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Basic Neurocellular Patterns

Exploring Developmental Movement

by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

The Basic Neurocellular Patterns (BNP) form the underlying words and phrases in the language of human movement. They have a global influence on our physical, perceptual, emotional, and cognitive functioning and have extensive application in the areas of movement and psychophysical expression. With this book as a guide, Ms. Cohen invites you to directly experience, embody, and integrate your own developmental movement patterns. 2018. Burchfield Rose Publishers.

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Contact Editions currently publishes and distributes digital books and videos. You will find links to purchase them below. See also a listing of CE's books in print with links to our new distributors.

Since ceasing to sell physical products in late 2020, we are promoting our former titles on contemporary dance, improvisation, performance, and somatic movement arts on a page of Recommended Books and Videos with links to where to purchase them. These titles are by authors and contributors to Contact Quarterly's pages over 45 years of printing. You can access articles by these authors by searching them on our site.

In January 2021, we began transitioning our website to CQ Resource-Archive Site. Thanks for your patience while we update and reorganize our pages. Some of our titles are pending new distributors. Please stay tuned here and through our e-newsletter.

Digital Books
  1. CQ/Contact Improvisation 25th Anniversary Sourcebook

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1975-1992

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    This is the first volume of writings reprinted from Contact Quarterly dance journal concerning the practice of contact improvisation, a ...read more

    $21
    PDF (15 MB)

    add pdf to cart

  2. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. II

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1992-2007

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    In celebration of Contact Improvisation’s 36th anniversary, we released this second volume of the multivioiced history of the dance form’s ...read more

    $25
    PDF (43 MB)

    add pdf to cart

  3. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. III

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 2008–2018

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    This third volume of Contact Improvisation's multivoiced evolution is collected from CQ Vol. 33 through 43, including writings from CI ...read more

    $27
    PDF (10.9 MB)

    add pdf to cart

  4. This Very Moment

    teaching thinking dancing

    by Barbara Dilley

    This Very Moment braids threads of Barbara Dilley’s memoir in and out of a handbook for classroom practices of dance, ...read more

    $35
    PDF - covid discount (6.8 MB)

    add pdf to cart

    $40
    PDF (6.8 MB)

    add pdf to cart

Digital Videos
NOTE ON RENTALS: Your video is available to begin viewing within 30 days from purchase. It can be viewed multiple times for 48 hours from the time you first hit the play button on the video player.
  1. Chute (1979)

    © Videoda
    9:36 min.
    Narration in English

    Documentary of the first Contact Improvisation demonstrations in N.Y.C. at the John Weber Gallery in 1972. With narration by originator, ...read more

    $8
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    $100
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  2. Contact at 10th & 2nd (1983)

    © Videoda 49:05 min.

    Document of the 11th anniversary of Contact Improvisation performance festival at St. Mark’s Church in New York City with seasoned ...read more

    $8
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  3. Fall After Newton (1987)

    © Videoda
    22:45 min.
    Narration in English

    A sweeping look at 11 years of practice of Contact Improvisation by Nancy Stark Smith and initiator, Steve Paxton. The ...read more

    $8
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    add to cartrent

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    add to cartlease

    $50
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    add to cartdownload indiv.

    $100
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  4. Magnesium (1972)

    © Videoda
    9:33 min.

    Document of a dance made by Steve Paxton during a Grand Union residency at Oberlin College, Ohio in January, 1972. ...read more

    $8
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    add to cartdownload indiv.

    $100
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  5. Peripheral Vision (1975)

    © Videoda
    21:05 min.
    Narration in English

    Selections from a Contact Improvisation concert at Firehouse Theater in San Francisco, CA in 1973: “You Come, We’ll Show You ...read more

    $8
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    add to cartrent

    $25
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    add to cartlease

    $50
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    add to cartdownload indiv.

    $100
    Institutions : Download

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  6. Soft Pallet (1973)

    © Videoda
    17:53 min.

    Selections from a vintage Contact Improvisation concert in Rome at L’Attico Gallery in 1973. With performers: Annette LaRoque, David Woodberry, ...read more

    $8
    Rent (48 hours)

    add to cartrent

    $25
    Lease (3 years)

    add to cartlease

    $50
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    add to cartdownload indiv.

    $100
    Institutions : Download

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CE Books in Print
  1. Caught Falling

    The Confluence of Contact Improvisation, Nancy Stark Smith, and Other Moving Ideas

    by David Koteen and Nancy Stark Smith
    with a Backwords by Steve Paxton

    The inside-out of dancer/CQ editor Nancy Stark Smith's life as seen through the kaleidoscope of the dance form Contact Improvisation. Includes Q&As between David and Nancy; photos of dancing & living; Talk Bubbles from friends, colleagues, and family; the Underscore; Nancy's life stories; and more. 2008. Contact Editions.

    Available through Wesleyan Univ. Press - HFS

  2. CQ/Contact Improvisation 25th Anniversary Sourcebook

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1975-1992

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    The first volume of writings reprinted from Contact Quarterly dance journal concerning the practice of contact improvisation. Xeroxed articles, essays, drawings, photos, and quotes from CQ's birth as a newsletter in 1975 through 1992. An indispensable resource for dance students, teachers, and practitioners of CI to experience the roots and track the development of the practice and philosophy of this influential contemporary dance form. 1997. Contact Editions.

    Order Print edition through Contredanse

  3. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. II

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1992-2007

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    In celebration of Contact Improvisation’s 36th anniversary, we released this second volume of the multivioiced history of the dance form’s ...read more

    Order Print edition through Contredanse

  4. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. III

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 2008–2018

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    This third volume of Contact Improvisation's multivoiced evolution is collected from CQ Vol. 33 through 43, including writings from CI Essentials, Editor Notes, Still Moving, CI Newsletter and more. Containing perspectives on the practice, principles, issues, and applications of Contact Improvisation from diverse contemporary practitioners around the globe, it is an invaluable creative resource for teachers, practitioners, and dance libraries. 2019. Contact Editions.

    Order Print edition through Contredanse

  5. Handbook in Motion

    An Account of an Ongoing Personal Discourse and Its Manifestations in Dance

    by Simone Forti

    An account of an ongoing personal discourse and its manifestations in dance. Tracing a period in her life from the 1969 Woodstock Festival through the following years living on the land, this singular dance artist’s direct and poetic writings bring a turbulent transitional era to life. 1974. The Presses of the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design and New York University.

    Available through Wesleyan Univ. Press - HFS

  6. Inside Motion

    An Ideokinetic Basis for Movement Education

    by John Rolland

    An in-depth and comprehensive study of anatomical imagery based on the Todd-Clark body alignment work, with a complete description of the skeletal system. 1984. Rolland String Research Associates.

    Perfect bound

    Available through Wesleyan Univ. Press - HFS

  7. Sensing, Feeling, and Action, 3rd ed.

    The Experiential Anatomy of Body-Mind Centering®

    by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

    Pioneering movement educator Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen’s innovative approach to embodiment, movement analysis and reeducation, Body-Mind Centering®, is the subject of this book of collected essays, interviews, and exercises written for Contact Quarterly dance journal between 1980 and 2009. The 3rd edition includes sixteen additional pages with new articles on inspiration, expiration, and dancing through the transitional fluid, including a subject Index and List of Explorations. 1993. 2008. 2012. Contact Editions.

