Techniques

Although Contact Improvisation is by definition a spontaneous dance form we do have techniques. These are usually very general principles designed to provide some safety and open up possibilities for interesting movement. Below are many of the techniques our group works on in our weekly meetings.

Another way of overcoming the fear of touching is by dancing without touching your partner. With a little practice it can be very easy to perform contact this way and can even benefit people who are used to dancing together. This exercise also forces you to think about where the point of contact is. Even though the point of contact is not there physically you need to imagine where it is.

Of course you can also limit how people are touching so it is less frightening for new people. Try only touching hands or elbows. Sit or stand back-to-back. These can be great exercises to show a new person what the point of contact feels like.

Of course there are tons of standard icebreakers around the might be fun to try.

Some times Trust Exercises are a good way to get people to touch.

Another fun exercise to warm people up is to have everyone imitate one person. When the leader doesn't want to lead anymore they can shout out the name of another person and a new leader is born. As the leader, is might be fun to experiment with sounds too. Try singing, yelling, whispering, growling etc... Do interesting and silly things that you would never want people in the street to see!

Knowing how to roll away from someone, i.e. how to protect sensitive body parts, can be a very valuable skill to have.

Stretching is one of the best ways to prevent injuries. If you're very limber you will not tear muscles. By stretching you also become more aware of how far parts of your body can bend before being injured.

Another way to prevent injuries is to avoid rolling over or putting any weight on your partner's ankles, knees, or head. These are very delicate parts of the body that are not used to taking certain types of weight. You also want to avoid sensitive areas of your own body. One common place for injury is on the protruding bones of the hips when they are rolled over. To solve this simply lift your hips off the Of course there are also other parts of the anatomy that should not be used for weight bearing (or touched purposely) - you know which one's these are!

There are times when you are supporting your partner's weight when it is best to let go. Knowing when to do this really depends on your partner and you. But it should be remembered that there are many times when letting go and rolling could save muscles and bones from being injured.

Another way to protect yourself is to try not to take weight on the balls of your feet. This can be a stable position if you rock back (onto your heels), but very unstable if you fall forward. Try instead to point your toes and place the top of your foot on the floor.

The best way to avoid injury is to be responsible for you own movements. This does not mean that you should not trust your partner but that you should know that if their strength gave you wouldn't fall on your head, i.e. you could roll out of it. Along the same lines is to be responsible for your partner's weight when you are supporting them.

A very useful exercise for raising awareness of the point of contact is the Ball Exercise. Get a medium sized ball (something between the size of a baseball and a basketball) and place it between you and your partner. You should both be helping to support the ball in the air. An easy place to start is to stand side by side and put the ball between your shoulders. By shifting your body you can move the ball around your partner's body while still keeping the ball from falling. The ball will always be your point of contact so it will be easy to keep tract of. This exercise is great for showing beginners the idea of the point of contact. An advance way of doing this is with three people and two balls.

You can practice maintaining a point of contact with the wall also. Experiment with ways of moving your body, and giving weight to the wall.

One very easy transitional movement that also helps maintain the point of contact is to pick one body part (usually, hands, elbows, shoulders, head, hips, back or feet) and contact your partner only with that part. All other parts of your body are free to move but that point must stay fixed. You can also limit the range where the point of contact can be, i.e. the forearm from the wrist to the elbow.

Another helpful exercise that is transitional is to resist the urge to lift. Move just to the point where a lift could occur and then go on to something else. This can be helpful even for those who are used to lifting because it shows you that there are other options than to go in the air.

Lifting and taking another person's weight is many times the most difficult element of contact for the beginner and the most fun for the advanced contacter. There are many elements involved in lifting: safety, knowing where your center is, trusting the lifter, and communicating the desire to lift or be lifted. The basic element in a lift is that one person creates a surface with some part of their body on which their partner can rest some (or all) of their weight. For the lifter, creating and maintaining the surface is the primary goal and requires that they be centered. It is important to point out that in contact, physically lifting someone (with your muscles) is general discourages. Rather, the lifter should allow the weight to fall on natural bone structures. A secondary goal for the lifter is to provide options for the lifted. This would include changing the surface or providing a new surface. For the lifted, the primary goal is to improvise with the surface you have been given. In fact, think of it as a gift from the lifter. It is important to keep your center over the surface and the lifter's center (otherwise one of you will fall off balance).

Lifts can be short, long, high, or low.

Tabling is a nice way to practice lifting and being lifted because the lifting never takes place far from the ground. One person gets on all fours to create a nice flat "table" with their back. This large surface is the perfect place to practice moving in the air on a surface. It helps to find someone who is approximately your height but it certainly isn't necessary. The lifter can gently help the lifted with their head or by arching their back (changing the surface). The lifted can play with entering the surface, leaving the surface, and experiment with changing their center, momentum, extension/contraction, etc...

Another idea in lifting (and in all of contact for that matter) is the use of the hands to get more information on where the other person is. Some contactors shy away from this idea because you "should" be able to feel the other person's center without using your hands. However, just because you know where their center is doesn't mean you know where that extended leg is. You can never see every part of your partner's body but you might be able to use your hands to fill in the information gaps. We have found that this technique helps a great deal in lifting and safety.

