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yielding to collaboration (CI Sharing Balance and CI Sharing The Moment) is all well and good, but it's not very specific. there are many useful physical skills by which dances deepen in one direction or another, and exercises which foster these skills.
while some skills build on other skills, there is no single, linear progression through this list. activities from weight sharing and falling inform one another across the categories, for instance, and the small dance can illuminate stuff from every other category, and vice versa.
Small Dance
noticing and following the perpetually ongoing, unintentional, often subtle activity in one's body and in one's partner is, for me, a distillation of the contact improv connection.
- standing
- finger dance
- head dance
Weight Sharing
weight sharing is a tool for connecting with your partner to play with the dynamics of balance.
- balancing prone
- standing - (small dance) - counterbalance - ledges
- prone across
- rolling
- (body surfing)
- tables
- posts
- shoulder supports
Falling Down and Up
falling together can be like falling in love - it can have a compelling momentum all its own.
- spiraling to the ground
- spiraling back up
- incremental progression - egg-roll - sitting - kneeling low, high - standing and falling back - walking ad falling back - standing and falling forwards
- brushing
- sloughing
- brushing and sloughing/dance
- perching
- catching and letting go
- rides - body surfing - gradually finer trading assists up and down - walking and falling - lofting (injecting energy to your partner's repeated jumps) - spiralling together - lifts and/vs rides
Composition Inside
- come-as-you-are
- blindfolded ci
- authentic movement
Composition in Space
- mirroring and other symmetry/asymmetry
- come-as-you-are
- flocking
- cumulative entrances
Beginnings, Endings, and Everything In Between
- solo passes/come-as-you-are
- round robin / pass the dance
- phased entrances and exits
- the underscore
- jamming