The Sound of Contact

A project broadcast live from Resonance Extra's studios on the 11th December 2022, exploring the aural dimensions of contact improvisation.. Listening through the skin, communicating through touch. What does listening through the skin sound like? What is the sound of contact improvisation?

Fifteen contact improvisation practitioners – accompanied by live sound works by Rastegah and Ania Mokrzycka (Pel Bonheur) – will be dancing on the carpeted wooden floor of the Resonance Extra studio in South London, with the guidance of contact improvisation teacher and choreographer, Rick Nodine.

Contact Improvisation is a structured but improvised partner dance based on communication through touch. It is often practised in duet form but, unlike other partner dances, it does not follow gendered norms of partnering. Dancers respond to one another’s touch and move in response to that touch, making instantaneous decisions about pace, direction and momentum, and honing their skill of listening: contact dancers listen not only with their ears, but also their skin.

Tune in to immerse yourself into the soundscape of bodies colliding, lifting and being lifted, rolling, sharing weight, and practising a non-violent form of corporeal autonomy and co-operation.

Curated by Queer Kittens and Chrys Papaioannou, in collaboration with Rick Nodine, Rastegah, Milo Thesiger-Meacham and Ania Mokrzycka (Pel Bonheur).