Contact improvisation. Who would have thought that I would voluntarily immerse myself in the world of supporting backs, feet, legs, stomachs, and groins? I participated in a week of dance, movement, and collaboration where every body part can serve as a potential support pillar to create a game of catching, supporting, and leaning.
It is no coincidence that the term ‘contact improvisation’ has an ambiguous verbal character.
Contact improvising. The improvisation of contact.
The practice of this movement art offers tangible metaphors that magnify one’s behavior in mutual contact.
Where am I, and how does this work, I wonder.
Not knowing whether it is my body or my mind that reacts and speaks. I am beginning to understand more and more that there is a subtle and tactile language that leads to silent yet clear and followable communication.
The week in Servivo taught me to take the fragile step of being present to become present – in the presence of another. The more I allow myself to truly listen to myself and the other, the more I can discover what I have to offer in every choice I make, the more I can experience my own presence in the presence of another.
And with that, I discover myself.
And then the game begins. Carrying the space, seeing the other, receiving, offering, being seen, making suggestions, taking time, taking risks, being present. What about the insecurities of approach and touch? And what about my questions about the guilty one in this game of shared contact?
I didn’t think about them for a moment in that way.
‘The readable position’ is what came to me.
Worth a visit in Portugal or online at https://www.servivo.earth !
