Contact improvisation isn’t just dance without choreography, it’s life — a microcosm illuminating a way to be in the world. “Who you are as a person is who you are as an improviser,” says Nancy Stark ...

Developed in the 1970s, contact — as it’s affectionately called by aficionados — shares characteristics with martial arts, yoga and even ballroom dance. But unlike the latter, there’s no set leader or ...

Oberlin College will welcome 270 dancers from around the world and host hundreds of practitioners of contact improvisation during a five-day festival from July 7-11. Critical Mass: CI@50 celebrates 50 ...

She helped develop and popularize a dance form that is both artful and athletic, focusing on touch, gravity and weight sharing. By Gia Kourlas Nancy Stark Smith didn’t care much for dance as a child ...