Phenomena of touch

<< When we are touching someone, we are touching their soul >>
Mary Whitehouse 

Two bodies in motion, one dialogue. A first touch. They are melting into each other, merging, getting one body. They are flying. They let each other fly. There is no gap, no interruption. Complete awareness, total sensitivity. Fluidity- like liquid, filling and surrounding the human body. Connecting the two of them to one entity. There seem to be pure naturalness regarding the dialogue, the dancers commit to, in Contact Improvisation. In a way the moving bodies are constantly looking for a shared identity in order to create movement. It’s a constant giving and receiving of touch and weight, measuring decisions and listening to each other in order to maintain the point of tact. Goethe would probably say “Hier bin ich Mensch, hier darf ich’s sein!“1. It’s the acceptance of another body, of each others movement and spontaneous decisions. Contact Improvisation is a form where the phenomenon of the in-between constantly happens on a physical and mental aspect, literally in contact with another body. 

The starting point of this research arises from the fascination of moving bodies caught on the endless search of new pathways and possibilities with one another. At the same time there is on a certain level a naturalness of trusting each other which is capturing and questionable: How can this trust relationship be provoked, used and stretched out? What would it unfold for the dancers and the audience? What is physical trust actually and what can touching each other mean in a society of constant transformation?

The focus of this research is on the two elements touch and weight, both imply a strong interdependency. The skin as a membrane to allow touch, which is our possibility to connect to the world around us. Weight, as a symbol for the self, the own body and the space and possibilities within this body.