    Available through Wesleyan Univ. Press - HFS

Recommended Books
  1. Action Theater

    The Improvisation of Presence

    by Ruth Zaporah

    Action Theater is an improvisational physical theater training and performance method that incorporates movement, vocalization, and speech. Packed with over 100 skill-building exercises with photos, this book is an indispensable training manual for actors, dancers, musicians, and all who explore the relationship between mind, body, action and performance. 1995. North Atlantic Books.

    Available through North Atlantic Books

  2. Basic Neurocellular Patterns

    Exploring Developmental Movement

    by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

    The Basic Neurocellular Patterns (BNP) form the underlying words and phrases in the language of human movement. They have a global influence on our physical, perceptual, emotional, and cognitive functioning and have extensive application in the areas of movement and psychophysical expression. With this book as a guide, Ms. Cohen invites you to directly experience, embody, and integrate your own developmental movement patterns. 2018. Burchfield Rose Publishers.

    Available through author

  3. Body and Earth

    An Experiential Guide

    by Andrea Olsen

    Integrating environmental science, biology, meditations, and creative expression, Olsen addresses the interconnectedness of body and place through a mixture of reflections, information, exercises, and visual art. 2002. Wesleyan University Press.

    Available through HFSbooks

  4. BodyStories

    A Guide to Experiential Anatomy

    by Andrea Olsen in collaboration with Caryn McHose 

    Thirty-one days of learning sessions bring heightened awareness about each bone and body system as well as providing self-guided studies to activate the learning processes. The book draws on Olsen’s twenty years as a dancer and teacher of anatomy to show how our attitudes and approaches to our bodies affect us day to day. 1998. Station Hill Press.

    Available through HFSbooks

  5. Caught Falling

    The Confluence of Contact Improvisation, Nancy Stark Smith, and Other Moving Ideas

    by David Koteen and Nancy Stark Smith
    with a Backwords by Steve Paxton

    The inside-out of dancer/CQ editor Nancy Stark Smith's life as seen through the kaleidoscope of the dance form Contact Improvisation. Includes Q&As between David and Nancy; photos of dancing & living; Talk Bubbles from friends, colleagues, and family; the Underscore; Nancy's life stories; and more. 2008. Contact Editions.

    Available through Wesleyan Univ. Press - HFS

  6. Composing while Dancing

    An Improviser’s Companion

    by Melinda Buckwalter

    Dance improviser and coeditor of Contact Quarterly, Melinda Buckwalter mines her direct experience of the improvisational strategies of 26 pioneering contemporary dance artists and their varied approaches to this art form. With a mosaic of histories, methods, sample practices, source writings, and biographies of the artists, including Barbara Dilley, Simone Forti, Nina Martin, Mary Overlie, Steve Paxton, Min Tanaka, Lisa Nelson, et al. Composing offers a much needed and inspiring resource for dancers and dance educators. Watch the YouTube infomercial. 2010. University of Wisconsin Press

    Available through uwpress

  7. Contact Improvisation

    An Introduction to a Vitalizing Dance Form

    by Cheryl Pallant

    A devoted practitioner writes about contact improvisation from an experiential viewpoint, discussing its history, fundamentals, and political, social, and cultural ramifications, with questions, exercises, and a teacher's sampler. 2006. McFarland & Co.

    widely available

  8. Contact Improvisation & Body-Mind Centering

    A Manual for Teaching & Learning Movement

    by Annie Brook

    Designed to be a manual and study guide, this book supports body-mind integration and the development of an improvisational mind through movement with a blend of play, fundamental BMC exercises, and CI skills. 2000. Body-Mind.net.

    Available through author

  9. CQ/Contact Improvisation 25th Anniversary Sourcebook

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1975-1992

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    The first volume of writings reprinted from Contact Quarterly dance journal concerning the practice of contact improvisation. Xeroxed articles, essays, drawings, photos, and quotes from CQ's birth as a newsletter in 1975 through 1992. An indispensable resource for dance students, teachers, and practitioners of CI to experience the roots and track the development of the practice and philosophy of this influential contemporary dance form. 1997. Contact Editions.

    Order Print edition through Contredanse

  10. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. II

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1992-2007

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    In celebration of Contact Improvisation’s 36th anniversary, we released this second volume of the multivioiced history of the dance form’s ...read more

    Order Print edition through Contredanse

  11. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. III

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 2008–2018

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    This third volume of Contact Improvisation's multivoiced evolution is collected from CQ Vol. 33 through 43, including writings from CI Essentials, Editor Notes, Still Moving, CI Newsletter and more. Containing perspectives on the practice, principles, issues, and applications of Contact Improvisation from diverse contemporary practitioners around the globe, it is an invaluable creative resource for teachers, practitioners, and dance libraries. 2019. Contact Editions.

    Order Print edition through Contredanse

  12. Dancing Deeper Still

    The Practice of Contact Improvisation

    by Martin Keogh

    Through numerous detailed essays on the practice and teaching of Contact Improvisation, longtime Contact teacher Martin Keogh presents Dancing Deeper Still, a sourcebook and philosophical treatise on Contact Improvisation in performance, boundaries and sexuality, political activism, dancing while aging, expanded teaching research notes, and advanced skills. 2018. Intimately Rooted Books.

    Available through author

  13. Embodied Lives

    Reflections on the Influence of Suprapto Suryodarmo and Amerta Movement

    Editors: Katya Bloom, Margit Galanter, and Sandra Reeve

    Suprapto Suryodarmo's moving/dancing has inspired many thousands of people in the West, and many more in his native Java, who have witnessed, worked with, or been otherwise influenced by his Amerta Movement practice. Embodied Lives brings together 30 experienced practitioners from around the world to describe the impact of Amerta Movement on their lives and work, in fields ranging from the arts and performance to psychotherapy and somatics, and other professions as diverse as law, archaeology, and architecture. 2014. Triarchy Press.

    Available through Triarchy Press

  14. Encounters with Contact

    Dancing Contact Improvisation in College

    edited by Ann Cooper Albright, et al.

    Through a series of student writings and essays by established artists teaching in universities throughout the U.S., Encounters considers the unique experience of teaching and learning Contact within an educational institution. Included are sections on students' first impressions, thoughts on the often surprising effects of touch within the dance, classroom exercises, the role of Contact in life after school, debate about institutional formats, and more. 2010. Oberlin College Theater and Dance Program.

    Available by email

  15. Gravity

    by Steve Paxton

    In this elegant pocket-sized book, dancer Steve Paxton traces a lifetime in the company of gravity. In pithy prose essays, he brings us the memory of his first flight, a meditation on walking, pondering on the conditions of life, and a dream of dancing that make up pieces of a puzzle. He reveals the physical force that affects us all and underpins our personal stories. 2018. Contredanse Editions, Brussels.

