Contact Improvisation
What is Contact Improvisation (CI)?
Contact Improvisation is a dance practice rooted in the physical dialogue of touch, where dancers explore the mechanics of interacting bodies through sharing weight, playing with momentum and gravity, and moving fluidly in and out of shared dynamic balance.
CI is a mindful movement practice with a non-hierarchical approach, where learning proceeds from a focus on sensation rather than attempting to copy and perfect external forms. Dancers develop an intuitive understanding of movement through direct physical experience.
Through the practice of CI, we can learn to relax more deeply and so become better at listening to our ourselves and others. We develop a grounded sense of physical trust and improved relational skills. Its a beautiful and invigorating practice that opens a unique space for playful and improvised touch in a safe, consensual and respectful container.
Photo: @anasta_foto
Let your body call you back into yourself, into your most deeply embodied self. Land, dive, soar. Find the crumbs that lead back home.
- Cheryl Pallant, Contact Improvisation: An Introduction to a Vitalizing Dance Form
Upcoming: Contact Improvisation: Class and Jam
30th March 2025, Laughton Lodge, near Lewes
Classes & Workshops
In classes and workshops we work with a range of solo, partner and group exercises that invite us to explore our inner experience, and our relationship to others through sensation, structure, gravity and momentum.
Classes normally start with exercises to centre ourselves in the experience of being in the body in the present moment, before progressing to collaborative material and explorations.
By attending to our inner experience during relational practice we develop a quality of "whole-body" listening. And as the field of awareness becomes broader and deeper, we learn to relax and move more freely, to develop a great capacity for receptivity, and so become better at listening to one another.
We then take these skills and embodied principles into free practice spaces called jams.
Jams
The "jam" is a central aspect of the practice of CI. It is a focused space to come together as movers from many backgrounds and share the practice in whatever way we may feel in the moment: to dance with another, with a group, to dance solo, to observe the dance, or even to simply relax on the side in the presence of the energy of the group. All are welcome and all are valued, from beginner to seasoned mover.
Its good to have some CI experience before you come to a Jam, and attending a beginners course is a great idea.
Origins of CI
"I thought I spied in CI a form arising from us rather than imposed upon us."
- Steve Paxton
Contact improvisation emerged in the early 1970s through the movement research of Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith and others. The practice mirrored the counterculture of the era, rejecting prescribed choreography and artistic hierarchy in favor of a space where dancers interacted as equals, guided by touch, gravity, mutual trust, and shared exploration.
For newcomers I recommend watching "Fall After Newton", a great short film about the origins and early progression of CI:
- Part 1: The Origins (9 mins)
- Part 2: Development (6 mins)
- Part 3: Evolution (7 mins)
Photo: Stephen Petegorsky
Resources
A great place to find lots of CI resources is the Contact Quarterly resources section