Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-fv566 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T19:36:26.791Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Radically Unfinished Dance

Contact Improvisation in a Time of Social Distance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2021

Danielle Goldman
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Nancy Stark Smith passed away due to ovarian cancer on 1 May 2020. Her dedication to contact improvisation for nearly half a century—as a dancer, teacher, writer, and editor—contributed to its development and will continue to inform its ongoing vitality. But much remains uncertain for the future of contact improvisation. Complicated by the challenges of Covid-19, what sort of bodies will result from the practice going forward, and how might the form itself change?

Type
Article
Information
TDR , Volume 65 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 62 - 78
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press for Tisch School of the Arts/NYU

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

brooks, mayfield. 2016. “IWB = Improvising While Black: writings, INterventions, interruptions, questions, (with Interview by Karen Nelson, for CQ).” Contact Quarterly 41, 1:33–39.Google Scholar
brooks, mayfield. 2020a. “Improvising While Black (IWB).” Accessed 5 October 2020. https://www.improvisingwhileblack.com/about.Google Scholar
brooks, mayfield. 2020b. Email message to author, 28 October.Google Scholar
Browning, Barbara. 1998. Infectious Rhythm: Metaphors of Contagion and the Spread of African Culture. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Danspace Project. 2020. “Decolonizing Somatic Care Practice for the Body in Protest with día bùi and Orlando Zane Hunter Jr.” Dancespaceproject.org, 10 July. Accessed 10 August 2020. https://danspaceproject.org/2020/06/23/decolonizing-somatic-care-practices/.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Di Liscia, Valentina. 2020. “Cultural Institutions Heed Calls to #OpenYourLobby to Black Lives Matter Protesters.” Hyperallergic, 5 June. Accessed 3 August 2020. https://hyperallergic.com/568977/cultural-institutions-open-lobby-to-protesters/.Google Scholar
Foster, Susan Leigh. 2003. “Choreographies of Protest.” Theatre Journal 55, 3:395–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gere, David. 2004. How to Make Dances in an Epidemic: Tracking Choreography in the Age of AIDS. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Gessen, Masha. 2020. “What Lessons Does the AIDS Crisis Offer for the Coronavirus Pandemic?” The New Yorker, 8 April. Accessed 2 August 2020. www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-lessons-does-the-aids-crisis-offer-for-the-coronavirus-pandemic.Google Scholar
Goldman, Danielle. 2019. “Protest A Love Song as a Form of.” In The Routledge Companion to Dance Studies, eds. Thomas, Helen and Prickett, Stacey, 247–58. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutierrez, Miguel (@aboylikethat). 2020. “OPEN LETTER TO PERFORMING ARTS ORGANIZATIONS.” Instagram post, 21 March. www.instagram.com/p/B-AKNSKlrvV/.Google Scholar
Hennessy, Keith. 2016. “Ambivalent Norms, Radical Potential: Contact Improvisation Re-considered.” PhD diss., University of California, Davis.Google Scholar
Homans, Jennifer. 2020. “Choreography Under Lockdown.” The New Yorker, 15 June. Accessed 30 July 2020. www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/22/choreography-under-lockdown.Google Scholar
Houston-Jones, Ishmael. 2016. “Curator’s Statement.” In Lost & Found: Dance, New York, HIV/AIDS, Then and Now. Ed. Houston, Ishmael-Jones, Rawls, Will, and Coan, Jaime Shearn. New York: Danspace Project. Accessed 3 August 2020. https://danspaceproject.org/catalogues/lost-and-found/.Google Scholar
Houston-Jones, Ishmael, and DeFrantz, Thomas F.. 2016. “The Herb Alpert Award in the Arts.” Accessed 7 October 2020. https://herbalpertawards.org/artist/chapter-two-6.Google Scholar
Koteen, David, and Smith, Nancy Stark. 2008. Caught Falling: The Confluence of Contact Improvisation, Nancy Stark Smith, and Other Moving Ideas. Northampton, MA: Contact Quarterly.Google Scholar
Kourlas, Gia. 2020. “Ailey Dancers, Separate but Together in a Bit of ‘Revelations.’ ” New York Times, 19 March. Accessed 3 August 2020. www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/arts/dance/ailey-dancers-buked-video-coronavirus.html.Google Scholar
Lepecki, André. 2006. Exhausting Dance: Performance and the Politics of Movement. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lepecki, André. 2013. “From Partaking to Initiating: Leadingfollowing as Dance’s (a-personal) Political Singularity.” In Dance, Politics & Co-Immunity: Current Perspectives on Politics and Communities in the Arts, vol. 1, ed. Hölscher, Stefan and Siegmund, Gerald, 21–38. Zurich: Diaphanes.Google Scholar
Manning, Erin. 2006. Politics of Touch: Sense, Movement, Sovereignty. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Mitra, Royona. 2018. “Talking Politics of Contact Improvisation with Steve Paxton.” Dance Research Journal 50, 3:6–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Novack, Cynthia J. 1990. Sharing the Dance: Contact Improvisation and American Culture. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Overlie, Mary, Jones, Bill T., and Paxton, Steve. 1984. “The Studies Project.” Contact Quarterly 9, 3:30–37.Google Scholar
Paxton, Steve. 2008. “Backwords.” In Caught Falling: The Confluence of Contact Improvisation, Nancy Stark Smith, and Other Moving Ideas, by Koteen, David and Smith, Nancy Stark, 86–89. Northampton, MA: Contact Quarterly.Google Scholar
Paxton, Steve, and Smith, Nancy Stark. 1987. Fall After Newton. Ed. Christiansen, Steve, Nelson, Lisa, Paxton, Steve, and Smith, Nancy Stark. Narration by Steve Paxton. East Charleston, VT: Videoda.Google Scholar
Paxton, Steve, and Smith, Nancy Stark. 1988. “Fall After Newton (Transcript).” Contact Quarterly 13, 3:38–39.Google Scholar
Paxton, Steve, and Smith, Nancy Stark. 2018. “The Politics of Mutuality: a conversation with Steve Paxton at the kitchen table with Nancy Stark Smith, for CQ.” Contact Quarterly 43, 1:36–38.Google Scholar
Perron, Wendy. 2020. The Grand Union: Accidental Anarchists of Downtown Dance, 1970–1976. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.Google Scholar
Schulman, Sarah. 2012. The Gentriflcation of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Simon, Mallory. 2020. “Over 1,000 health professionals sign a letter saying, Don’t shut down protests using coronavirus concerns as an excuse.” CNN, 5 June. Accessed 24 October 2020. www.cnn.com/2020/06/05/health/health-care-open-letter-protests-coronavirus-trnd/index.html.Google Scholar
Smith, Nancy Stark. 1984. “Dealing with the Heat.” Contact Quarterly 9, 3:3.Google Scholar
Smith, Nancy Stark. 1987. “Taking No For an Answer.” Contact Quarterly 12, 2:3.Google Scholar
Smith, Nancy Stark. 2008. “Nancy’s Introduction.” In Caught Falling: The Confluence of Contact Improvisation, Nancy Stark Smith, and Other Moving Ideas, by Koteen, David and Smith, Nancy Stark, ix–xv. Northampton, MA: Contact Quarterly.Google Scholar
Smith, Nancy Stark. 2019. “Notably not where you expect.” In Steve Paxton: Drafting Interior Techniques, ed. Bigé, Romain, 81–88. Lisbon: Culturgest.Google Scholar