    Available through Contredanse

  16. A Guide to a Somatic Movement Practice

    The Anatomy of Center

    by Nancy Topf with Hetty King

    Making available the full text of somatic dance education pioneer Nancy Topf's manuscript, The Anatomy of Center, for the first time in print, this introduction to Topf Technique/Dynamic Anatomy® helps professionals, teachers, and students of all levels integrate embodied, somatic practices within contexts of dance, physical education and therapy, health, and mental well-being. 2022. University Press of Florida.

    Available through University Press of Florida

  17. Handbook in Motion

    An Account of an Ongoing Personal Discourse and Its Manifestations in Dance

    by Simone Forti

    An account of an ongoing personal discourse and its manifestations in dance. Tracing a period in her life from the 1969 Woodstock Festival through the following years living on the land, this singular dance artist’s direct and poetic writings bring a turbulent transitional era to life. 1974. The Presses of the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design and New York University.

    Available through Wesleyan Univ. Press - HFS

  18. Inside Motion

    An Ideokinetic Basis for Movement Education

    by John Rolland

    An in-depth and comprehensive study of anatomical imagery based on the Todd-Clark body alignment work, with a complete description of the skeletal system. 1984. Rolland String Research Associates.

    Perfect bound

    Available through Wesleyan Univ. Press - HFS

  19. A Kinesthetic Legacy

    The Life and Works of Barbara Clark
    revised edition

    by Pamela Matt

    An invaluable historical resource and practical text about Barbara Clark, a pioneering thinker in the somatics field. Includes Clark's previously published and unpublished manuals and teaching notes. 2020. Thinking Body Institute Media LLC.

    Perfect bound

    Available through Thinking Body Institute

  20. The Knowing Body

    The Artist as Storyteller in Contemporary Performance

    by Louise Steinman

    This hands-on guidebook offers a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process involved in transforming personal stories to theater. Including journal notes and drawings, Steinman interviews some of the key post-modern performers of the ‘80s—Trisha Brown, Ping Chong, Meredith Monk, Whoopi Goldberg, Spaulding Gray, and a host of others. By weaving descriptions of her own path as a writer and performer into a thesis, she demonstrates how one can work towards developing an authentic voice, sparking a student’s sense of possibility. 1986. 1995. North Atlantic Books

    Available through Penguin...

  21. Landscape of the Now

    A Topography of Movement Improvisation

    by Kent De Spain

    Based on a series of interviews with master teachers who have developed unique approaches that are taught around the world—Steve Paxton, Simone Forti, Lisa Nelson, Deborah Hay, Nancy Stark Smith, Barbara Dilley, Anna Halprin, and Ruth Zaporah—De Spain takes readers on a deep journey into the underlying processes and structures of postmodern movement improvisation. 2014. Oxford University Press.

    widely available

  22. My Body, The Buddhist

    by Deborah Hay

    An account of Hay's dance-making process with insights into the creation of her performance practices and the invention of her dance libretto, with comments from contemporary artists. 2000. Wesleyan University Press.

    Available through HFSbooks

  23. On the Edge

    Dialogues on Dance Improvisation in Performance

    edited by Agnès Benoit

    Bilingual: English/French
    Fourteen interviews with dancers/improvisers whose creative process derives directly from instant composition: Steve Paxton, Yvonne Rainer, Katie Duck, Lisa Nelson, Julyen Hamilton, Pauline De Groot, K.J. Holmes, Suzanne Cotto, Simone Forti, David Zambrano, Mark Tompkins, Alessandro Certini, Frans Poelstra, and others. 1997. Contredanse/Nouvelles de Danse #32/33

    Available through Contredanse

  24. ONE SHOT

    dialogues on real time composition

    by Mark Tompkins and Meg Stuart

    Bilingual English/French
    Two seasoned dancer-improvisers have created a book of conversations, interviews, performance transcripts, and images about real time composition. An investigation of sensations and perceptions, a study of presence and play in improvised performance, a handbook for survival. Images by Gilles Toutevoix. 2022. Éditions L'ŒIL D'OR.

    Available through L'ŒIL D'OR

  25. The Place of Dance

    A Somatic Guide to Dancing and Dance Making

    by Andrea Olsen, with Caryn McHose

    A workbook that integrates experiential anatomy with the process of moving and dancing, with a focus on the creative journey involved in choreographing, improvising, and performing. Each chapter introduces a particular theme and features information on the topic, movement and writing investigations, personal anecdotes, and studio notes from professional artists and educators. 2014. Wesleyan University Press.

    Available through HFSbooks

  26. Questioning Contact Improvisation

    by Keith Hennessy

    Hennessy’s zine, coming from decades of practice and questioning of CI, interrogates whiteness, racism, heterosexism, and white supremacy in the dance form. “How do predominantly white alternative cultures defeat their stated intentions and wishes by reproducing mainstream or hegemonic injustices?” [p. 1]. The questioning takes place against a background of Hennessy’s experience as a dancer and teacher of CI since the late ’70s,
    and as a white, queer, cis male. Unique full color design with photos. 2018. San Francisco: Circo Zero.

    Available through circozero

  27. Sensing, Feeling, and Action, 3rd ed.

    The Experiential Anatomy of Body-Mind Centering®

    by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

    Pioneering movement educator Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen’s innovative approach to embodiment, movement analysis and reeducation, Body-Mind Centering®, is the subject of this book of collected essays, interviews, and exercises written for Contact Quarterly dance journal between 1980 and 2009. The 3rd edition includes sixteen additional pages with new articles on inspiration, expiration, and dancing through the transitional fluid, including a subject Index and List of Explorations. 1993. 2008. 2012. Contact Editions.

    Available through Wesleyan Univ. Press - HFS

  28. Sharing the Dance

    Contact Improvisation and American Culture

    by Cynthia J. Novack

    In Sharing the Dance , Cynthia Novack considers the development of contact improvisation within its web of historical, social, and ...read more

    Available through UWpress

  29. Standing In Space

    The Six Viewpoints Theory & Practice

    by Mary Overlie

    Mary Overlie, among the most influential choreographer-dancer-educators in postmodern dance and theater practices, created the Six Viewpoints as an answer to the question "What are dance and theater made of?" Emerging out of the late-'60s NYC downtown dance scene, what followed was the development of a comprehensive language and learning system that is applicable to directing, choreographing, dancing, acting, improvisation, and performance analysis. Standing in Space is essential reading for dancers-dancemakers of all cultures, ages, and genres. 2016. Movement Publishing.

    Available through sixviewpoints

  30. Taken by Surprise

    A Dance Improvisation Reader

    Editors: Ann Cooper Albright & David Gere

    Twenty-one essays by prominent practitioners and scholars reflecting the development of improvisation as a compositional and performance mode. Including considerations of contact improvisation, recent innovations in tap dancing, and improvisation in everyday life. Including essays by Susan Leigh Foster, Steve Paxton, Sally Banes, Nancy Stark Smith, Simone Forti, Janice Ross, Ruth Zaporah and many others. 2003. Wesleyan University Press.

    Available through HFSbooks

  31. Terpsichore's Deck

    by Eliza Larson

    Terpsichore’s Deck is a fun, tactile way to engage with principles of choreography and performance. From broad aspects of dance-making to subtle elements of performativity, each set of 52 cards encourages the creator to investigate and consider aspects of crafting dance and performance. 2013. NEW EDITION 2017.

