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 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. It is typically practiced in a jam situation in which a group of people gathers in person to improvise together. 

• Contact Improvisation evolved from explorations of a group of dancers in the early 1970s, which included Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith, Danny Lepkoff, Lisa Nelson, Karen Nelson, Nita Little, Andrew Harwood, and Ray Chung. Steve Paxton brought his former training in Aikido to the form, using the idea of "surfing" momentum to communicate, dance, and express. 

• 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. 

• Techniques include rolling point of contact, balancing over a partner's centre of gravity, and "listening" with one's skin surface. While there is technique involved in the form, the aesthetic I reach for is the quality of the relationship within a dance.

• 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 historically have reduced or inhibited access. The -isms that are embedded in the broader cultures in which Contact Improvisation is practiced are often acted out in Contact Improvisation communities. 

• Another limitation to access is 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.
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• This definition of Contact Improvisation is Kathleen Rea's personal feeling of what Contact Improvisation is for her. Others will describe it differently, and this variance and diversity of opinions are for her one of the strengths of Contact Improvisation.