I don’t have many records from my first days and years doing contact improvisation. I’m not sure why; maybe I just wasn’t that affected by starting the form? But, no, I think I was having lots of feelings and thoughts…
Author: richard
I've been dancing contact improvisation since 2003, starting in Los Angeles, California (USA). I love a strict point of contact with weight-sharing, and can spend all day doing nothing.
Why is teaching contact improvisation so hard?
I’m usually pretty critical of contact improvisation teaching and teachers. That hasn’t really changed. But after a recent stretch of teaching, I’m more appreciative of this fact: even though I think CI teachers should be better preparing for their classes,…
Winter and Spring 2018 CI Events
Once again, a round-up of CI events in vaguely the Northeastern part of North America. I’m afraid I’ve missed some that already happened in January and early February. Sat, 2/17, Dragon’s Egg (Ledyard, CT): Winter Seasonal Underscore, facilitated by Nancy…
Fall 2017 CI events (and sign up for my class)
So I turned the page of my calendar to September, and I suddenly realized that once again, there’s a bunch of great contact improvsation events coming up this fall. Here’s an overview of your fall 2017 in contact improvisation, if…
Earthdance Diversity & Inclusion Scholarship – deadline Wed., September 6
For the fourth straight year, Earthdance, the famed retreat center in Western Massachusetts where much contact improvisation is danced, taught, and lived, is giving out Diversity & Inclusion Scholarships to its Falling Leaves Jam, which runs Thursday, October 19, to…
NYC Contact Improvisation Practica returns — now with more practica (and less fun)
Something extraordinary happened when I taught at the Ontario Regional Contact Jam this past April. Charlie Halpern-Hamu, one of the organizers, gave me free rein to discourage people from taking my class. So I tried to make it scary. I…
Class recap: 2-hour class, Sat., 2017/04/15, at National Ballet School, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Ontario Regional Contact Jam 2017)
I had a great time teaching at the Ontario Regional Contact Jam on Saturday, April 15, 2017. This is a recap of my 2-hour class, titled “The Rigor of Contact Improvisation: Rolling Point Mastery,” which took place in Studio 4B…
Underscore: “Pow-Wow” is now “Assembly”
So somehow, even though I was following this issue very closely, I missed that Nancy Stark Smith renamed the part of the Underscore called “Pow-Wow” to “Assembly” back in December of 2016. It has officially been changed. Whew! Some background…
Class recap: 2-hour class, Mon., 2017/01/16, at 100 Grand Dance, New York, NY
I recently substituted for Tim O’Donnell’s Monday morning class at 100 Grand Dance. This is a recap of 2-hour class at 100 Grand Dance, New York, NY, on Monday, November 16, 2017. Recap is based on my class prep notes and…
Join the Earthdance Diversity Scholarship Committee
About three years ago, Sarah Young, Earthdance’s Executive Director, and I created Earthdance Diversity Scholarship, which awarded scholarships to members of under-represented groups to attend the Earthdance’s Falling Leaves Jam. So far, despite some bumps, I think we can call…