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Nita Little in conversation with Colleen Bartley

On October 16th, I interviewed dance artist and teacher Nita Little about her current work and her roots. continue...

a video interview with Kathleen Rhea by Rosemary Carroll

This interview is an expansion of Kathleen Rea's presentation at the 2020 Consent Culture in Contact Improvisation Symposium as well continue...

by Moé Kishida

A letter – approaching full moon in August,
fig fruits ripe, transitions into fall
Dear Nancy,

continue...

by KSAMB Dance Company

KSAMB Dance Company—a collaboration between choreographer/dancer Kyle Syverson and scenographer/videographer/dancer Miki Mappin—takes their non-judgemental community dance events outdoors continue...

with d. Sabela grimes
initiated by Jennifer Nugent

The first freeskewl Pedagogy/Poetic Entry artist talk was held on September 10, 2020 via Zoom. Los Angeles-based artist continue...

by Hallie Chametzky

There was dancing in the streets. There was dance amidst the protests which swept the country and the world, spurred continue...

by Raha Behnam

In the "The root is rotting: a love letter to the movement" (June 12, 2020), dance artist Raha Behnam describes continue...

online tutorials by Susanne Martin

Understanding Dance for Beginners and Intermediates should have been an interactive performance premiered at the Soundance Festival Berlin in continue...

by Mauri Terra Connors

Through this project I am interested in connection, exchange, and ways of being seen by others. It's an art exchange continue...

Understory is a place for informal honest chat from people who work in dance focusing on the times when they continue...

by Rosemary Carroll (via email)

Rosemary— I wonder if you would tell us a little bit about the impetus for founding the studio?
continue...

by Paul Seidenstecher

Catching Waves is a short, experimental film based on improvised movement, filmed at the coast of Ramsgate, Kent in 2019. continue...

short practice excerpts (video) collected by Karen Nelson

"Tuning Practices are an intriguing way to investigate fundamental elements of performance, movement behavior, and communication, altogether. Originated by Lisa continue...

by Lale Madenoğlu

Dance has always been a part of my existence. I remember very vividly all my memories of expressing everything through continue...

by Shay Au Lait

Shay Au Lait writes about her experience of being Black at two mostly white festivals in the U.S. Her generous continue...

Performance by Ryuta Iwashita
Visual Curation by Zensuke Omi

世知辛い世の中ですが
Ryuta Dhuta and Zensuke made this performance piece (work in progress) at Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans in June 2020.
Pandemic + K-POP Idols + Teenage Choir + Civil Unrest + “Where did Contact Improv go?”

See also, trailer: https://youtu.be/IM6yDLJYqrE
Special thanks to Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans and XYZ PRISM | VIDEO PRODUCTIONS

[found on Ryuta Dhuta Iwashita FB]

posted 6 August 2020

prompted by Karen Nelson

Here is a 2nd installment of K.J. Holmes speaking about teaching Contact Improvisation (CI) and improvisation this summer prompted by continue...

CDP, a meditation and improvisation practice originated by Barbara Dilley, includes three sections: meditation, personal warm-up, and open space. The continue...

https://summer.velocitydancecenter.org/sfdi/
For 26 years, Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation (SFDI) has been one of the leading festivals focussed solely continue...

by Daniel Lepkoff

Steve Paxton said, "but I don't feel the touch of my clothes most of the time." This snippet offers a continue...

A small group of white and white adjacent dancers gathered on May 30th 2020 to discuss consent and continue...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Os8c2ukZRS5cnJhJv0SuBX5MrpGKAMZk6U3i-Pbfezk/edit#

This collection of links to guidelines and related resources is useful for people looking to develop guidelines for their contact improvisation jams. It has sections devoted to sample guidelines, consent, discussions, and resources in CI; in other dance communities; in comedy and theater; and in other communities. People are invited to add links (and comments for problematic material).
—Benjamin Pierce

posted 25 July 2020

by Idelle Packer (poem) & Aaron Birk (artist/calligraphy presentation)

A dance of the imagination, a poem for these times, inspired by teacher and choreographer, Remy Charlip, who created many continue...

by Adrianna Michalska

I scan the immersive room and the scattered around bodies. I feel the same vibrant and playful expectation that made continue...

by Karen Nelson

No More Busyness As Usual
Busyness, the bustling of whiteness. I know from personal experience. Perfectionism, and control. Fragility continue...

photos and text by Kat J. Sullivan

continue...