    Available through author

  32. This Very Moment

    teaching thinking dancing

    by Barbara Dilley

    This Very Moment braids threads of Barbara Dilley’s memoir in and out of a handbook for classroom practices of dance, ...read more

    $35
    PDF - covid discount (6.8 MB)

    add pdf to cart

    $40
    PDF (6.8 MB)

    add pdf to cart

  33. Through the Back

    Situating Vision between Moving Bodies

    by Jeroen Peeters

    In today’s visual regime, contemporary dance operates as a critical force. It questions univocal representations and dominant cultural ideals of the body. Developing alternative approaches to physical expression, certain choreographers create body images that are vulnerable and permeable to the world. Through the Back seeks to articulate this critical potential in a series of essays that explore the work of experimental choreographers active throughout the 2000s: Alexander Baervoets, Boris Charmatz, Meg Stuart, Benoît Lachambre, Vera Mantero, Philipp Gehmacher, Jennifer Lacey and Nadia Lauro, and deufert & plischke. 2014. Theatre Academy of the Univ. of the Arts Helsinki, Kinesis 5

    Available through Books on the Move

  34. Wisdom of the Body Moving

    An Introduction to Body-Mind Centering®

    by Linda Hartley

    A comprehensive guide to the basic philosophy and key elements of Body-Mind Centering®, the innovative approach to embodiment pioneered by movement educator Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; with concrete and poetic explorations, clear exercises, and extensive anatomical drawings and photos. 1989. 1995. North Atlantic Books.

    Available through Pengiun...

Recommended Videos
  1. Anna Halprin, Dancing Life/Danser
    la vie (DVD-Rom)

    by Baptiste Andrien, Florence Corin / Contredanse,
    with Anna Halprin

    This interactive DVD-ROM presents the unique approach of this groundbreaking dance artist through more than six hours of video covering the entirety of a 2012 workshop in Paris, previously unpublished interviews, and extracts of precious archive material. 2014. Contredanse.

    Available through Contredanse

  2. Contact Improvisation at 36 (DVD)

    Perspectives on the Dance Form in its 36th Year

    a documentary film by Nathan Wagoner

    This documentary about Contact Improvisation was shot at CI36, a celebration of Contact’s 36th birthday in 2008 which brought together ...read more

    video streaming buy or rent coming soon

  3. Force of Nature (DVD)

    a performance documentary with Kirstie Simson

    by Katrina McPherson

    Over the course of five years, award-winning director Katrina McPherson filmed improvising dance artist Kirstie Simson performing and teaching across ...read more

    Livestreaming at GO/AT

  4. Material for the Spine - Steve Paxton (WEB_APP)

    A Movement Study

    Produced by Contredanse

    This interactive WEB-APP immerses us in Paxton's world, to experience the logic and invention at the core of Material for the Spine, a technique evolved from his observation of the spine in the practice of Contact Improvisation. Includes original audiovisual essays, motion capture sequences, extracts from lectures, classes, and performances, and each of the forms of the technique is detailed. 2008. Contredanse, Brussels.

    Available through Contredanse

  5. A Moving Presence (DVD)

    Ruth Zaporah and Action Theater

    a film by Kent De Spain

    A glimpse into Ruth Zaporah's Action Theater™, an improvisational physical theater training and performance method that incorporates embodied movement, vocalization, and speech. Follow sixteen people through a two-week workshop in which improvisers are pushed to the edge of their creativity. 2008. Kent De Spain/Ruth Zaporah.

    Available through ZAP

  6. Videoda Contact Improvisation Archive

    1972 – 1983

    Six edited programs in Videoda's Archival Collection of Contact Improvisation track a key period of exploration and discovery through narrated ...read more

    Available to stream or download here

  7. Workshop with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen (DVD)

    Dance and Body-Mind Centering®

    Produced by Contredanse

    A rare document of a workshop led by ground-breaking movement educator Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen in Brussels in May 2004. She speaks about the evolution of her work and demonstrates her theories of weight, time, and space as they apply to dancing and the body systems. In English, with live translation into French. 2006. Contredanse, Brussels.

    Available through Contredanse

category: Improvisation & Dance-making
  1. Action Theater

    The Improvisation of Presence

    by Ruth Zaporah

    Action Theater is an improvisational physical theater training and performance method that incorporates movement, vocalization, and speech. Packed with over 100 skill-building exercises with photos, this book is an indispensable training manual for actors, dancers, musicians, and all who explore the relationship between mind, body, action and performance. 1995. North Atlantic Books.

    Available through North Atlantic Books

  2. Anna Halprin, Dancing Life/Danser
    la vie (DVD-Rom)

    by Baptiste Andrien, Florence Corin / Contredanse,
    with Anna Halprin

    This interactive DVD-ROM presents the unique approach of this groundbreaking dance artist through more than six hours of video covering the entirety of a 2012 workshop in Paris, previously unpublished interviews, and extracts of precious archive material. 2014. Contredanse.

    Available through Contredanse

  3. Caught Falling

    The Confluence of Contact Improvisation, Nancy Stark Smith, and Other Moving Ideas

    by David Koteen and Nancy Stark Smith
    with a Backwords by Steve Paxton

    The inside-out of dancer/CQ editor Nancy Stark Smith's life as seen through the kaleidoscope of the dance form Contact Improvisation. Includes Q&As between David and Nancy; photos of dancing & living; Talk Bubbles from friends, colleagues, and family; the Underscore; Nancy's life stories; and more. 2008. Contact Editions.

    Available through Wesleyan Univ. Press - HFS

  4. Composing while Dancing

    An Improviser’s Companion

    by Melinda Buckwalter

    Dance improviser and coeditor of Contact Quarterly, Melinda Buckwalter mines her direct experience of the improvisational strategies of 26 pioneering contemporary dance artists and their varied approaches to this art form. With a mosaic of histories, methods, sample practices, source writings, and biographies of the artists, including Barbara Dilley, Simone Forti, Nina Martin, Mary Overlie, Steve Paxton, Min Tanaka, Lisa Nelson, et al. Composing offers a much needed and inspiring resource for dancers and dance educators. Watch the YouTube infomercial. 2010. University of Wisconsin Press

    Available through uwpress

  5. Contact Improvisation

    An Introduction to a Vitalizing Dance Form

    by Cheryl Pallant

    A devoted practitioner writes about contact improvisation from an experiential viewpoint, discussing its history, fundamentals, and political, social, and cultural ramifications, with questions, exercises, and a teacher's sampler. 2006. McFarland & Co.

    widely available

  6. Contact Improvisation & Body-Mind Centering

    A Manual for Teaching & Learning Movement

    by Annie Brook

    Designed to be a manual and study guide, this book supports body-mind integration and the development of an improvisational mind through movement with a blend of play, fundamental BMC exercises, and CI skills. 2000. Body-Mind.net.

