This is the second of two parts by Alexia Buono, discussing teacher education in contact improvisation. Her first part, Teacher education in CI: What does teacher education have to do with safer dance spaces?, discussed how justice-oriented pedagogical teacher education…
Tag: safety
Teacher education in CI: What does teacher education have to do with safer dance spaces? (part 1 of 2)
Hi blog readers! I’m happy to introduce a new writer on my blog, Alexia Buono. Alexia is CI dancer with a PhD in education who specializes in teacher education and dance pedagogy in particular. I invited her to write on…
A Helpful Supplement to Myth #6: “It’s just not my thing” — addressing facilitator doubts (Part 2 of 2)
In Part 1 of this article, “Myth #6: Written guidelines keep CI spaces safe,” I discussed why having written guidelines is an insufficient strategy for creating safer CI spaces, and explained why CI teachers and facilitators need to model talking…
Myth #6: Written guidelines keep CI spaces safe (Part 1 of 2)
I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but in 2020, written guidelines alone are not sufficient for contact improvisation (CI) communities to uphold a standard of intolerance toward sexual transgressions on and around the dance floor. No matter…
Myth #5: I can handle it myself
I’ve heard it expressed that it’s patronizing, or paternalistic, to suggest that people can’t “handle” themselves, set their own boundaries or make educated choices about how and with whom they dance. In other words, some people in the CI community…
Myth #4: It’s okay to heal me with contact improv
Sometimes, by dancing contact improvisation, we encounter and expose parts of ourselves that we usually keep guarded. We can find ourselves opening up in the presence of our dance partners, and because touch has the capacity to unwind emotions and…
A response to a reader regarding Myths to Break Down
Hi Readers! In response to my post, “Myths to Break Down: Moving Toward Ethical Communication and Ethical Sexuality in CI,” a reader asked what I felt was an excellent question. Because the conversation deserved greater visibility, I’m writing my response…
Myths to Break Down: Moving Toward Ethical Communication and Ethical Sexuality in CI
Hi all, this is Richard. I’m pleased to introduce guest blogger Sarah Gottlieb, who has been thinking about topics related to contact improvisation, sexuality, consent, and rape culture, and who will be sharing some of those thoughts on my blog.…
How to land on your feet
One of my favorite contact improvisation tips came from a class taught by Gretchen Spiro. She just slipped it in, and didn’t emphasize it a lot, but I wrote it down and remembered it. It was simply this, although she…
Fundamentals class footnotes
If you took my class on Saturday, 2010/6/19, there are few things that we didn’t have time to cover that are worth mentioning: Weight modulation We emphasized weight-sharing and feeling the ground under your partner’s feet through the point of…