About

 Contact Improvisation is a style of dance that cannot always be clearly defined. Rather, its ambiguity and adaptability are often seen as one of its greatest attributes. 

This is Kathleen Rea's definition of Contact Improvisation:

• Contact Improvisation is a social dance involving touch, in which momentum between two or more people is used to create and inspire dance movements.
   
• Contact Improvisation evolved from explorations of a group of dancers many centred around Oberlin College in the early 1970s, which included Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith, Danny Lepkoff, Lisa Nelson,      Karen Nelson, Nita Little, Andrew Harwood, and Ray Chung.
   
• One of the founders of Contact Improvisation Steve Paxton, was strongly influenced by his training in Aikido a Japanese Martial arts practice. Looking at the principles of CI its commonality with Aikido is clear.
   
• Techniques include rolling point of contact, balancing over a partner's centre of gravity, "listening" with one's skin surface,  and “surfing” momentum. While there is technique involved, the aesthetic I reach for is the quality of the relationship and communication within a  dance.
   
• It is typically practiced in a jam situation in which people gather to improvise together.
   
• Dancers move with a constantly changing physical reality. In Contact Improvisation, there are no set leaders and followers as in other social dance forms. Instead, there is a back-and-forth with dancers sometimes leading, sometimes following, and all variations between these two roles.
   
• The form is potentially accessible to all people, including those with no previous dance training and people with physical disabilities. I say potentially because "-isms" such as racism and ableism as well as misogyny historically have reduced or inhibited access. The -isms and issues that are embedded in the broader cultures in which CI is practiced show up on the dance floor. There has been a growing movement to address these “ism” in CI but also resistance to this as well.
  
   
• Another limitation to access has been the lack of consent culture in Contact Improvisation communities, both on the dance floor and off. Since the "me-too" movement there has been a growing understanding of the value of building and supporting consent culture in      Contact Improvisation, along with some backlash against this movement. 

• I believe much of the resistance to addressing “isms" and consent culture comes from the idea that CI is an egalitarian form that transcends “isms”. The reality however for people who are marginalized by society is that “isms” show up on the dance floor.
  
   
• This definition of Contact Improvisation is my personal feeling of what Contact Improvisation is to me. Others will describe it differently,      and this variance and diversity of opinions are for me one of the strengths of Contact Improvisation. One of the founders, Nancy Stark      Smith, wrote: “Throughout CI’s development, a gentle anarchy has prevailed      over its organization.” I feel that this gentle anarchy is a fundamental aspect of the form.