracks are interconnected, and inform one another.
going further:
- organize lessons for more of the listed way of moving qualities
- include qualities that should be on the list but aren't
- recast the descriptions for different takes on the movement qualities
footnotes
| [collaboration] | the tension inherent in collaborative improvisation may underlie the wealth of parallels in the practice to the dynamics of cooperative relationships, in general. this, too, is not completely different from other forms of partner dance - but ci's central emphasis on openness may make the parallels more pronounced. |
| [curiosity] | courting surprise, releasing rather than controlling, and the like are nicely hinted at by some pithy contact improv mottos, including nancy stark smith's "replace ambition with curiosity" and steve paxton's "tension masks sensation". |
| [inter-responsiveness] | there's a sweet spot in the balance of responding to one's inner activity and responding to the interaction with one's partners. when all those involved are in the sweet spot - responding to external without excluding internal, and vice versa - the dynamics of the mutual responsiveness becomes a partner, itself. it feels like this inter-responsiveness is very like what happens between the various parts of oneself when operating as an integrated organism, and that the dance takes on a life of its own. |
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