changed:
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.. contents::

In CISharingBalance i describe a focus on this question to foster finding
contact improv dances:

  "How can we share changing balance, playing together with what happens
  along the way?"

instead of prescribing techniques or rules, this concentrates on a shared
focus.  that focus complements the basic physical ci recipe (following a
point of contact), and helps me find my way into dancing.

i've discoverd a lot in ci dances, and in their pursuit.  here are some
that i most value.

engagement, exploration, and safety
===================================
balance is vital.  in contact improvisation we yield independent control of
balance.  by sharing center of gravity and sharing balance, the
consequences of our actions are immediately shared - we share the boat that
rocks.  this interdependence has very different dynamics than our
customary, more independent mode.  this shared realm is rich and engaging.

sharing balance requires unusual skills.  it entails its own language of
movement, with a layer of partnership on top of the already involving
dynamics of balance and momentum.  there is so much material that even very
experienced dancers don't have to wander far to find new and exciting
territory, if they keep their attention open [diverse-attention]_.

there are frontiers to be explored in every direction.  staying too
much within the limits of one's own, familiar territory limits discovery,
while abandoning discretion can overreach, to beyond what's tenable.
somewhere in the balance, for each person, are their frontiers of discovery
[frontier-hypothesis]_.

such frontiers are personal, according to each person's experience,
abilities, interests, and so on.  it is not something dictated from outside
- one partner cannot prescribe the other's frontier.  therefore, partners
engage best by leaving room for one another's discretion, exploring
together the combination of their choices.

this is a kind of etiquette of necessity, so that the intuition and
judgment of each partner can be fully realized in the collaboration.  it
is how safety is maintained and mutually supported, while exploring and
expanding frontiers.

it is through the partner's commitment to sharing balance that they share
control, in a manifestly moment-to-moment way.  as with solo coordination,
it is through coping with moment-to-moment necessity that we calibrate and
learn `in our bodies` to navigate safely, and ultimately, develop
adeptness.  so it is with the coordination contact improvisers develop in
sharing balance - a gradual learning to cooperate as a sort of
collaborative organism.

(connection through shared balance is an essential element of most, if not
all, collaborative recreation - other forms of dance, sports, martial arts,
etc.  i believe that it's more directly the focus in ci than it is in most
practices.)

like other elements of this practice, the commitment to share balance is
continually fluid, reassessed and renegotiated moment to moment, within and
between the dancers.

clenching
---------
preliminary notes:

  clenching tends to increase brittleness and reduce adeptness.

  people who lack or have an impaired clench response - eg, infants and
  drunks, respectively - are less likely than others to be injured by
  substantial falls.  being oblivious, or lacking training, they are less
  likely to clench and present themselves as rigid and brittle on impact.
  (i'm not advocating alcohol, by the way.  you may be less likely to be
  injured by each accident, but the increased likelihood of having an
  accident more than makes up for it...-)

  the consequences of clenching go beyond the physical response - clenching
  is an unwillingness to handle surprise.  it gets in the way by refusal to
  engage the situation.  it also gets in the way of developing familiarity
  that would improve navigation the next time.  in this way, clenching
  becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of ineffectiveness.

  even in more structured forms, like formal dance, sports, and martial
  arts, i believe the particular techniques are less important than the
  acquired experience - the situational familiarity and feedback of
  consequences in going through the motions and mock confrontations.  this
  is the genius of practice.  and, i believe, learning the value of not
  clenching - of suitable release - is a chief virtue of such practices.

  the opposite of clenching, `release`, recurs as in theme often in contact
  improvisation, postmodern dance in general, and beyond.  alexander
  technique, feldencrais, http://www.skinnerreleasing.com/articles.html .
  opening, to the moment, rather than refusing to engage.  opening, to
  cooperation and support, to engage with another.  opening, to the
  unknown, to be willing to explore, and grow.  (but, not mindless of
  consequences [epitaph]_.)

physical skills
===============
contact improv is usually conveyed with physical exercises and skills that
indicate essential ingredients of the practice.  (i've begun to list some
exercises and skills in CIBasics.)  many interesting questions arise in
this approach.

for instance, is some particular range of skills necessary for ci?  do
skills help foster dances, or can they get in the way?  what skills are and
what skills are not crucial?

in my experience, the answers to these questions depend on the dance.  to
turn that around, every dance can take on many shapes, and the ability to
find the what suits your and your partner's skills and appetites and mood
and all the specifics that the dancers bring is, itself, an art worth
cultivating.  (the section `improvisation - finding form`_, below, says
more about this.)

