Contact
Quarterly

CONTACT QUARTERLY, a vehicle for moving ideas, is a journal of contemporary dance and improvisation. Presenting materials that spring from the experience of doing, we exist to encourage articulation and dialogue, and to stimulate activity and exploration within the field of movement and its performance. CQ is the longest living, independent, artist-made, non-profit, reader-supported magazine devoted to the dancer's voice.

In January 2020, after producing the final issue of CQ as a print periodical, Vol. 45.1, we transitioned to publishing exclusively online.

We are currently completing the posting of writings on two online publications for which we accepted final submissions at the end of 2022:

CI 50th Anniversary Newsletter 2022 Special Edition.
CQ's CI Newsletter publishes news and views of Contact Improvisation activities worldwide. This special edition celebrates the 50th Anniversary of CI with writings, discussions, interviews, and videos that span the decades.

CQ Unbound has been the online wing of CQ dance journal since 2008. It contains original writings and full transcripts of print interviews that extend the content of the print journal. These in-depth articles offer a rare inside look at the thoughts, practices, and creative processes of contemporary dance and movement artists. Exclusively for subscribers through 2020, it opened to public access on January 1, 2021.

Founded in 1975 as the Contact Newsletter, Contact Quarterly began as a forum for discussion of the emerging dance form Contact Improvisation (CI). Serving as a meeting ground for a growing international network of dance improvisers, CQ quickly grew to include writings and interviews on postmodern and contemporary experimental dance, somatic movement practices, improvisational dance, mixed-abilities dance, teaching methods, creative process, and performance.

The CQ CI Newsletter, with news and views of Contact Improvisation activities worldwide, continued as a featured section in CQ print journal through Vol. 43. In 2010, it also appeared online in an expanded version to increase public access. Its final issue as a biannual publication was released in June 2020, shortly after the last print issue and at the start of the shelter-at-home phase of Covid-19. In 2022, we revived the CI Newsletter in a special online edition in celebration of CI’s 50th Anniversary.

In April 2020, in response to the pandemic, we launched a new open access blog format—CQ Rolling Edition (RE)—as a space to share ideas, resources, questions, initiatives, and concerns as they emerged in our imaginations and our lives. Publishing submissions as they came in, we developed our website's ability to include more digital media. Reflecting the adaptations of our global community to a pervasive unknown, RE’s life-span extended through August 2021.

In 2021, we began a three-year transition from ongoing online publishing to a living Resource&Archive site which will preserve the writings on the online publications, with the full contents of our 45 years of print issues accessible in digital form, translations into multiple languages, and much more.

Providing a platform for seasoned and emerging dance artists and educators to communicate and dialogue about their work, CQ is a singular record of radical developments in improvisational and experimental dance over the last 47 years (see our Back Issues) and continues to play an active role in supporting the artists and creative forms that appear in, and reach beyond, our pages.

You can access samples of articles from our print journal on CQ Article Gallery. Please stayed tuned by joining our mailing list.

Back Issues

 

Article Gallery

read articles from
CQ print journal

CQ Unbound

read our
online journal

CQ is a resource for:

• Artists
• materials about dance-making, creative process, collaboration, teaching and performance practices
• articles by dancers evolving new forms, concepts, and practices

• Contact Improvisors
• a biannual CI Newsletter with reports of CI activities and views from around the world
• CI "shoptalk" articles in print and online
• a CI Contacts List for finding CI events and practitioners worldwide

• Dance Students and Enthusiasts
• information about workshops and trainings
• an inside look at thoughts, practices, and creative work of professional dance and movement artists at all levels of their careers
• source material for academic papers
• an opportunity to feel connected with a worldwide community of dancers

• Dance Educators
• articles about teaching methods, for both young and seasoned teachers
• regular listings of new resources: books, DVDs, references

• Dance Scholars and Critics
• 45 years of original source material by and about prime movers in the field of contemporary dance and improvisation

• Somatic Practitioners and Dance Therapists
• experiential writings about the psychological, emotional, and physical effects of movement practices
• articles about body-mind practices including: Body-Mind Centering®, Feldenkrais®, Ideokinesis, Alexander Technique, Skinner Releasing®, Continuum, Authentic Movement, and DanceAbility