BODY PRACTICES: Massage in Motion

In the early 1970s at New York’s Judson Dance Theater, a home of postmodern dance, one of the founders, Steve Paxton, decided to see what happened when bodies went flying toward one another in a sort of throw-it-all-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach to movement. What stuck was a notion of dance that can be enjoyed as a highly athletic performance art, a gentle folk art, or both. Next time you’re craving a potpourri of movement — a touch of tango, a moment of yoga, a bit of aikido, some gymnastics, an open-hearted version of wrestling — consider contact improvisation (CI).

CI is often danced as a duet, although it can be experienced solo or with a group. It is taught in classes and workshops in many major cities in the U.S. and around the world. There are no set steps to learn, which is why it is most regularly danced in community jam sessions, although CI also can be choreographed and performed. So what is CI?
    “CI is a dance practice that involves sharing physical touch, weight, and
creative impulse. It involves a tremendous amount of flow and communication and deep listening between people,” explains Gretchen Spiro, who has been dancing CI for nearly 25 years and teaching it for 15.     “As you lean, roll, fly through the air, and balance on each other, it goes from the very subtle, light touch to the highly acrobatic. You dance following your own impulses and the impulse of the other person, which creates this third thing where you’re really following the dance — not just yourself or your partner, but the magic of that created in the alchemy between.”

COLLECTIVE TOUCH
It’s the element of touch — physical and spiritual — that has kept the 44-year-old Spiro dancing CI for decades. “It connects me with my body and my spirit in motion,” she says. “It’s a movement practice that helps me be more present to myself but also to the mystery of creating with other people.” Having taught yoga for 15 years, Spiro notes, “Physically, it’s the most strengthening and healing practice that I know. There are certain ways I can access myself in yoga, but through the motion and emotion of CI, I feel like I go to different territory. It connects me more to the transpersonal aspects of being . . . the places beyond just myself, the places in relation to other people, the places in relation to the greater collective unconscious in terms of exploring creative impulses and image and sensation.”
    The fact that the dance is contact improvisation rather than contact expectation, Spiro says, is what makes it an inherently spiritual experience for her. “The dance feels like it connects me with the mystery of not knowing what’s going to happen next. There’s a quality of exploration of what can’t be planned. You try not to expect or to take hold but to flow with possibility and inspiration — and to be surprised. That’s the essence of spirituality, to me, to feel very deeply present. You’re listening deeply; listening to what’s going on with the other person, with yourself, your own body structure, your inspiration. So the dance is a co-creation. It develops intuition, deeper knowing, confidence, clarity of mind. When my mind gets really busy or full, and I dance, there’s a clarifying aspect.”
    CI builds tremendous physical flexibility and core strength. Spiro says many of the movements in the dance are functional and relate to physical life skills, such as lifting properly, getting up and down off the floor, and finding balance. She also describes the practice as a healing one, especially with regard to touch. “It develops appropriate boundaries, physically and energetically. It is healing in that it involves a nonsexual touch. People are rarely touched outside of a context of sensual touch, violent touch, or medical touch. To touch and be touched by other human beings is crucial in feeling connected with ourselves. Touch helps us to know, understand, and distinguish our boundaries.”
    For Spiro, CI starts in her most intimate relationships, from her husband to her eight-month-old daughter to her closest friends. “My husband, Steve Homsher, is also a CI teacher, and there’s a way that he and I connect in the dance that is very intimate and creative. It’s definitely like a whole different state of mind. It’s not our personalities connecting like in our daily lives, and it’s not the same as sexually connecting. It’s the creation of art together, going into a space of deep, deep beauty of surrendering to the mystery.”

THE MOST INTIMATE DUET
Dancing last year while pregnant with her daughter may be Spiro’s most intimate duet — one that, she says, was at times wonderful and other times quite uncomfortable. And her dance with friends takes the shape of the Tumblebones Contact Improvisation Collective, which she created and guides in Boulder, Colorado.
“Tumblebones is as much like a social family network as it is a performing arts group. These are my friends — they’re here to celebrate the holidays; they were at the birth of my daughter. This is our small CI community within the larger CI community of Boulder, within the larger world community.” And true to the spirit of CI jam sessions, Spiro is helping to bring all such communities together — including dancers from more than 10 countries — for this summer’s birthday celebration, CI36. To peek in on the party, visit CI36.com. And to find your way to a CI class or jam session, visit ContactImprov.net and ContactImprov.com.

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Jennifer Derryberry Mann is a Minneapolis-based freelance writer and editor.