    Available through author

  7. Contact Improvisation at 36 (DVD)

    Perspectives on the Dance Form in its 36th Year

    a documentary film by Nathan Wagoner

    This documentary about Contact Improvisation was shot at CI36, a celebration of Contact’s 36th birthday in 2008 which brought together ...read more

    video streaming buy or rent coming soon

  8. CQ/Contact Improvisation 25th Anniversary Sourcebook

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1975-1992

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    This is the first volume of writings reprinted from Contact Quarterly dance journal concerning the practice of contact improvisation, a ...read more

    $21
    PDF (15 MB)

    add pdf to cart

  9. CQ/Contact Improvisation 25th Anniversary Sourcebook

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1975-1992

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    The first volume of writings reprinted from Contact Quarterly dance journal concerning the practice of contact improvisation. Xeroxed articles, essays, drawings, photos, and quotes from CQ's birth as a newsletter in 1975 through 1992. An indispensable resource for dance students, teachers, and practitioners of CI to experience the roots and track the development of the practice and philosophy of this influential contemporary dance form. 1997. Contact Editions.

    Order Print edition through Contredanse

  10. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. II

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1992-2007

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    In celebration of Contact Improvisation’s 36th anniversary, we released this second volume of the multivioiced history of the dance form’s ...read more

    $25
    PDF (43 MB)

    add pdf to cart

  11. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. II

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1992-2007

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    In celebration of Contact Improvisation’s 36th anniversary, we released this second volume of the multivioiced history of the dance form’s ...read more

    Order Print edition through Contredanse

  12. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. III

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 2008–2018

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    This third volume of Contact Improvisation's multivoiced evolution is collected from CQ Vol. 33 through 43, including writings from CI ...read more

    $27
    PDF (10.9 MB)

    add pdf to cart

  13. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. III

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 2008–2018

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    This third volume of Contact Improvisation's multivoiced evolution is collected from CQ Vol. 33 through 43, including writings from CI Essentials, Editor Notes, Still Moving, CI Newsletter and more. Containing perspectives on the practice, principles, issues, and applications of Contact Improvisation from diverse contemporary practitioners around the globe, it is an invaluable creative resource for teachers, practitioners, and dance libraries. 2019. Contact Editions.

    Order Print edition through Contredanse

  14. Embodied Lives

    Reflections on the Influence of Suprapto Suryodarmo and Amerta Movement

    Editors: Katya Bloom, Margit Galanter, and Sandra Reeve

    Suprapto Suryodarmo's moving/dancing has inspired many thousands of people in the West, and many more in his native Java, who have witnessed, worked with, or been otherwise influenced by his Amerta Movement practice. Embodied Lives brings together 30 experienced practitioners from around the world to describe the impact of Amerta Movement on their lives and work, in fields ranging from the arts and performance to psychotherapy and somatics, and other professions as diverse as law, archaeology, and architecture. 2014. Triarchy Press.

    Available through Triarchy Press

  15. Encounters with Contact

    Dancing Contact Improvisation in College

    edited by Ann Cooper Albright, et al.

    Through a series of student writings and essays by established artists teaching in universities throughout the U.S., Encounters considers the unique experience of teaching and learning Contact within an educational institution. Included are sections on students' first impressions, thoughts on the often surprising effects of touch within the dance, classroom exercises, the role of Contact in life after school, debate about institutional formats, and more. 2010. Oberlin College Theater and Dance Program.

    Available by email

  16. Force of Nature (DVD)

    a performance documentary with Kirstie Simson

    by Katrina McPherson

    Over the course of five years, award-winning director Katrina McPherson filmed improvising dance artist Kirstie Simson performing and teaching across ...read more

    Livestreaming at GO/AT

  17. Gravity

    by Steve Paxton

    In this elegant pocket-sized book, dancer Steve Paxton traces a lifetime in the company of gravity. In pithy prose essays, he brings us the memory of his first flight, a meditation on walking, pondering on the conditions of life, and a dream of dancing that make up pieces of a puzzle. He reveals the physical force that affects us all and underpins our personal stories. 2018. Contredanse Editions, Brussels.

    Available through Contredanse

  18. Handbook in Motion

    An Account of an Ongoing Personal Discourse and Its Manifestations in Dance

    by Simone Forti

    An account of an ongoing personal discourse and its manifestations in dance. Tracing a period in her life from the 1969 Woodstock Festival through the following years living on the land, this singular dance artist’s direct and poetic writings bring a turbulent transitional era to life. 1974. The Presses of the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design and New York University.

    Available through Wesleyan Univ. Press - HFS

  19. The Knowing Body

    The Artist as Storyteller in Contemporary Performance

    by Louise Steinman

    This hands-on guidebook offers a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process involved in transforming personal stories to theater. Including journal notes and drawings, Steinman interviews some of the key post-modern performers of the ‘80s—Trisha Brown, Ping Chong, Meredith Monk, Whoopi Goldberg, Spaulding Gray, and a host of others. By weaving descriptions of her own path as a writer and performer into a thesis, she demonstrates how one can work towards developing an authentic voice, sparking a student’s sense of possibility. 1986. 1995. North Atlantic Books

    Available through Penguin...

  20. Landscape of the Now

    A Topography of Movement Improvisation

    by Kent De Spain

    Based on a series of interviews with master teachers who have developed unique approaches that are taught around the world—Steve Paxton, Simone Forti, Lisa Nelson, Deborah Hay, Nancy Stark Smith, Barbara Dilley, Anna Halprin, and Ruth Zaporah—De Spain takes readers on a deep journey into the underlying processes and structures of postmodern movement improvisation. 2014. Oxford University Press.

    widely available

  21. Material for the Spine - Steve Paxton (WEB_APP)

    A Movement Study

    Produced by Contredanse

    This interactive WEB-APP immerses us in Paxton's world, to experience the logic and invention at the core of Material for the Spine, a technique evolved from his observation of the spine in the practice of Contact Improvisation. Includes original audiovisual essays, motion capture sequences, extracts from lectures, classes, and performances, and each of the forms of the technique is detailed. 2008. Contredanse, Brussels.

    Available through Contredanse

  22. A Moving Presence (DVD)

    Ruth Zaporah and Action Theater

    a film by Kent De Spain

    A glimpse into Ruth Zaporah's Action Theater™, an improvisational physical theater training and performance method that incorporates embodied movement, vocalization, and speech. Follow sixteen people through a two-week workshop in which improvisers are pushed to the edge of their creativity. 2008. Kent De Spain/Ruth Zaporah.

    Available through ZAP

  23. My Body, The Buddhist

    by Deborah Hay

    An account of Hay's dance-making process with insights into the creation of her performance practices and the invention of her dance libretto, with comments from contemporary artists. 2000. Wesleyan University Press.

