Thinking touch in partnering and contact improvisation : philosophy, pedagogy, practice / edited by Malaika Sarco-Thomas.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Sarco-Thomas, Malaika, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dance--Philosophy.

Dance.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 309 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Newcastle upon Tyne, England : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, [2020]

Summary:

What happens when artists take touch as a starting point for embodied research? This collection of essays offers unique insights into contact in dance, by considering the importance of touch in choreography, philosophy, scientific research, social dance, and education. The performing arts have benefitted from the growth of an ever-widening spectrum of tactile explorations since the advent of contact improvisation (CI) in 1972. Building on the research proposal CI offers, partnering forms such as tango, martial arts, and somatic therapies have helped shape the landscape of embodied practices in contemporary dance. Presenting a range of practitioner and scholarly perspectives relevant to undergraduate students and researchers alike, this volume considers the significance of touch in the development of 21st century pedagogy, art-making, and performance philosophy.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

List of Illustrations

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part I: Choreographies of Touch

Chapter One

The touch tour

Stealth access

Equal consideration, not equivalent experiences

Conclusion

References

Chapter Two

1. Introduction to Gaga immersive study, based on experiencing touch improvisation

1.1 Touch and tuning by touch

1.2 Touch in Gaga

1.3 Touch of Flesh

2. Partnering work in Gaga, (some empirical notes from Tel Aviv Summer Intensive Course 2016)

2.1 The politics of boundaries

2.2 The physicality of touch

2.3 Touch as empowerment

2.4 "Overwhelm yourself"

3. Flesh as empathy

3.1 Dramaturgy of touch in Gaga

3.2 Touch as expanding relations

3.3 Touch as knowing

4. Perspectives

Chapter Three

Scott Wells

Charlie Morrissey

Part II: Studies of Touch

Chapter Four

The body we live in

The body in our mind

The sense of touch

Researching touch: observe and measure subjective experiences

Objective measures

Research in practice

The experiment: "Random Body Workshop"

Workshop aims

Participants, procedure, and tasks

Observations

Discussion and outlook

Chapter Five

What is contact improvisation good for?

CI as movement therapy

The health sciences student journey

Improvisation in the medical humanities

Contact improvisation and the health humanities

Case study: CI for health care students at the University of Malta

Background

Method

Results

Limitations

Conclusions

Chapter Six

Touching

Developing a method

Teaching through invitation

Approach creations

Laboratory 1

Laboratory 2

Laboratory 3

Chapter Seven

Overview

Researching touch in tango.

Exploring touch between the inside and outside worlds

Touch as a medium of kinaesthetic contagion

Giving and receiving touch: a kinaesthetic exploration

Feeling into and being felt by another

The tango touch as a contagious experience

Part III: Pedagogies of Touch

Chapter Eight

Thinking of touch

Teaching contact improvisation

What about touch in "Essentials" from Contact Quarterly?

Touch in contact improvisation

Training the senses to dance contact improvisation

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Overarching pedagogical principles and methods

Touch in the practices that inspire "attunement"

A. Somatics: "touch as sensing"

B. Contact improvisation: "touch as dynamic exchange of forces"

C. Eastern European laboratory theatre: "narrative touch"

Frame 1: Touchings

Frame 2: Yes, No, Maybe, and other variations

A synthesis

Part IV: Philosophies of Touch

Chapter Eleven

Tactile thought in the 1940s

How honey says

Depth and the intimacy of distance

Flesh of the world

How the waxwood says

Practical exercise

Chapter Twelve

Touch and being connected to the world

Prosthetic devices and phantom limb phenomena

Alternative ways of looking at prosthetic devices and disabled bodies

The animal body: Lisa Bufano and Jos Kruit

Steve Paxton: performing animal, becoming animal

Contact improvisation, disability, and the animal body

Some final remarks

Chapter Thirteen

I: Conditions of Communication

II: Norms of communicating "well"

Chapter Fourteen

Warm-up score: touch before touching

Score: Pen and Paper

Touching touch: casting attention.

Score: Canvas and Paintbrush

Attuning to each other's attention: ensemble work

Attuning score: ensemble web building

Sending and receiving geometric communication

Communication score: sending and receiving geometric attention

Tactile attention

List of Contributors

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-5275-5936-X

OCLC:

1202461464