Contact Improvisation - Steve Paxton

Contact Improvisation, or CI, is a form of post-modern dance originally developed by dancer Steve Paxton in the early 1970’s. While it has become a recognized mode of dance performance, it is also used as a training method by dancers, physical therapists, and performance artists of all kinds worldwide.

Paxton’s initial goal was to create a “physical playground” where his students could explore the architecture of their own bodies - as well as their relationships with other bodies, with objects, and with space (in this regard, CI shares several basic principles with choreographer Mary Overlie’s Viewpoints method). Fascinated by the pedestrian world around him, Paxton developed a non-dance movement vocabulary that includes everyday activities like sitting, standing, and walking. Maintaining that even completely untrained performers can contribute to this form, Paxton sees the human body as a physical machine that expresses both nature and the particular culture in which it operates through movement.

In CI, two bodies come together to create a point of physical contact (back to back, shoulder to shoulder, head to head - head to shoulder - there are infinite possible combinations). Giving each other equal weight, the two people use this point of contact as the starting point in an improvised movement dialogue that can last for as long as the two people remain in contact with each other. While this exercise works best in pairs, it can also be done in larger groups - or solo using physical objects (the floor, the walls, chairs, etc.) to create points of contact. As dance teachers often say, “the floor is your first partner.”

The particular dynamics of an exercise in contact improvisation will depend on the abilities of the people involved - but many practitioners bring in movement vocabularies from other disciplines (including everything from yoga and martial arts to gymnastics, ballet, and Argentine tango). In CI, any type of movement is acceptable - the only criterion is that this movement allows the participants to explore the physical forces exerted on the body by friction, gravity, momentum, and inertia (weight transfer, counter-balance, suspension, falling, lifting, etc.). If one participant is more agile than another, the two must work together to create a dialogue which is accessible to both of them. Touchdown Dance (a CI-based company founded by Paxton and fellow choreographer Anne Kilcoyne in Manchester, England) explains in its introduction to CI that, “through the point of contact there is a two-way system of communication, of listening and responding, of commitment and question, of leading and waiting, etc.” This echoes the core principles of dramatic improvisation (i.e., being “in the moment” onstage and responding to the particular stimuli provided by your partner), and confirms CI as a method with applications for performers outside of the dance world.

CI often doubles as a social meeting place in settings known as “jams.” Attendees at a jam may either participate or observe as they see fit, and many people learn the basics of CI just by attending jams. There is a global directory of CI groups, classes, and jams on www.contactimprov.net; another good source of information is Contact Quarterly - a bi-annual dance periodical edited by two of Paxton’s original company members. CI is also extremely popular in Europe, and practicing groups can be found all over the continent. Notably, Touchdown Dance continues to hold a variety of workshops at its studio in Manchester.

Contact Quarterly
http://www.contactquarterly.com
(subscriptions available online)
P.O. Box 603
Northampton, MA 01061
Phone: (413) 586-1181
Fax: (413) 586-9055
E-mail: info@contactquarterly.com

Touchdown Dance
http://www.touchdowndance.co.uk
Waterside Arts Centre
Sale
M33 7ZF
United Kingdom
Phone: (+44) 161-912-5760
Fax: (+44) 161-912-5783
E-mail: info@touchdowndance.co.uk

Further reading:

Brook, Ann
Contact Improvisation and Body-Mind Centering: A Manual for Teaching & Learning Movement

Kaltenbrunner, Thomas
Contact Improvisation: Moving, Dancing, Interaction

Pallant, Cheryl
Contact Improvisation: An Introduction to a Vitalizing Dance Form

Tufnell, Miranda with Chris Crickmay
Body Space Image: Notes Towards Improvisation and Performance

Note
The following are common misspellings of Steve Paxton's name: Steev, Steeve, Stev, Stiv, Paston, Pacston, Paxtin, Paxtin, Paxtan, Paxtun, Packston, Packstan, Packsten, Packstin, Packstun, Pacsun