Embedded Files
"I've just woken up and now I have to worry about touching someone/choosing someone to dance with/worrying that people won't want to dance with me is a me issue but also a contact thing right? they are intertwined."
"Contact, at least how I've encountered it thus far, is rooted in whiteness and the idea that trust and touch are inherent, instinctual qualities. I cannot trust when my experience is constantly invalidated and I cannot touch when my body is abused and ignored in the very space that my white counterparts are nurtured. My voice and body are only listened to, and if not that, only perceived when I am on stage.
Why would you try to take that away?"
"necessarily investigating whiteness through presence"
"BLIND TRUST
giving away your body to other people with no discussion beforehand and assuming all people in the space have good intentions ->
not discussing consent can be hard"
"Sitting with difficult feelings."
"getting out of my head, letting of an idea of 'good' + 'bad' dancing.
giving my weight to others. trusting others to carry me."
"the performance aspect assumed in dance, letting go of that."
"I worry about not being good enough. In dance I have never felt like I'm good enough. I worry that when people end up with me as a partner that they're disappointed."
"Letting go of perfection and performance. Letting go of the head and the body."
"Supporting people without always knowing how you can support them."
"finding the ability to let go of my performative relationship with dance. giving in and accepting 'mistakes' and embracing them as a continuation of my movement rather than a flaw that must be fixed.
[arrow to a rip in the paper] this little rip in the paper and the curmples make me think of the moments of falling while I dance contact."
"trusting time
trusting yourself
trusting your body
being here and now is terrifying."
"letting go of being 'good.'"
"intergenerational dances."
"giving up control"
"Communicating effectively with your partner."
"The danger of letting me push myself too far."
"Letting go of your feelings while simultaneously using them to aid your dance!"
"living up to my own expectations."
"not being afraid of fear."
"Every time I get caught up in thinking and stop paying attention it's dangerous. I'm so afraid someone will end up getting hurt."
"Feeling isolated in the wanting so much to connect."
"I am scared of being too heavy for my partner."
"THE EXPECTATION OF AVAILABILITY even in instances of retraumatization... the expectation to wrestle w/ bodily trauma at any given moment... the pressure to not remove yourself from the dance."
"Being present"
"letting go of expectations & starting fresh every dance"
"The opportunity to co-create spontaneously. The opportunity to feel more."
"Using negative and positive emotions to carry your dance!"
"Freedom from expectation. from the need to achieve or accomplish something. from the weight of living for others.
The Space Where I Can Dance for MYSELF and share in an open and accepting community free of STRESS!"
"The fact that in almost every therapy session I've had this fall, my therapist will talk about something and I'll go 'Oh, that's like this thing we do in contact improv!"
"I get to touch + be touched in community"
"LEARNING TO FOLLOW THE BODY"
"INTIMACY
(emotional, spiritual, physical)
-> close connection to a community"
"unique connection"
"play"
"LISTENING"
"The ability to explore any/all opportunities and there are no expectations!"
"The ability to sink into the space between each other."
"finding fun in failure"
"discovery of Potential"
"Gender Euphoria"
"I have to do things that scare me because they also make me feel better after a while."
"MOMENTS OF FALLING FOLLOWED BY LAUGHTER"
"Learning the limits and the potential of my body and all the potential of movement I hold."
"As a form it challenges a lot of conceptions of dance [unintelligible] As well as performance. It allows me to challenge conceptions of myself as a dancer and a person."
"Coming out of a class with a sense of connectiveness, belonging, and energy."
"Being so intimate with someone! everyone <3
also feeling Strong as Shit when I lift people."
[drawing of biceps, labeled "me feeling strong"]
"The Love of Falling"
"Intergenerational dancing. kids, students, grannies, middle [unintelligible]"
"acceptance"
"The guarantee of support in one form or another."
"OOEY-GOOEY HEALING"
"The love and community contact gives me <3
There is so much love in all our hearts that we share through dance. Thank you all for sharing your love with me."
"I can be close with strangers, and we are similar in all of our differences and we can find common ground and we won't be strangers for long."
"Learning the limits and the potential of my body and all the potential of movement I hold"
"Contact remind me that I am strong."
Page updated
Report abuse