.. _`improvisation - finding form`: #finding-form

for example, of all things, i'm partial to falling as an element of
dancing.  (that's not an unusual quirk in ci dancers.)  falling together is
an "edge case" of sharing dynamic balance, and generally involves
compelling, exciting moments.  and yet, some equally memorable, viscerally
involving dance experiences have involved hardly any movement at all.  it
was the level of shared focus and connection that made those dances so
memorable.  and it was as much not-doing as doing that enabled them to be
deeply realized.  where exactly is the supporting technique?  sometimes it
is clear, sometimes it is not.

(this brings up another question - would those dances, with a connection
obvious and fascinating to the dancers, be noticeably interesting to
outside observers?  in some cases they reportedly were, in some cases
nobody noticed except those of us directly involved.  do different criteria
for the role of skills and technique obtain for performance than for
unobserved practice?  where is the overlap, and where are the differences?)

there may be quick and easy answers to these questions, but i don't have
them.  they are revealing, however, of the framing of the practice - some
things we take for granted, and some things we can (and may sometimes need
to) question.

one lesson i draw from it all is that curiosity continues to be essential
as my experience grows.

personal attitude can inform physical skills, as is the case for many
activities.  things like curiosity, and the ability to remain present in
the moment in the face of surprise and uncertainty, and the ability to
fluidly interweave personal discretion while yielding to the moment - each
of these is often as crucial to discovering a dance that suits you and your
partner as is any physical adeptness .  like physical skills, these
discernments are developed in practice, and the repertoire of "classic" ci
exercises reflects that.

Finding Engagement
==================
my ultimate concern is with what helps me connect and find dances that fit
both me and my partner.  skills can help lead the way to connection between
the dancers, and help develop and navigate the dynamics - yet, it is the
dynamics of cooperating, and ultimately the connection itself, on which the
dance thrives, and that doesn't always depend on, or result from, physical
skills.

the process of finding engagement is as central as its exploration
------------------------------------------------------------------
i've found it valuable, in my practice and teaching, to recognize that
*finding* my way into a dance is as central to the art as exploration of
the connection once i get there.  (this is also recognition that
connection, as just about everything else in the practice, is a fluid
thing, increasing or decreasing from moment to moment.)

personal presence in the moment is a rich and inexhaustible endeavor.  the
process of finding one's way there with another, and the process of
exploring that terrain together, are each engaging and challenging in
themselves.  it helps me to recognize this because i can wind up spend as
much or more time searching for connection as i do playing in connection.
maybe that's just me.

it's tempting to try to avoid the gaps of the search by instead depending
on technique and/or routines which have worked before.  using previous
actions this way is trying to "play the same way twice", foregoing the
opportunities of the only permanent rule in calvin ball, in pursuit of
`surprise and discovery`_ (below).

conversely, recognizing and exploring the art of the search is part of
discovering presence in the moment, and can inform and support one's
ability to dance as much as anything else.

solo is as important as partnering
----------------------------------
though contact improv is overtly focused on the aspects of "contact"
between partners, solo presence is an important part of the practice.  ci
dancers are constantly negotiating the balance not just of their physical
selves, but also their independence from and inter-dependence with their
partners.

