Description:

Contact Improvisation is a meditative dance technique in which participants use points of physical contact to provide the starting point for exploration through movement. This contact can actually induce the production of a pair bonding hormone, called oxytocin, in the human brain, similar to how you feel when you hug or kiss a loved one.

Through the sensation of touch and dance, you can explore organic movement generated through and with, one-another, forming new bonds and strengthening old ones.

Accompanied by a variety of musicians, this session will begin with some simple guiding prompts to help individuals become familiar with touching as well as giving/receiving weight. As the jam progresses individuals get to explore movement by listening and responding to their partner/partners through touch. There are no right or wrong answers and you do not need prior dance training to participate.

The central characteristic of Contact Improvisation is a focus on bodily awareness and physical reflexes rather than consciously controlled movements. Much like meditation, Contact Improvisational Dance seeks to honor the present moment by guiding the dancers to surrender what is happening now.

“One learns to recognize and differentiate subtle impulses in our movement choices and our partner's choices. We begin to decipher the cues that we give and receive which tell us when to lead or follow, when to go up, when to go down, where to touch, how to lift, when to slow down, and when to be still. In this form one learns to stay in integrity with each choice, never forcing, never rushing. When Body, Mind, and Spirit are united in their instinctive wisdom one finds ones-self at home in every moment expressing ones true nature.”

- Moti Zemelman