Practice Portfolio 2.1 - 2.3
What kinds of touch are practised in Contact Improvisation?
Between October and December 2020 I asked dancers what kinds of touch they know and use in Contact Improvisation. The two following audio recordings reflect this interview method, and this linked document lists touch types that were described and which I grouped according to similarity.
Klaus Interviewed 03.10.20 at the Glarisegg Contact Improvisation Festival, Switzerland
Lotte Interviewed 01.10.20 at the Glarisegg Contact Improvisation Festival, Switzerland
2.2 Touch Lab 1
Touch Lab series 1 focused on exploring listening, surface(light) and deep touch in separate sessions. The audio recordings in this folder’s, on listening, light and deep touch, document verbal reflections from eight dance colleagues, who I invited to take part in 10, weekly labs, in Berlin, between 28 September - 30 November 2021. In this 3 hours lab, 10-20 minutes was first spent upon arriving and warming up, followed by a short briefing and group check-in, which was then followed by a 1.5-2-hour period of dance improvisation research. To integrate the experience and assimilate findings the dancing was followed by 15-20 minutes of personal reflection, that could encompass drawing, writing, and resting, followed by 30-40 minutes of group feedback in which a dialogue format from Authentic Movement was used and audio-recorded (see Methodology Ch. 2.1, for a more detailed discussion of this lab approach). Some extracts of the audio recordings I transcribed for clarity, and are included also below.
Raw audio recordings are also included from one-to-one labs with the CI teacher, Irene Sposetti, that took place during my field research in Mexico between 19 between February-22 March 2021. In our 3 hours sessions a similar format was followed to investigate the listening, surface and deep touch types, which involved dancing for 1-1.5 hours, followed by a more open reflective discussion.
Listening Touch Lab Reflections
Listening Touch Reflection Britta Kruger 28.09.21
Listening Touch Jenny Shecker 28.09.21
Listening Touch Group Snapshot Reflections 06.10.21
Listening Touch Maria Rutanen 28.09.21
Listening Touch Marius Peters and Rosalind Holgate Smith 28.09.21
Listening Touch Nicole 28.09.21
Light Touch Lab Reflections
Light Touch Group Snapshot Reflections 12.10.21
Deep Touch Lab Reflections
Deep Touch Group Snapshot Reflections 16.11.21
One-to-One Lab Reflections
Deep Touch with Irene Sposetti 22.03.21
Further Lab Reflection with Irene Sposetti 10.03.21
Lab Reflection with Irene Sposetti 10.03.21
2.3 Extended Touch Lab
Between 5-7 May 2023, I facilitated an Extended Touch Lab at Schonfließer and Medleys studios in Berlin. The Lab I facilitated together with Kaisa Kukkonnen, a Finish CI dancer and teacher also researching questions of touch. The intention was to host a longer research format for in depth research. Participants were invited from the previous touch labs series 1, 2 and 3. In the sessions, participants were invited to share their questions and curiosities and we then devised research frameworks involving time for dancing, reflective writing, drawing and dialogue. On Sunday, Kaisa and I led an investigation of Karen Barad’s concept of intra-action, which involved first discussing our understanding of intra-action in the group. I also shared and read some quotes and extracts, drawn from my PhD thesis. Further readings on intra-action were made by participants during the 1.5-hour period of group dancing that was followed by a phase of personal reflection and a final group conversational reflection. The raw video footage from this enquiry can be accessed only via the one drive folder 2.3.