Contact improv is a pure dance of duet. Our movements surrender in constant balance with our partner. Our agendas dissolve. Without plan or expectation, we are met equally with each other’s presence.
In 5 Rhythms, we dance alone, in duet, and with the tribe. Soul Motion adds dancing with the divine. Open Floor seems to taste an infinite variety of duets.
For a long time, I’ve wanted to explore the duet more deeply on the dance floor. I look for those who want to lose themselves in the beat with me. I don’t want anyone to change their dance for me. Their pure dance, what they need to express, on purpose, attracts me the most. I want to play off those moves. I want to experience my own energized ripples through the refractions in my partner’s body. I want to surf those unknown magical currents together.
Contact improv requires us to listen completely to each other, responding continually to shifts in weight and gravity to sustain equilibrium. There is no effort to create joined movement. Self-expression becomes a surrendered response instead of a self-directed action. Movement becomes a balanced extension of the collective center. Sustaining contact, sustaining partnership, sustaining connection, becomes the practice and goal.
