Focus on the Particular
“The fact that the work continues to diversify so much brings up a lot of questions about teaching contact, that I hope that people will step forward and stat to make some of these other kinds of events happen if they in fact seem needed and desired and not wait for other people to do it.
I think it’ll happen probably.”-Nancy Stark Smith
In this conversation Nancy covers:- ‘Focus’ in photography – selecting focus- How does the pedagogy of contact evolve as it meets the social tensions and flows of the culture that it exists in?- Value in pedagogy- Factors in teaching Contact Improvisation- Invention in teaching Contact Improvisation- Individuals exploring CI teaching vs. culture - How do certain patterns get prioritized when no one is deciding?- Me Too Movement- Pre-motor focusing – Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen- Boundaries and Sexuality conversation- Choosing emphasis in teaching practice- Nancy’s personal boundaries in her 3-week workshop – to minimize social element in the environment- Choice to set the tone, based on personal values and on the current culture- Steve Paxton- Gland game- Challenging assumptions- Question of proportion- Community regulation of “dangerous teaching”- Personal Values, the responsibility of the individual- Invitation to others to bring their work to the formIt feels almost sacrilegious to add words to this, but I want to provide some context for where this conversation originated. It was shortly after the Touch&Play festival came to Western Massachusetts, a time when I found myself experiencing a schism in my understanding of what Contact Improvisation meant to me. Training alongside some of the best contact improvisation dancers I had ever met—including Nancy Stark Smith, Chris Aiken, Aaron Brandos, and many more—I was grappling with the evolving nature of the form.
Through contact improvisation, I experienced firsthand an embodied devotion to a dance form and a community that centered on the joy and pleasures of this practice, as well as the relationships built around it. It is a truly unique phenomenon, one that is inevitably and continuously changing.
Having now practiced for 10 years, I have witnessed the permeability and tide changes within the local Western Massachusetts contact improvisation community as new waves of exploration, teaching, and culture demands emerge. The ripples of change are palpable in a literal, felt sense. Many attribute these shifts to the arrival of the Touch&Play festival—some see it as a positive opportunity to open conversations about building safety in spaces, while others are frustrated by the increasing presence of sensuality in spaces that were previously focused more specifically on the play of gravity and physics.
In this interview with Nancy, we hear her personal experiences and choices around intimacy and sexual relationships, and how she managed them in her own workshops. When I first heard her speak about it, I found the notion of setting aside or reframing this part of the human experience to be both intriguing and radical in a constrictive sense. Now, as I am in my own “monastic” life practice—I find great sense and gratitude in this approach. While I continue to participate in and facilitate Touch&Play events, I am curious about deepening this practice and to focus on the particular within my work.
I am currently exploring how to embody this approach in spaces where people come with the intention of engaging in radical liberation experiences, exploring all ranges of themselves—spaces where one's nervous system can easily be thrown off balance. Personally, I find that maintaining my own sovereignty is the best way to stay clear, focused, and available to those around me. This perspective has brought me full circle to this conversation with Nancy. As I am a very different person from when I was first listening to her explain the intention of the tone she set in her January “Nancys”. I recognize that this way of moving through spaces is not for everyone, so my question is: How can I offer and facilitate grounded-ness and self possession as a jumping-off point for individuals seeking deep-dive experiences? How can I craft workshops that deeply interrogate human relationships, orientation, attachment, and energetics from all perspectives—embodied, intellectual, philosophical, and more?
By focusing on the particular, I deepen my somatic presence in space, attuning to the flow of energy, somatic posturing, body orientation, and the stories we convey through tension, tone, and direction—whether toward or away from one another. I explore how this energy flows through and around us, how it integrates into groups of people, and how these groups, in turn, integrate into communities, impacting one another. Ultimately, it comes down to our personal willingness to put ourselves out into the world and the self-regulating attention of the community as it is attracted to or repelled by what is being offered. At the core of it all are communication practices, deepening in dance, and the ever-present element of invention.
As I continue to navigate my own journey within contact improvisation, I live in this delicate balance between personal sovereignty and community connection. The evolving nature of this practice, particularly in the context of events like Touch&Play, has prompted me to reconsider how I engage with intimacy, energy, and the complexities of human relationships within these spaces. My exploration of grounded-ness and somatic presence has become central to my approach, and I am curious about how these practices can serve as a foundation for deeper, more intentional experiences in both dance and life.
I am eager to engage in conversation about these ideas—how do you navigate the balance between personal boundaries and community interaction in your own practice? Whether you're dancing or exploring other forms of creative expression, how do you focus your attention on the specific, and how does that shape your experience? Please, let's delve into these questions together, exploring the intersection of embodiment, community, and the ever-changing landscape of our shared practices.
Thank you for your focus.
More magic always,
Anna