Videography

Magnesium (1972). B&W Duration 9:30. Video: Steve Christiansen.Google Scholar
Chute (1979). B&W Duration 9:36. Edit of 1972 performances at the John Weber Gallery. Narration: Steve Paxton. Editing by Steve Christiansen, Lisa Nelson, and Steve Paxton.Google Scholar
Contact Improvisation Archive, 1972–1983 (2014). Color, B&W DVD. Duration 2:15:00. Videoda, Contact Colaborations.Google Scholar
Peripheral Vision (1975). B&W. Duration 21:05. Selections from a 1973 CI concert at Firehouse Theater in San Francisco, CA: “You Come, We’ll Show You What We Do.” Commentary: Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith, Steve Christiansen. Editing by Steve Christiansen, Steve Paxton, and Nancy Stark Smith.Google Scholar
Soft Pallet (1979). B&W. Duration 18:00. Selections from a 1973 CI concert in Rome at L’Attico Gallery. Editing by Steve Christiansen and Lisa NelsonGoogle Scholar
Fall After Newton (1987). B&W Duration 22:45. Narration: Steve Paxton. Editing by Steve Christiansen, Lisa Nelson, Steve Paxton, and Nancy Stark Smith.Google Scholar
Contact at 10th and 2nd (1983). Color. Duration 49:05. Document of the 11th anniversary of Contact Improvisation performance at St. Mark’s Church in NYC. Cameras: Lisa Nelson, Christina Svane, and Cathy Weis. Editing by Lisa Nelson.Google Scholar

TDReading

Goldman, Danielle. 2007. “Deborah Hay’s O, O.” TDR 51, 2 (T194):157–70. https://doi-org/10.1162/dram.2007.51.2.157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Novack, Cynthia J. 1988. “Contact Improvisation: A Photo Essay and Summary Movement Analysis.” TDR 32, 4 (T120):120–34. https://doi-org/10.2307/1145893.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paxton, Steve. 1975. “Contact Improvisation.” TDR 19, 1 (T65):40–42. https://doi-org/10.2307/1144967.Google Scholar
Turner, Robert. 2010. “Steve Paxton’s ‘Interior Techniques’: Contact Improvisation and Political Power.” TDR 54, 3 (T207):123–35. https://doi-org/10.1162/DRAM_a_00007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar