From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Contact Improvisation is a modern (or Contemporary) dance form which was invented, or evolved, by groups of dancers practising in New York in the early 1970s. The main point of it is an experimental exploration, of the transfer of skin contact and body weight from dancer to dancer and back again. Thomas Paxton (Ballet-Modern FAQ) describes it as 'a kind of cooperative, non-combative wrestling' and this is fairly accurate, as nobody knows what is going to happen from moment to moment except for the sharing, giving and taking of weight. This can vary from fingertip brushing to completely supporting the entire body weight of another dancer.
It is most often done by pairs of dancers or small groups of 3 or maybe 4. It can be done by larger groups - this gets difficult and unless the participants either a) know each other really well or b) have a high level of spatial and kinaesthetic awareness, it doesn't really work. There is a great deal of lifting, falling and participants must be willing to trust one another implicitly or it will completely fail.
Contact Improv began as at least a semi-social thing where people would get together in gyms and parks and have 'jam sessions' - they are still called Contact Jams and you can generally find a Jam in most major cities today if you ask the right people. You don't have to be a dancer to take part although it is true that Contact Improv has become more professional as the years have gone by. And though dance training is not necessary, a high degree of body awareness is necessary because you need to be aware of the momentum of both your body and the one you are dancing with, the placement of your limbs (so you don't injure your partner(s) and the placement of your weight.
Contact Improv is great fun if you allow yourself to dive into the moment, as it were, and trust the other participants. Because of the trust element involved it can be scary both emotionally and physically, and it is not for everyone. To watch, it can (as anything experimental tends to) be anything from mind-numbingly boring to wildly, heart racingly exciting.
