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Organization Objects
[Old draft] An approach to supporting interconnection: interfaces to indexes of object collections which provide stable references to the collection's changing organization.
Extensible Organization Related Subjects
Topics relevant to extensible organization which I want to remember
Principles
A reframing of Spherical DB characteristics and invariants.
Exercise: The Finger Dance
A CI exercise that presents an uncomplicated opportunity to practice mutually following a point of contact.
Exercise: Slight Counterbalance
An exercise for developing your ability to share balancing with someone.
Exercise: Rising and Descending Together
Explore using slight counterbalance to traverse levels together.
Online Movement Collaboration
During the COVID-19 quarantine I wanted to continue to explore cooperative movement improvisation in so far as I could. I found success with several online scores. In the process of exploring and trying various things I've also learned more about what I'm looking for.
An Online Contemplative Movement Score
Barbara Dilley developed a shared dance/meditation practice called Contemplative Dance Practice – CDP, a "dancer's meditation hall". I've been exploring an adaptation of this score for online sharing. The aim is to share meditation and movement across the gap of social distancing.
Elementary Online Meditation and Personal Movement Practice
During 2020/2021 quarantine we maintained an online space available daily for people to share time meditating and exploring movement. The aim was not interaction but rather mutual support of personal meditation and movement practice. It was intended to be an opportunity and not an obligation, with no cost or requirement to attend regularly.
Finding Solo Movement Inspiration in Small Changes
Contact Improvisation offers extraordinary opportunities to explore movement cooperation with others and with oneself. I'm exploring how to find in solo moving the kind of inspiration that can come from dancing with others. I had been exploring a practice for a long time before the COVID pandemic. Having to concentrate on solo moving during the pandemic has given me the opportunity to resolve some questions about how to describe the practice and its purpose, enough so that I feel ready to share the description.
An Online Movement Improv Accumulation Score
Paying attention to others through a screen adds to a challenge in any collaborative improvisation: paying attention to yourself and to others at the same time. This score is organized in a way that fosters combining inward and outward attention.
Respecting Boundaries
In order for each of us to have genuine choice about how we participate, everyone must accept that some invitations you offer won't be accepted, whether the invitation is a change in a dance that's happening or continuing such a dance or engaging in the first place. The health of our open CI gatherings depends on this understanding, which we try to convey in this document, Respecting Boundaries in Contact Improvisation.
What People Do At Jams
CI jams are gatherings for practicing contact improv. They're loosely structured because improvisation informs so many aspects of what we do. That's different than typical activity-oriented gatherings, so It can be hard to imagine how it might go if you're not yet acquainted with them. Here's some observations that might help inform you.
CI Like and Unlike Other Partner Dance
I came up with this while preparing to teach CI to people who practice other kinds of partner dance, at a large dance festival. I wanted to get them ready for CI's different approach.
CI as a Way of Moving
Contact improvisation is organized as a kind of cooperation game. I'm fascinated with the challenges in learning CI that are particular to its enigmatic framing. This section has various essays on this perspective.
CI Sharing Balance
Sharing balance with another person means cooperating in a fundamental, organic way.
Exercise: Angel and Traveler
Gradually and deliberately tune in and engage with someone's movement with offers of slight support.
Steve Paxton's Small Dance Notes
Notes taken from Steve Paxton's class in February 1977, during ReUnion’s teaching/performing tour of Contact Improvisation on the West Coast. Throughout the tour, the members of the 1977 ReUnion (Nita Little, Lisa Nelson, Steve Paxton, Curt Siddall, Nancy Stark Smith, and David Woodberry) transcribed each others’ classes, as close to verbatim as possible. What follows is a section from one of Steve’s classes, provided to me by the Contact Quarterly as part of the CI36 satellite events web presence.
Contact Improv - What Instead of Patterns?
It can be tempting to resort to patterned movement in cooperative improvisation, like CI, and avoid the risks and vulnerabilities of uncertainty. Resorting to patterns, however, specifically foregoes the opportunity to mutually discover what best suits the partnership in each moment. I describe here some things Contact Improvisors often do instead of resorting to patterns.
Grazing and "Solo Contact Improvisation"
Cultivating movement from attention to small movements provides a way to tune in and participate that enables you to balance internal and external focus, bringing yourself to connections and to moving on your own.
Drafts
Drafts and prior versions
Ensemble Improv Essentials
The ability to cooperate is developed in practice, and ensemble improvisation provides an opportunity to explore a balanced combination of external and internal receptivity, developing cooperation as an art.
Sharing the Moment
in contact improv, depth of engagement depends on mutual responsiveness rather than imposition of control.
CI Is An Opportunity to Play
CI offers an extraordinarily engaging opportunity to play. the only "equipment" necessary is an open space with a suitable floor and partners with a shared interest.
Contact Improv and Health, Aging
When asked about interest in engaging with someone documenting "communities that age well", I wrote this to introduce my perspective. Short version: I practice CI because it feels good, but suspect that it's also good for me.