    Available through HFSbooks

  24. On the Edge

    Dialogues on Dance Improvisation in Performance

    edited by Agnès Benoit

    Bilingual: English/French
    Fourteen interviews with dancers/improvisers whose creative process derives directly from instant composition: Steve Paxton, Yvonne Rainer, Katie Duck, Lisa Nelson, Julyen Hamilton, Pauline De Groot, K.J. Holmes, Suzanne Cotto, Simone Forti, David Zambrano, Mark Tompkins, Alessandro Certini, Frans Poelstra, and others. 1997. Contredanse/Nouvelles de Danse #32/33

    Available through Contredanse

  25. ONE SHOT

    dialogues on real time composition

    by Mark Tompkins and Meg Stuart

    Bilingual English/French
    Two seasoned dancer-improvisers have created a book of conversations, interviews, performance transcripts, and images about real time composition. An investigation of sensations and perceptions, a study of presence and play in improvised performance, a handbook for survival. Images by Gilles Toutevoix. 2022. Éditions L'ŒIL D'OR.

    Available through L'ŒIL D'OR

  26. The Place of Dance

    A Somatic Guide to Dancing and Dance Making

    by Andrea Olsen, with Caryn McHose

    A workbook that integrates experiential anatomy with the process of moving and dancing, with a focus on the creative journey involved in choreographing, improvising, and performing. Each chapter introduces a particular theme and features information on the topic, movement and writing investigations, personal anecdotes, and studio notes from professional artists and educators. 2014. Wesleyan University Press.

    Available through HFSbooks

  27. Sharing the Dance

    Contact Improvisation and American Culture

    by Cynthia J. Novack

    In Sharing the Dance , Cynthia Novack considers the development of contact improvisation within its web of historical, social, and ...read more

    Available through UWpress

  28. Standing In Space

    The Six Viewpoints Theory & Practice

    by Mary Overlie

    Mary Overlie, among the most influential choreographer-dancer-educators in postmodern dance and theater practices, created the Six Viewpoints as an answer to the question "What are dance and theater made of?" Emerging out of the late-'60s NYC downtown dance scene, what followed was the development of a comprehensive language and learning system that is applicable to directing, choreographing, dancing, acting, improvisation, and performance analysis. Standing in Space is essential reading for dancers-dancemakers of all cultures, ages, and genres. 2016. Movement Publishing.

    Available through sixviewpoints

  29. Taken by Surprise

    A Dance Improvisation Reader

    Editors: Ann Cooper Albright & David Gere

    Twenty-one essays by prominent practitioners and scholars reflecting the development of improvisation as a compositional and performance mode. Including considerations of contact improvisation, recent innovations in tap dancing, and improvisation in everyday life. Including essays by Susan Leigh Foster, Steve Paxton, Sally Banes, Nancy Stark Smith, Simone Forti, Janice Ross, Ruth Zaporah and many others. 2003. Wesleyan University Press.

    Available through HFSbooks

  30. Terpsichore's Deck

    by Eliza Larson

    Terpsichore’s Deck is a fun, tactile way to engage with principles of choreography and performance. From broad aspects of dance-making to subtle elements of performativity, each set of 52 cards encourages the creator to investigate and consider aspects of crafting dance and performance. 2013. NEW EDITION 2017.

    Available through author

  31. This Very Moment

    teaching thinking dancing

    by Barbara Dilley

    This Very Moment braids threads of Barbara Dilley’s memoir in and out of a handbook for classroom practices of dance, ...read more

    $35
    PDF - covid discount (6.8 MB)

    add pdf to cart

    $40
    PDF (6.8 MB)

    add pdf to cart

  32. Through the Back

    Situating Vision between Moving Bodies

    by Jeroen Peeters

    In today’s visual regime, contemporary dance operates as a critical force. It questions univocal representations and dominant cultural ideals of the body. Developing alternative approaches to physical expression, certain choreographers create body images that are vulnerable and permeable to the world. Through the Back seeks to articulate this critical potential in a series of essays that explore the work of experimental choreographers active throughout the 2000s: Alexander Baervoets, Boris Charmatz, Meg Stuart, Benoît Lachambre, Vera Mantero, Philipp Gehmacher, Jennifer Lacey and Nadia Lauro, and deufert & plischke. 2014. Theatre Academy of the Univ. of the Arts Helsinki, Kinesis 5

    Available through Books on the Move

category: Contact Improvisation
  1. Caught Falling

    The Confluence of Contact Improvisation, Nancy Stark Smith, and Other Moving Ideas

    by David Koteen and Nancy Stark Smith
    with a Backwords by Steve Paxton

    The inside-out of dancer/CQ editor Nancy Stark Smith's life as seen through the kaleidoscope of the dance form Contact Improvisation. Includes Q&As between David and Nancy; photos of dancing & living; Talk Bubbles from friends, colleagues, and family; the Underscore; Nancy's life stories; and more. 2008. Contact Editions.

    Available through Wesleyan Univ. Press - HFS

  2. Chute (1979)

    © Videoda
    9:36 min.
    Narration in English

    Documentary of the first Contact Improvisation demonstrations in N.Y.C. at the John Weber Gallery in 1972. With narration by originator, ...read more

    $8
    Rent (48 hours)

    add to cartrent

    $25
    Lease (3 years)

    add to cartlease

    $50
    Download (Individuals)

    add to cartdownload indiv.

    $100
    Institutions : Download

    Request contract/pricing

  3. Contact at 10th & 2nd (1983)

    © Videoda 49:05 min.

    Document of the 11th anniversary of Contact Improvisation performance festival at St. Mark’s Church in New York City with seasoned ...read more

    $8
    Rent (48 hours)

    add to cartrent

    $25
    Lease (3 years)

    add to cartlease

    $50
    Download (Individuals)

    add to cartdownload indiv.

    $100
    Institutions : Download

    Request contract/pricing

  4. Contact Improvisation

    An Introduction to a Vitalizing Dance Form

    by Cheryl Pallant

    A devoted practitioner writes about contact improvisation from an experiential viewpoint, discussing its history, fundamentals, and political, social, and cultural ramifications, with questions, exercises, and a teacher's sampler. 2006. McFarland & Co.

    widely available

  5. Contact Improvisation & Body-Mind Centering

    A Manual for Teaching & Learning Movement

    by Annie Brook

    Designed to be a manual and study guide, this book supports body-mind integration and the development of an improvisational mind through movement with a blend of play, fundamental BMC exercises, and CI skills. 2000. Body-Mind.net.

    Available through author

  6. Contact Improvisation at 36 (DVD)

    Perspectives on the Dance Form in its 36th Year

    a documentary film by Nathan Wagoner

    This documentary about Contact Improvisation was shot at CI36, a celebration of Contact’s 36th birthday in 2008 which brought together ...read more

    video streaming buy or rent coming soon

  7. CQ/Contact Improvisation 25th Anniversary Sourcebook

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1975-1992

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    This is the first volume of writings reprinted from Contact Quarterly dance journal concerning the practice of contact improvisation, a ...read more

    $21
    PDF (15 MB)

    add pdf to cart

  8. CQ/Contact Improvisation 25th Anniversary Sourcebook

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1975-1992

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    The first volume of writings reprinted from Contact Quarterly dance journal concerning the practice of contact improvisation. Xeroxed articles, essays, drawings, photos, and quotes from CQ's birth as a newsletter in 1975 through 1992. An indispensable resource for dance students, teachers, and practitioners of CI to experience the roots and track the development of the practice and philosophy of this influential contemporary dance form. 1997. Contact Editions.

