The "Mind-Wind" was most relaxing, gentle and beautifully interwoven. Thank you both so much. It looked as though you have spent hours choreographing. Whatever, - it worked in a lovely fashion. Happy Easter! Love, Bestefar
yes, well, we have spent hours not choreographing but exploring what might be possible in each moment! Thanks for watching, glad you could see it long-distance from the comfort of your own living room. love, N
The intention of each partner to remain in "contact" with the other too often feels self-conscious and contrived here. The only way for the contact NOT to appear self-conscious and contrived would be for it to arise spontaneously from/as ATTRACTION . . . and I'm not feeling that dynamic here at all. I recognize and feel very distinctly the energetic difference between intending to do something . . . and being attracted to do it. I'm not sure contact improvisation cultivates that distinction/capacity at all. I certainly don't FEEL the difference in these videos . . .
selections of a trio at the wonderful Montreal Contact Improvisation Jam. We didn't have much of a rehearsal, just a nice dinnertime conversation, and then Stephen agreed to play for us a few minutes before the show. We were playing with ways to be connected as a trio even when we are not in physical contact.
+Neige Christenson " We were playing with ways to be connected as a trio even when we are not in physical contact." I read that after seeing the video. I thought the score may have been "to trade partners continually".
My friend Charles Campbell turned me on to this link. I've never experienced anything like it. Very, very enjoyable. Thank you! BTW, greenrate, I completely disagree with your comments. Nothing here feels the slightest bit contrived.
Check out the vid "Contact Improvisation with Karl Frost" He's very knowledgeable.. in it he seems to be teaching some beginning stage techniques to prepare the dancers, and makes them aware of the how to. Also listen to some vids of Steve Paxton's. There are people who are extremely well versed in this work and watching those people is magic!
@NandoRaynolds hey Nando! it is fun to see what far-flung responses I got from this little ditty. I was just trying to share it with the serendipitous gathering of people I'd met that day, but I see it seems to have pleased others as well, that's an unexpected bonus.
@greenrate dear viewer, have you experienced Contact Improvisation from the inside yet? Have you danced the exploration of finding a common center of gravity between two beings? I believe if you were to dance CI you would understand it more than observing it and making these assumptions from outside. It is at times a dialogue, with turn taking, and listening, and yet at times the impulse is untraceable and mysteriously neither partner's own to claim. Let's have a dance sometime!
Whenever I watch Contact Improv . . . I'm invariably disrupted in my attempt to attune energetically to it . . . by the artificiality of the transitions from one partner "leading" & the other "responding" . . . to the reverse. I've never (yet . . .) seen an example where this wasn't the case. The artificiality of the transitions seems to me to undermine the entire premise . . . since it reveals that the contact is NOT spontaneous or improvised. It's contrived and self-conscious . . .
Hi Neige, very enjoyable work and dynamics. I was also forwarded the link to this clip through a Systema friend, which I practice as well and other forms of body movement exploration/application (martial and otherwise). Flow, tension, relaxation, breath in, breath out, smile, and keep moving... :-)