the dynamics of balance can be a vital ingredient of solo practice
[solo-balance]_ as it can be in partnering.  through it you connect with
and build on your own disposition in the moment, just as you do when
sharing balance with a partner.  independence vs inter-dependence with your
partner is also a dynamic balance.  at any moment you can overshoot in
either direction.  relinquishing too much of your solo sacrifices a
dimension of your personal involvement, and presents your partner with too
little of your personal substance to engage with.  holding on too tightly
to your solo, on the other hand, can preclude responsiveness to your
partner, also limiting connection.

in general, developing solo presence and appetite - the ability to find
movement that suits you with conviction in the moment - broadens and tunes
your options for navigating each dance.  you're more free to develop each
connection to the degree that suits you, avoiding the need to force
connection in order to sustain your personal momentum.

that ability also helps to navigate a contact improv jam - a free-wheeling
event where people explore ci dances.  the more options that the
participants have for dancing - including dancing solo and in larger
ensembles, as well as the more common duets - the more chance that the
jammers' collective presence can coalesce, and provide the basis for a
vibrant, vital event.  (this is one of the realms where nancy stark smith's
work-in-progress, `the underscore`, strikes an enlightening balance.)

ultimately, any impulse within oneself is influenced by the surrounding
situation, and in turn, action on such informed impulses influences the
situation.  there is a kind of sensitive inter-responsiveness which attends
to both.  this attunement deepens engagement, not just in contact
improvisation but in most creative endeavors.

collaborative improvisation
===========================

improvisation - calvin ball and infinite games
----------------------------------------------
in the popular serial comic strip, `Calvin and Hobbes`_, the game `calvin
ball`_ embodies the playfulness of improvisation in an amazing way.  calvin
and his stuffed-tiger companion, hobbes, earnestly play a game with rules
that they invent as they proceed:

.. _`the only permanent rule in calvin ball`:

- The only permanent rule in Calvin ball is that you can't play the same
  way twice.

the wikipedia `characterization of calvin ball`_ fits collaborative
improvisation well:

.. _`always changing`:

- Calvin ball is essentially a game of wits and creativity, rather than
  purely physical feats...

in a parody of regimented, competitive games, calvin competes fiercely, yet
scoring is just another element of play - continually invented and quite
useless in the traditional sense.  who's winning, in itself, clearly is not
the aim of the game.  continuing the play is the thing.

in his book, `Finite and Infinite Games - A Vision of Life as Play and
Possibility` [infinite]_, James Carse describes this kind of playfulness:

- Seriousness always has to do with an established script, an ordering of
  affairs completed somewhere outside our range of influence.  We are
  playful when we engage others at the level of choice, when there is no
  telling in advance where our relationship with them will come out - when,
  in fact, no one has an outcome to be imposed on the relationship, apart
  from the decision to continue it.

- a finite game is played for the purpose of winning.  an infinite game is
  played for the purpose of continuing the play.

- Surprise causes finite play to end; it is the reason for infinite play to
  continue.

playfulness is a central ingredient of "infinite games".  carse's
descriptions illuminate a prime opportunity of collaborative improvisation,
like contact improv:

.. _`surprise and discovery`:

- Because infinite players prepare themselves to be surprised by the
  future, they play in complete openness.  It is not an openness as in
  *candor*, but an openness as in *vulnerability*.  It is not a matter of
  exposing one's unchanging identity, the true self that has always been,
  but a way of exposing one's ceaseless growth, the dynamic self that is
  yet to be.  The infinite player does not expect to only be amused by
  surprise, but to be transformed by it, for surprise does not alter some
  abstract past, but one's own personal past.

this is about the essential connection between surprise and discovery in
any creative endeavor.  as isaac asimov puts it:

- The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
  discoveries, is not "Eureka!" but "That's funny..."

