‘It is the quality of touch rather than the quantity of touch that is of primary importance in our development,’ (Holt, 2011, 216). This is saying that you do not always have to have had a large amount of experience with contact in order to develop, however it needs to have been of a fairly high quality, helping you to understand the meanings and the sensations. Much of contact is about being completely focused and in the moment, as mentioned before. This is because you must be in tune with the other person. For example this week we experimented with sitting back to back and sending messages through movement of the spine. It helped to imagine that there was a stick going through both of our centres, connecting us together. With this in mind, you could move more as one.

‘Unlike wrestlers, who exert their strength to control a partner, contact improvisers use momentum to move in concert with a partner,’ (Novack, 1990, 8). This was shown in an exercise we played with. Beginning back to back, one person tipped to lie on their side, the other gave their weight and draped over them. The underneath  person began to roll, which in turn sent the other person along, transferring them from one position to the other. Being rolled was something which I was fine with if i laid on my side, however when lying on my back, I began to panic, not wanting to give all my weight in fear of hurting the other person.

At the end of this session we engaged in a contact improvisation jam. This was the first time that we had done a jam of this nature, with some of us never having danced together much previously. This was the first occasion, since doing improvisation that I have found myself completely lost in the movement. I wasn’t thinking about anybody else, just myself and the other person. All I was thinking about was the contact I was making through the palm of our hands, where they were and where I wanted it to go next. I also found stepping out of the action helpful. It was interesting to watch other people and their different experiences with contact. It also helped me to see many other opportunities in which contact could be made. I found that I could see this process within other people, they would be watching, see something and go and join in.

Works Cited

Holt, D (2011) Touch: Experience and Knowledge. Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices, 3(1-2) 215-227

Novack, C. (1990) Sharing the Dance: Contact Improvisation and American Culture. Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press.