Do you want to DANCE? by Analy Gamino

At the beginning of the semester when I was introduced to Contact Improvisation I couldn’t really understand why I had to take it. My feelings toward the art were very bitter. I tried to figure out why I had to take it as a dancer major. Contact Improvisation to me wasn't a form of dance in the beginning. I just couldn’t see Contact Improvisation being a form of dance, yet I saw it as a physical experience.

When I began to take the class all I thought the class was going to involve was rolling around on top of one another and bodies touching all the time. I didn’t see that as a form of dance at all. I would get so bored in class and frustrated that we weren’t connecting in a mental or emotional way. It was so hard for me to focus because I wasn’t used to physically connecting with someone in such a way that involved full body connection. I didn’t see that being dance at all. I felt as though it had no meaning, story, or emotion. However, I was trying hard not to hate it so I wanted to find out about it.

I didn’t want to make assumptions of myself as to if Contact was really a dance form or not. When I read about it and looked for definitions on what Contact was I would find many similar definitions – and they all involved dance. One definition was that Contact Improvisation “is a dance where points of physical contact provide a starting point of exploration through movement improvisation. It is also a form of dance improvisation.”

In the history of Contact we are given a more detailed definition. It has to do with your whole overall body. Reading online on ContactImprov.net I was able to get a better understanding of it. I read that contact originated by an American choreographer Steve Paxton in 1972. He comes to understand that it was based on the communication between two or more bodies in movement that are in physical contact. That allows them to move through gravity, momentum, and inertia.

After reading these definitions and applying it to what I had been doing in Contact I finally saw a connection. I understood the background of it and how it all connected to becoming a form of dance. However, I had yet to experience it. Every time I had a dance with someone in class I never felt it being a dance. I simply saw those partnerships as a time of rolling points on each other. However, when I watched people like Josh, Julia and Jaime do their dances I saw all the components of dance in it. I could see them releasing their muscles to let go and simply discover different movement. There was a certain flow of movement in their dances that I wish I had.

It was until after midterm week that in my mind Contact was a form of dance. I walked in class that day very tired and wanted to avoid every partnership I could. I just wanted to spend time focusing on my own dance. However, that class turned out to be the most eye-opening of the semester. I partnered with three different people in class that day. My first duet was okay. I wasn’t feeling all into that partnership because all I was thinking about was class ending of how tired I was. However, the dance began to start flowing, but towards the middle it began to lack commitment so I decided to end it.

My second duet got a lot better. It was a fun partnership because we found a certain detail to focus on and play with. My nails were a bright red color in class that day so we decided to focus on hand movement and direction. The dance started with just me dancing and focusing on my body and arms. When Sarah noticed what I was doing she came over and joined. She began to mimic some of my movement until we both became drawn to my nails. After a while the dance became driven by both of us. We both wanted to lead so there were certain hiccups in the dance.

I began to feel as if I was never going to reach that high point in Contact Improv where I would experience the complete dance form. I began to get frustrated and didn’t want to dance at all anymore. When I noticed that Brittany was approaching me to dance I began to move away slightly to indicate that I didn’t want to. However, I felt bad in doing so that I ended up partnering with her. Today I’m so thankful that I had the courage to take the third partnership. Like they say thirds times a charm. Partnering with Brittany that day opened my eyes and allowed me to experience Contact as a dance. When we partnered it felt like a performance full of emotion and movement.

That partnership allowed me to see that it is a form of dance. I was able to see that it was a performance. I felt as if I was on stage just expressing myself through movement. I realized that dance doesn’t have to be choreographed. My partnership with Brittany to me was a performance. I realized that contact improv could have ins and outs, pauses, and communication. It was simply amazing for me to feel the connection with it. I felt as if we had a story going on and the emotion was there. Contact to me isn’t rolling on one another anymore. It is an improv of all types of movements such as plies, lifts, rolling, falling, support, upside down movement, etc. It is dance.

Today I’m really thankful for having had Brittany as my partner that day because I was able to release my mind and body and be driven by movement. I was allowed the experience that I had been longing to discover – contact improv as a dance. It was simply amazing. It simply took patience to discover it.

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.