    Order Print edition through Contredanse

  9. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. II

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1992-2007

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    In celebration of Contact Improvisation’s 36th anniversary, we released this second volume of the multivioiced history of the dance form’s ...read more

    $25
    PDF (43 MB)

    add pdf to cart

  10. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. II

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1992-2007

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    In celebration of Contact Improvisation’s 36th anniversary, we released this second volume of the multivioiced history of the dance form’s ...read more

    Order Print edition through Contredanse

  11. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. III

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 2008–2018

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    This third volume of Contact Improvisation's multivoiced evolution is collected from CQ Vol. 33 through 43, including writings from CI ...read more

    $27
    PDF (10.9 MB)

    add pdf to cart

  12. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. III

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 2008–2018

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    This third volume of Contact Improvisation's multivoiced evolution is collected from CQ Vol. 33 through 43, including writings from CI Essentials, Editor Notes, Still Moving, CI Newsletter and more. Containing perspectives on the practice, principles, issues, and applications of Contact Improvisation from diverse contemporary practitioners around the globe, it is an invaluable creative resource for teachers, practitioners, and dance libraries. 2019. Contact Editions.

    Order Print edition through Contredanse

  13. Dancing Deeper Still

    The Practice of Contact Improvisation

    by Martin Keogh

    Through numerous detailed essays on the practice and teaching of Contact Improvisation, longtime Contact teacher Martin Keogh presents Dancing Deeper Still, a sourcebook and philosophical treatise on Contact Improvisation in performance, boundaries and sexuality, political activism, dancing while aging, expanded teaching research notes, and advanced skills. 2018. Intimately Rooted Books.

    Available through author

  14. Encounters with Contact

    Dancing Contact Improvisation in College

    edited by Ann Cooper Albright, et al.

    Through a series of student writings and essays by established artists teaching in universities throughout the U.S., Encounters considers the unique experience of teaching and learning Contact within an educational institution. Included are sections on students' first impressions, thoughts on the often surprising effects of touch within the dance, classroom exercises, the role of Contact in life after school, debate about institutional formats, and more. 2010. Oberlin College Theater and Dance Program.

    Available by email

  15. Fall After Newton (1987)

    © Videoda
    22:45 min.
    Narration in English

    A sweeping look at 11 years of practice of Contact Improvisation by Nancy Stark Smith and initiator, Steve Paxton. The ...read more

    $8
    Rent (48 hours)

    add to cartrent

    $25
    Lease (3 years)

    add to cartlease

    $50
    Download (Individuals)

    add to cartdownload indiv.

    $100
    Institutions : Download

    Request contract/pricing

  16. Gravity

    by Steve Paxton

    In this elegant pocket-sized book, dancer Steve Paxton traces a lifetime in the company of gravity. In pithy prose essays, he brings us the memory of his first flight, a meditation on walking, pondering on the conditions of life, and a dream of dancing that make up pieces of a puzzle. He reveals the physical force that affects us all and underpins our personal stories. 2018. Contredanse Editions, Brussels.

    Available through Contredanse

  17. Magnesium (1972)

    © Videoda
    9:33 min.

    Document of a dance made by Steve Paxton during a Grand Union residency at Oberlin College, Ohio in January, 1972. ...read more

    $8
    Rent (48 hours)

    add to cartrent

    $25
    Lease (3 years)

    add to cartlease

    $50
    Download (Individuals)

    add to cartdownload indiv.

    $100
    Institutions : Download

    Request contract/pricing

  18. Peripheral Vision (1975)

    © Videoda
    21:05 min.
    Narration in English

    Selections from a Contact Improvisation concert at Firehouse Theater in San Francisco, CA in 1973: “You Come, We’ll Show You ...read more

    $8
    Rent (48 hours)

    add to cartrent

    $25
    Lease (3 years)

    add to cartlease

    $50
    Download (Individuals)

    add to cartdownload indiv.

    $100
    Institutions : Download

    Request contract/pricing

  19. Questioning Contact Improvisation

    by Keith Hennessy

    Hennessy’s zine, coming from decades of practice and questioning of CI, interrogates whiteness, racism, heterosexism, and white supremacy in the dance form. “How do predominantly white alternative cultures defeat their stated intentions and wishes by reproducing mainstream or hegemonic injustices?” [p. 1]. The questioning takes place against a background of Hennessy’s experience as a dancer and teacher of CI since the late ’70s,
    and as a white, queer, cis male. Unique full color design with photos. 2018. San Francisco: Circo Zero.

    Available through circozero

  20. Sharing the Dance

    Contact Improvisation and American Culture

    by Cynthia J. Novack

    In Sharing the Dance , Cynthia Novack considers the development of contact improvisation within its web of historical, social, and ...read more

    Available through UWpress

  21. Soft Pallet (1973)

    © Videoda
    17:53 min.

    Selections from a vintage Contact Improvisation concert in Rome at L’Attico Gallery in 1973. With performers: Annette LaRoque, David Woodberry, ...read more

    $8
    Rent (48 hours)

    add to cartrent

    $25
    Lease (3 years)

    add to cartlease

    $50
    Download (Individuals)

    add to cartdownload indiv.

    $100
    Institutions : Download

    Request contract/pricing

  22. Taken by Surprise

    A Dance Improvisation Reader

    Editors: Ann Cooper Albright & David Gere

    Twenty-one essays by prominent practitioners and scholars reflecting the development of improvisation as a compositional and performance mode. Including considerations of contact improvisation, recent innovations in tap dancing, and improvisation in everyday life. Including essays by Susan Leigh Foster, Steve Paxton, Sally Banes, Nancy Stark Smith, Simone Forti, Janice Ross, Ruth Zaporah and many others. 2003. Wesleyan University Press.

    Available through HFSbooks

  23. Videoda Contact Improvisation Archive

    1972 – 1983

    Six edited programs in Videoda's Archival Collection of Contact Improvisation track a key period of exploration and discovery through narrated ...read more

    Available to stream or download here

category: Dance & Somatic Education
  1. Anna Halprin, Dancing Life/Danser
    la vie (DVD-Rom)

    by Baptiste Andrien, Florence Corin / Contredanse,
    with Anna Halprin

    This interactive DVD-ROM presents the unique approach of this groundbreaking dance artist through more than six hours of video covering the entirety of a 2012 workshop in Paris, previously unpublished interviews, and extracts of precious archive material. 2014. Contredanse.

    Available through Contredanse

  2. Basic Neurocellular Patterns

    Exploring Developmental Movement

    by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

    The Basic Neurocellular Patterns (BNP) form the underlying words and phrases in the language of human movement. They have a global influence on our physical, perceptual, emotional, and cognitive functioning and have extensive application in the areas of movement and psychophysical expression. With this book as a guide, Ms. Cohen invites you to directly experience, embody, and integrate your own developmental movement patterns. 2018. Burchfield Rose Publishers.

    Available through author

  3. Body and Earth

    An Experiential Guide

    by Andrea Olsen

    Integrating environmental science, biology, meditations, and creative expression, Olsen addresses the interconnectedness of body and place through a mixture of reflections, information, exercises, and visual art. 2002. Wesleyan University Press.

