In the midst of the enchanting, snow-covered landscape of the Berkshire Hills, we embarked on a journey to the origins of Contact Improvisation, guided by the wisdom of nine internationally experienced senior dance teachers. Supported by the vibrant Earthdance community, we spent three weeks exploring, listening, experimenting, and questioning all together. We absorbed the stories straight from the lips of two of the courageous co-founders of this legendary space—Penny and Stephen—engaging in passionate debates, dreaming, singing, playing, and, above all, dancing.
What truly defines Contact Improvisation? What does its future hold? What are its limits, and what elements are essential? There were many questions, and even more individual approaches to these questions. In curating our program themes, we posed questions without the intention of offering pre-determined answers. Why, for instance, does Body Mind Centering belong in a CI Training? Is Contact Improvisation a relevant performance art today? Does it serve as a sustainable bond for a living community? Can we contribute to contemporary political discussions? And what exactly is the magic of The Underscore?
At times, enduring the tension between different realities was not easy—three weeks can be emotionally challenging. A persistent virus and sickness added to the intensity of our experience. Yet it also united us and sparked the idea of diving even deeper together—to realize that the outcome lies within me, that I truly have the power to realize my dreams.
Contact Improvisation, as a field of movement research and as an expression of aesthetic understanding, serves as a teacher. It offers Life as an experimental field; an unfolding reality that absorbs impulses from different directions and is continuously measured against its ever-changing form.
- Volker Eschmann, Curator Spiral & Root 2025 |