There are three general ways of entering a lift. First is jumping into it. This is usually considered a little dangerous for the lifter since all of the weight is coming down full force. You also don't have quite as much control over where you land because in jumping you will either lose or weaken your point of contact. However, jumping into a lift can be a very flashy and fun think to try and watch. A second way of entering a lift is to melt into it. This by no means implies that you have to melt slowly - it can be a very fast movement. As opposed to a jump you never lose your strong point of contact. The basic mechanics of this type of lift is where the point of contact is moved so that you can draw a vertical line through the centers of the lifter and lifted. This means that the lifer's center is directly under the lifed's center. In the last type of lift you use your own momentum and a surface of your partner to propel yourself. You do not need to leave the ground. The lifter can even give a small boost to augment the momentum of the lifted.

One nice place to lift from is one of your hips. By putting one arm around someone's waist and raising your hip slightly you can easily lift people much heavier than you. You can also give people a short ride by twisting your hips so they land in front of you.

Another nice way to lift people is on your shoulder. There are lots of ways to lift on the shoulder and these usually involve the lifter creating a nice stable surface with their arms. If the lifter extends their arms in front of them the lifted should have a nice wide surface to play with. The easiest way to go into a shoulder lift is for the lifted to simply drape (at their waist) their body over the shoulder of the lifter. The lifter then only needs to stand up. From here the lifted can try to straighten their body. Another way from lifting with the shoulder is the fireman carry. The lifter bends down and the lifted stands behind them. The lifter then grabs one arm and one leg and stands up. This requires very little muscular effort which is the reason fireman use it to carry injured people.

A very good exercise is to try body surfing (as explained in the momentum section). Let one person lead (either person is fine) and without saying a word (or using your hands), communicate that you want to stop, wait a minute and then keep rolling. This exercise promotes great communication and helps to avoid injuries caused when one person forcefully does something without the permission of their partner.

A very big physical factor in your style of movement is the way you move your hips. This makes a great deal of sense since your center is located approximately at hip level. When walking some people swing their hips, some bounce up and down, and some go straight ahead. Try breaking up your group into two sections. Have one section walk around the room while the other section watches. Study the way one person walks but don't let anyone know who you were watching. Then try to imitate the person you were watching. Then switch groups. Another exercise that can get your hips moving is to simply bring in some hoola-hoops!

One easy way to change the mood of a dance is by changing the amount of extension you have in your movements. Dancing with all of your limbs extended will give you a classical ballet/light look. Dancing with all of your limbs close to your body will make you look slow and powerful (think of what a linebacker looks like in football). Depending on training, different people have different habits. It's nice to be able to do both equally well! For those of us who are athletes extending our body, i.e. pointing toes etc.. can feel very unnatural. Try keeping a balloon in the air in a room with a high ceiling - reach up as far as you can to make contact with it. For those dancers who have trouble bringing their limbs in try Indian wrestling with someone. To Indian Wrestle stand about one arms length apart facing the opposite wall from you opponent. Grasp each others left (or right) hands and put the outside of your left (or right) feet together. The object is to plant your feet and not let the other person move your feet. To play this game, the worst thing you can do is extend yourself (your partner will easily take the opportunity to make you fall). Instead, you must stay close to the ground and use momentum (your own and your partner's). Size does make some difference but I have seen people beat others twice their weight!

Rolling and Sliding are the two most common forms of movement in contact improvisation. It is an interesting exercise to limit yourself to one or the other. Try only using rolling motions while contacting. Then switch and only slide with your partner. It might be helpful to try this first without a partner. Again, this exercise can lead to some interesting ways of moving.

The easiest place to start is with the tabling discussed in the lifting section. Have one partner get on all fours and the other arch their back over them. This way, you can get used to having your head upside-down. It is often having your head upside-down that causes people's fear. Practicing this with tabling is safe because you can brace yourself with you hands. After getting used to this you can release your hands from the floor so you are completely supported by your partner.

Handstands are another great way to be upside-down. When going into a handstand there are a few things to remember: 1) don't just jump into it - you are much less stable this way. Try feeling the weight shift from your feet and legs to your hands and arms. 2) You shouldn't need to look at the floor but should keep you head and neck pointed straight at the ground. Again, this helps to stabilize you. If you have never done a handstand before it would be wise to try it against a wall so that you won't flop over and hit your back. A safer way to do this is with a partner who assists you in getting upside-down. In fact a modification of this can make a great trust exercise (try falling into your partner while doing a handstand). It also is not necessary to stay vertical or to try to hold your position for a long period of time. Sometimes sudo-handstands can be a fun way to move about the room.

Moving about the room with a handstand naturally can be modified into cartwheels. You certainly don't need to perform perfect gymnastic cartwheels. Sometimes you won't want to because gymnastic cartwheels are very extended. When you extend body parts it leaves you very little force or flexibility in the direction of the extension.

Having mats can greatly help safety and many rolls can be practiced that are safe but you wouldn't want to do 100 times on a wooden floor. Another interesting prop to try used is some rope. Break up into groups of 3-5 and tie some people's limbs to others. This really changes the way you have to move as a group and can lead to some very interesting movements. It will also force you to move in ways that might not normally think of. Other props (sort of) that can be used are the walls, stairs, etc... in the room. Play with using these objects for weight bearing. Our group has also experimenting with jamming outside on a hill. This adds some very interesting elements, most especially with the location of your center and momentum. Another fun outside place to try contacting is at a kids recreations center. Monkey bars, jungle gyms, slides, and all the other neat things on the playground can give you tons of options for movement.