:-)

.. _`finding-form`:

improvisation - finding form
----------------------------

preliminary notes:

  jaglom's favorite orson wells' quote: ``the enemy of art is the absence
  of limitations``.

  just as a picture is affected by its frame, any structure is delineated
  by rules.  too many rules and you lack enough freedom to play, to explore
  and experiment.  too few rules and you lose the ability to cohere.

  what about post modern pictures, that trespass the boundaries of a frame?
  the contrast with a boundary is still being invoked, but the frame
  "around" the picture is the tradition of framing, rather than physical
  boundaries.

  art and craft arise in the arrangements of materials.  the materials can
  be physical or notional media - pastels on paper, movements in space,
  written and spoken juxtapositions of thoughts, feelings, concepts,
  situations.  the materials are also the conventions and expectations
  around the use of the media.  every medium has limitations and nuances.
  whether you use the medium according to expectations, but with a
  particular new take in nuance or interpretation, or create a new way of
  applying or changing the rules, your distinctions are visible - to you
  and others - by contrast with what is familiar.

  too like what has come before, and you offer only dry repetition, not
  art.  too divergent and you depart from frames of reference by which what
  you've done can be seen, and appreciated with the sensibilities developed
  through experience.  (though calvin ball is `always changing`_, it
  constantly refers to, and uses (in novel ways:), the plethora of
  materials that are conventional game rules.)  the great artists opens
  vast new realms from innovative use of familiar materials.

  in collaborative art, partners depend on common ground to base their
  mutuality.  the need not stay in the familiar, but are most vitally
  engaged when they grow the new out of something they can recognize,
  together.

all are elements of contact improvisation
=========================================
embodying presence in the moment and proportionately trusting to share it,
learning to non-verbally communicate and connect with immediacy and
commitment, navigating and balancing the dynamics of embodied collaboration
in all their intricacy, all these are rich realms explored in contact
improvisation, and all are enlightening in their discovery.

Footnotes
=========

.. [diverse-attention]
   focusing too heavily on some particular set of skills, eg mechanical
   skills like lifting, rolling, etc, can limit attention to the myriad
   dynamics of communication, rhythm, pacing, expression, and so on, that
   can be available in every dance, regardless of the dancer's physical
   skill.  finding focus on material of sufficient interest to each of the
   partners is often more useful for fostering a vital dance than focusing
   exclusively on some limited set.

.. [frontier-hypothesis]
   i take some liberties with a cognitive psychology model based in
   research into tendencies of infant's attention [kagan1978], and called
   ``The Optimal Discrepancy Hypothesis of Attention in Infants``.  *i*
   believe it supports the notion that we enjoy being at the frontiers of
   our developed skills.  too far short of that and we're not using and
   developing what we like and have cultivated, and where we have the
   benefits of cumulative investment.  too far beyond and we risk exceeding
   what we are able to handle.  there's a sweet spot, somewhere in between.

.. [epitaph]
   Opening, but not mindless of consequences!-)

   Tombstone::

                        -__
                      ;"  \/Y%%\\
                 , (WY~ \\/VYllX\/  ),
                 |Y\/llY\ /Ylll|\/X\/
                 | /vYl`V   \/YlYUY\|
                 \/ |YY\/    VYYY\/
       ________   \ |Y\/ V \/llV\/
     /          \  V_\_\/  \/\ll_|/
    | That Which |      \  / \/
    |  Does Not  |       || _V
    |  Kill You  |       ||/
    | Makes  You |       ||
    |  Stronger  |      _JL_
    |____________|

.. [kagan1978]
   Kagan, Kearsley, Zelazo (1978, 1980) ``Infancy``; Harvard Press

.. [solo-balance]
   the dynamics of shared balance can also be explored in solo movement, at
   the edge of one's own balance.  it's fun to explore, and enlightening.

.. [infinite]
   `Finite and Infinite Games - A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility`_
   by James P. Carse, Ballantine Books, ISBN 0345341848

([[ongoing]])

.. _`Calvin and Hobbes`: http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_and_Hobbes

.. _`characterization of calvin ball`:
.. _`calvin ball`: http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_and_Hobbes#Calvinball

.. _`Finite and Infinite Games - A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility`:
   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345341848/104-7118242-1458366?v=glance&n=283155

.. figure:: opal_manifold.jpg
   :target: opal_manifold.jpg
   :height: 200
   :width: 400
   :align: center

   *Opal*