The Dance Union is organized by Melanie Greene and J. Bouey. The pair facilitate The Dance Union Podcast . Announcing continue...

by Enrique Villacreses and Kyla Thomas

En Caja is a dance film directed and edited by Enrique Villacreses & Kyla Thomas, both graduates continue...

CLICK HERE TO WATCH IN FULL CONTEXT on howlround.com

REAL TALK!, a guided response to Creating New Futures: Working Guidelines for Ethics & Equity continue...

The Dance Union Town Hall for Collective Action was held on Zoom and livestreamed on youtube on Monday, continue...

https://www.hopemohr.org/gerald-casel-audience-reader

This informal collection of resources was assembled over the past year, 2018-19, by the artists and thinkers involved in Dancing Around Race, Gerald Casel’s 2018-19 Community Engagement Residency at Hope Mohr Dance/Bridge Project. Suggestions, additions and edits are welcome at hopemohr@gmail.com.

The site also includes COVID-19 Information&Resources for the San Francisco Bay Area.

Photo: Gerald Casel, Lead Artist, Dancing around Race. courtesy hopemohr.org

posted 9 June 2020

by Chico Katsube and Shoko Kashima

English translation by Moé Kishida
Due to the current situation of contact improvisation in untouching times (circumstances unique to continue...

This event was held on Zoom on June 7, 2020. Co-organized and hosted by Sara Zolbrod, Ronja Ver, continue...

blog posts by Zosia Jo

The unfathomable paradox of teaching improvisation online
Bringing back the 3 dimensional body

Zosia Jo is a dance artist, writer and maker. Her work is rooted in a desire for connectivity and communication through movement, improvisation and performance. Cardiff, Wales. www.zosiajo.com

Photo: Zosia Jo

posted 9 June 2020

song by Jordi Ramon

Canço adaptada del tema "God" de John Lennon... parlant sobre el contact improvisation.

Gravació i edició: Laura Colomé

[found on the web]

posted 27 May 2020

documentary by Jesús Alonso and Marta Wrzesinska

Short documentary made between April and May 2020, with music by Paloma Carrasco Lopéz and Ricardo Tejero, from album Bruo Duo — Episodes.

[found on the web]

posted 24 May 2020

by Lalitarāja

Under the current conditions, contemplating getting back to anything like a regular ci practice is challenging. There is a lot of knee jerk data floating around on social media along with plenty of misinformation. Also the good data that exists is gathered differently in different places so that reaching scientific consensus can be tricky. I think that it may be some time before it's possible to return to ci as we know it, but I do think that being well informed will bring that possibility forward, there is no need to resign ourselves to a passive stance.

This article, although not dealing specifically with ci, raises some pertinent questions about what criteria we might think about using for return to our dance spaces and what kind of measures we might need to take. It's written from the perspective of mainstream dance practice—these guys know their stuff in that world—not ci, and it has made me think about how much longer we might have to wait to get into normal jamming. On the other hand, by staying well informed we might find things opening sooner than we currently think. The science is going to be moving pretty quickly on this and as we have more good information the picture will become clearer.

Article from The Dance Docs:
https://www.thedancedocs.com/episodes/considerations-for-reintegrating-into-the-dance-studio

Lalitarāja is a dance artist and senior lecturer at University of Roehampton, UK.

posted May 21, 2020

An online lab exploring embodiment and co-creation on the internet using renowned contact improvisation teacher, writer, and editor Nancy Stark Smith’s Underscore — an approach to improvisational dance/movement and other moving ideas.

This lab took place from July 22nd to August 10th 2013 as part of meta-academy@bates 2013: Minded Motion. You will find full descriptions, documents and discussions from this online lab at:
http://www.dance-tech.net/group/meta-academy-bates-2013/forum/topics/core-embodied-investigation-3-simultaneous-duet-mini-underscores-

meta-academy was conceived by Marlon Barrios Solano and is led in collaboration with Rachel Boggia.

posted 16 May 2020

by Mandy Herrick

Living in a small rural town during a pandemic has drawn my artistic/somatic research out into the many open public continue...