    Available through HFSbooks

  4. BodyStories

    A Guide to Experiential Anatomy

    by Andrea Olsen in collaboration with Caryn McHose 

    Thirty-one days of learning sessions bring heightened awareness about each bone and body system as well as providing self-guided studies to activate the learning processes. The book draws on Olsen’s twenty years as a dancer and teacher of anatomy to show how our attitudes and approaches to our bodies affect us day to day. 1998. Station Hill Press.

    Available through HFSbooks

  5. Gravity

    by Steve Paxton

    In this elegant pocket-sized book, dancer Steve Paxton traces a lifetime in the company of gravity. In pithy prose essays, he brings us the memory of his first flight, a meditation on walking, pondering on the conditions of life, and a dream of dancing that make up pieces of a puzzle. He reveals the physical force that affects us all and underpins our personal stories. 2018. Contredanse Editions, Brussels.

    Available through Contredanse

  6. A Guide to a Somatic Movement Practice

    The Anatomy of Center

    by Nancy Topf with Hetty King

    Making available the full text of somatic dance education pioneer Nancy Topf's manuscript, The Anatomy of Center, for the first time in print, this introduction to Topf Technique/Dynamic Anatomy® helps professionals, teachers, and students of all levels integrate embodied, somatic practices within contexts of dance, physical education and therapy, health, and mental well-being. 2022. University Press of Florida.

    Available through University Press of Florida

  7. Inside Motion

    An Ideokinetic Basis for Movement Education

    by John Rolland

    An in-depth and comprehensive study of anatomical imagery based on the Todd-Clark body alignment work, with a complete description of the skeletal system. 1984. Rolland String Research Associates.

    Perfect bound

    Available through Wesleyan Univ. Press - HFS

  8. A Kinesthetic Legacy

    The Life and Works of Barbara Clark
    revised edition

    by Pamela Matt

    An invaluable historical resource and practical text about Barbara Clark, a pioneering thinker in the somatics field. Includes Clark's previously published and unpublished manuals and teaching notes. 2020. Thinking Body Institute Media LLC.

    Perfect bound

    Available through Thinking Body Institute

  9. Material for the Spine - Steve Paxton (WEB_APP)

    A Movement Study

    Produced by Contredanse

    This interactive WEB-APP immerses us in Paxton's world, to experience the logic and invention at the core of Material for the Spine, a technique evolved from his observation of the spine in the practice of Contact Improvisation. Includes original audiovisual essays, motion capture sequences, extracts from lectures, classes, and performances, and each of the forms of the technique is detailed. 2008. Contredanse, Brussels.

    Available through Contredanse

  10. The Place of Dance

    A Somatic Guide to Dancing and Dance Making

    by Andrea Olsen, with Caryn McHose

    A workbook that integrates experiential anatomy with the process of moving and dancing, with a focus on the creative journey involved in choreographing, improvising, and performing. Each chapter introduces a particular theme and features information on the topic, movement and writing investigations, personal anecdotes, and studio notes from professional artists and educators. 2014. Wesleyan University Press.

    Available through HFSbooks

  11. Sensing, Feeling, and Action, 3rd ed.

    The Experiential Anatomy of Body-Mind Centering®

    by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

    Pioneering movement educator Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen’s innovative approach to embodiment, movement analysis and reeducation, Body-Mind Centering®, is the subject of this book of collected essays, interviews, and exercises written for Contact Quarterly dance journal between 1980 and 2009. The 3rd edition includes sixteen additional pages with new articles on inspiration, expiration, and dancing through the transitional fluid, including a subject Index and List of Explorations. 1993. 2008. 2012. Contact Editions.

    Available through Wesleyan Univ. Press - HFS

  12. Wisdom of the Body Moving

    An Introduction to Body-Mind Centering®

    by Linda Hartley

    A comprehensive guide to the basic philosophy and key elements of Body-Mind Centering®, the innovative approach to embodiment pioneered by movement educator Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; with concrete and poetic explorations, clear exercises, and extensive anatomical drawings and photos. 1989. 1995. North Atlantic Books.

    Available through Pengiun...

category: Primary U.S. Distribution
  1. Contact Improvisation at 36 (DVD)

    Perspectives on the Dance Form in its 36th Year

    a documentary film by Nathan Wagoner

    This documentary about Contact Improvisation was shot at CI36, a celebration of Contact’s 36th birthday in 2008 which brought together ...read more

    video streaming buy or rent coming soon

  2. CQ/Contact Improvisation 25th Anniversary Sourcebook

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1975-1992

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    This is the first volume of writings reprinted from Contact Quarterly dance journal concerning the practice of contact improvisation, a ...read more

    $21
    PDF (15 MB)

    add pdf to cart

  3. CQ/Contact Improvisation 25th Anniversary Sourcebook

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1975-1992

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    The first volume of writings reprinted from Contact Quarterly dance journal concerning the practice of contact improvisation. Xeroxed articles, essays, drawings, photos, and quotes from CQ's birth as a newsletter in 1975 through 1992. An indispensable resource for dance students, teachers, and practitioners of CI to experience the roots and track the development of the practice and philosophy of this influential contemporary dance form. 1997. Contact Editions.

    Order Print edition through Contredanse

  4. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. II

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1992-2007

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    In celebration of Contact Improvisation’s 36th anniversary, we released this second volume of the multivioiced history of the dance form’s ...read more

    $25
    PDF (43 MB)

    add pdf to cart

  5. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. II

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 1992-2007

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    In celebration of Contact Improvisation’s 36th anniversary, we released this second volume of the multivioiced history of the dance form’s ...read more

    Order Print edition through Contredanse

  6. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. III

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 2008–2018

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    This third volume of Contact Improvisation's multivoiced evolution is collected from CQ Vol. 33 through 43, including writings from CI ...read more

    $27
    PDF (10.9 MB)

    add pdf to cart

  7. CQ/Contact Improvisation Sourcebook, Vol. III

    Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly dance journal 2008–2018

    Eds: Nancy Stark Smith & Lisa Nelson

    This third volume of Contact Improvisation's multivoiced evolution is collected from CQ Vol. 33 through 43, including writings from CI Essentials, Editor Notes, Still Moving, CI Newsletter and more. Containing perspectives on the practice, principles, issues, and applications of Contact Improvisation from diverse contemporary practitioners around the globe, it is an invaluable creative resource for teachers, practitioners, and dance libraries. 2019. Contact Editions.

    Order Print edition through Contredanse

  8. This Very Moment

    teaching thinking dancing

    by Barbara Dilley

    This Very Moment braids threads of Barbara Dilley’s memoir in and out of a handbook for classroom practices of dance, ...read more

    $35
    PDF - covid discount (6.8 MB)

    add pdf to cart

    $40
    PDF (6.8 MB)

    add pdf to cart

  9. Videoda Contact Improvisation Archive

    1972 – 1983

    Six edited programs in Videoda's Archival Collection of Contact Improvisation track a key period of exploration and discovery through narrated ...read more

    Available to stream or download here

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Contact Quarterly is the longest living, independent, artist-made, reader-supported magazine devoted to the dancer's voice in the field of contemporary dance and improvisation.

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