A Reflection on an Experience by Brittany J. Branson

It was mid-term week and everyone around the Dance Center was exhausted. Academic classes were having huge tests and technique evaluations were sending most on an emotional roller coaster. By the time five o’clock rolls around on Thursday afternoon, my last class of that stressful week, the last thing I expected to happen was a break through in contact improv. However, that’s exactly what happened.

Up until this day I had always thoroughly enjoyed the “idea” of being able to take part in contact improv, but was frustrated by not being able to have my experiences live up to what I wanted. My biggest wall I needed to overcome was fear for my grade. With Julia watching me, all I could think about was doing contact “right” or “wrong.” I was very focused, almost to focused, but on the wrong thing. For me, the time that Julia spent giving others evaluations was a golden opportunity to not worry about “right” or “wrong,” just do. Maria Macsey and myself were both doing some improvisation of our own and just naturally let our paths cross one another. I believe it is important to mention that Maria and I are very good friends and have spent the last year and half sharing many dance experiences in Chicago. She was the first real friend I made in college. For that reason I feel a very high level of comfort with her. This comfort leads to a feeling of trust, which I feel is the most important quality for one to have with their partner. When it comes to Maria, I trust her one hundred percent. Although I feel comfortable with everyone in class, I think there is much to say about relationships outside of class affecting how one dances with their partners. There are some things that just cannot be left at the door no matter how hard one might try.

With no inhibitions holding me back and with a partner I felt very comfortable with, I was able to let loose. Our dance started very natural with rolling point of contact on the floor. We gradually progressed to standing. However, even if we were off the ground, we continued to share a very grounded feeling. She was giving me all her weight and I was giving her all of mine right back. Before I knew it, we were flying around the room. Both Maria and I were finding ledges on each other that I had never thought of before. We were so in tune with one another’s movements that I would find myself in Maria’s arms and completely off the ground without any hesitation or noticeable preparation. The smoothness and flow made the dance feel great and continuous. Something I learned from this dance was that continuous does not mean nonstop movement. One of my problems before this dance was not being able to find dance within the stillness. After this dance, however, I found that feeling. Maria and I would find moments of stillness that would calm us from the athletic movements we just finished.

Although this dance taught me many lessons, the most important one I learned was the lesson of time. The most valuable tool I found when learning contact was to allow the dance to blossom. If the dance gets frustrating, just keep dancing. If the dancer does not have time to become comfortable with the dance, it can never reach its full potential. Time is everything. During my duet with Maria, I lost track of that time and I believe that was the key to our successful dance. Before I knew it, Maria and I had danced over a half hour! I was so involved in our dance that I did not even notice when Julia came into the room or that we were the only couple left on the dance floor. We came to an end standing next to each other and matched our breaths to one another until we came to a mutual feeling that our dance was over.

From that point forward, I could not wait until contact class time. I was so excited to have that feeling of a successful dance once again. I wanted to dance with Maria again. I was sure that it was our combination that contributed to the success. However, Maria got sick and was out of class for three weeks! I was so frustrated. Nevertheless, other duets happened and much to my surprise I was feeling the same level of comfort and success. Even with Julia in the room, I could completely focus on the dance because I had reached the point where I understood it was not about “right” or “wrong.” Success can be found if one puts all their effort into it, grades will follow suit.