With sorrow, we bring the news of the passing of our dear editor, colleague, and friend Nancy Stark Smith, whose continue...

by Alice Godfroy

What do you have to say today to so many CI teachers? I do not know.
CI continue...

by Sara Zolbrod

On Friday, March 13th, about ten people still showed up to Eugene, Oregon’s final weekly contact improvisation jam. continue...

from C.C. Arshagra

We have a sacred intelligence of touch that we have practiced, studied, learned and earned over time. We have moved continue...

report by Sara Zolbrod

I participated recently in the “CI Facilitators Going Virtual – Brainstorm Zoom Call,” which I heard about on Facebook. continue...

by Monika Schuberth-Silberbunt

At one point at home in my quarantine I started to play with the furniture. With the couch, continue...

when: 12 Noon—in your time zone
how long: 5 minutes or longer
until: ongoing

Suggested on the CI Teachers and Facilitators Forum in response to CI events being cancelled: "How about a global small dance, danced at home at a particular time. Connecting to the earth and each other whilst physically apart. Inspired by the Global Underscore which is always so special. " (Rachel Dean)

[found on MOving Resources FB page, movementmovement@zoho.com]

posted 23 Apr 2020

Readings by Steve Paxton (English), Patricia Kuypers (French), Daniela Schwartz (Spanish), and Ecki Mueller (German)
This audio recording, continue...

A zoom jam co-hosted by Kaiken keskus/The Center for Everything and Kontakti-improvisaatio Helsinki on Sundays at 6:00 EEST. DJ-ed and facilitated by Samee Haapa.

Go here for full info:
https://centerforeverything.com/index.php/portfolio/items/remote-jam/

posted 23 Apr 2020

A crowd-sourced Google Document that tracks cancellation of contact improvisation events due to covid-19 and lists virtual jams, classes, & events that are happening. The document is maintained by Richard Kim.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tED62iSRAIa4A_CVLT3x3wp8LIXxOUmupzkmISfynxQ/edit

posted 23 Apr 2020

A public Facebook group to share information about online Contact Improvisation classes and related information for teachers, facilitators, students and organisers who are learning about teaching CI online and to share events and opportunities about this topic.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/864303740703369/

posted 23 Apr 2020

by Kasper Buus

This video is documentation from a research project on moving with objects. For many years I have been continue...

freeskewl is a virtual platform for public movement classes.
https://www.instagram.com/freeskewl/

Sessions include Feldenkrais, Tuning Scores, Afro-Cuban Folklore, continue...

Lailye Weidman teaches a biweekly solo-partnering workshop via freeskewl for the duration of quarantine. Dates and time are continue...

Conscious Studio & Production

As 1.7 billion people in India undergo the world's most strict lockdown and continue...

An international group of dancers have started to RECLAIM NOT-MOVING as a practice, rather than as an imposition. Hearing the call of our governments as a decollectivizing call for individual isolationism, they proposed a micropolitical act of resistance and community-making: that of meeting (in thought if not in physical presence), every day at noon (whenever noon is in their timeline), to practice a Small Dance, suspending movement and letting themselves being-moved by the Earth's pull beneath their feet.

[found on Romain Bige's website: https://cargocollective.com/sharingmovement/the-small-dance]

posted 23 Apr 2020

prompted by Karen Nelson

K.J. speaks about her experience of teaching CI from in-person class one day to virtual classes the next continue...

by Sooja Kelsey

https://vimeo.com/404203018

I made this video of me and my dog Michigan doing contact improvisation dance form. She doesn't follow the form/technique strictly (lol) but she understands that we are to be in physical contact and that it is improvisational. This is just a spontaneous moment of unrehearsed play during our pandemic shut-in.

I started inviting her to do contact improvisation with me when I first got her because it's fun but also because she was terrified of physical contact, a result of previous mistreatment. She brings her stuffed squirrel into the dance for reassurance because the unpredictability scares her. She wants to join me, and squirelly-squirrel helps her manage her fear. Very brave girl.

posted 23 Apr 2020

Online CI-inspired sessions. Saturdays 1:30-2:20pm (UK time).
Visit website for details about teachers and process.
https://londoncontactimprovisation.weebly.com/weekly-class-and-jam.html

posted 23 Apr 2020

by Marielle Gerke

I have had a one hour movement exploration this morning on that question which I have recorded and continue...

April 22, 2020
This is the welcome entry launching this new blog format on CQ's site. In continue...