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Many times we have witnessed or even taken part on a certain kind of conversation in which two people are talking, but none of them is listening to the other. But we have also witnessed some conversations in which nobody says a word and all those involved know exactly what is going on. What would be the foundation for true communication? The body. Yes, you already noticed that it is hard to lie with the body. Maybe that is why we try, in vain, to disguise it with clothes, perfume, make-up, accessories, tattoos, plastic surgery, etc. But the body speaks. Like a silent voice that says everything without a word. In an attempt to communicate with one another, a need imposes itself, assuming responsibility for the space there is between my body and someone else’s. Somehow, it is the presence or lack of this personal space that determines whether our communication is a source of inspiration or intimidation. In this text I propose to explore how experience with dance can translate some communication lessons the body teaches us daily. For that, I will use the activities of a dance and improvisation course and workshop in the beginning of February. The activities were organized by Ana Maria Alonso Krischke, with the support of teachers Sandra Meyer and Marisa Naspolini, from CEART/UDESC.

Does our body move like our mind does? Are the qualities of any movement manifestations of how the mind is expressed by the moving body? The changes in the quality of movement indicate that the mind changed the focus on the body, or would it be the other way around: when we direct the mind or the attention towards some part of the body and we start the movement from those areas, do we change the quality of our movement? Would movement be a way to observe the expression of the mind through the body and can that also be a way to produce changes in the mind-body relationship? These questions can be explored by anyone interested in learning about the human body’s systems in both an experiential and cognitive way and maybe that is what lead a group of people to attend the summer courses that took place in CEART at UDESC, both conducted by German teachers Heike Kuhlmann and Ingo Rozenkranz.

The introduction to Body-Mind Centering – BMC by contact improvisation allows the deep exploration of the body through dance. It opens new perspectives for dancers to develop their technical and creative work. That was the proposal of a five day course taught by Heike Kuhlmann, who has been teaching dance and movement for the last twelve years, besides creating performances for adults and children in Berlin. Graduated in Physical Education, Heike has a master’s degree in choreography from Leeds University, where she also improved her training in Body-Mind Centering and Authentic Movement with Linda Hartley. This training enhanced her dance, driving her interest to the interior expression of the body.
Knowing the skeleton, the muscles, the skin, the internal organs, the breathing, the voice; the senses and the dynamic of perception and the development of movement, both ontogenetic and phylogenetic and the art of touching and being responsive is the foundation of BMC. Although each one of these systems of the human body presents their own contributions to the body-mind movement separately, together they allow a complete network of support, expression and sustenance. BMC is based on approximately thirty years of experience of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen and her collaborators and has been applied by people from different areas, like dance, athletics, body work, physical education, speech, movement and occupational therapy, psychotherapy, child development, education, visual and musical arts, yoga, martial arts, meditation and other disciplines involving body-mind. The development of movement in the Body-Mind Centering is presented as a non-linear process that takes place through juxtaposed waves.

We are born to be chosen, we live to choose, Mia Couto writes. Contemporary dance with its proposals, such as those proposed in this course offered by Heike, makes us think about choices. The act of choosing is often more important that the chosen object. When we don´t choose, life chooses for us and we can become victims of the circumstances. However, choosing is a decision that must be made carefully, but precisely in a time of delicacy. In the dynamics of perception we learn that it is through our senses that we receive information from our internal and external environment. How we filter, modify, distort, accept and reject this information is part of perceiving. Touching and moving are the first action in our development. They establish the baseline for future perception through smell, taste, hearing and vision. Through the exploration of the perceptive process, we can expand our choices to respond ourselves, others and the world we live in. Our breathing is influenced by our physiological and psychological state and by external elements in our environment. The way we breathe also influences our behavior and physical operation. Regarding our voice, through its expressive qualities, it communicates who we are to the world outside. Our voice reflects the functioning of all of our body’s systems and the integration process of our development. When we touch someone, we are equally touched. That is an exploration of communication through touch – the transmission and acceptance of the energy flow within ourselves and between ourselves and others.
The workshop offered by Ingo Rozenkranz sought to develop a body work aimed at guiding us to the core of our body. Ingo is an improvisation and meditation instructor. Physical theater, dance, theater and contemporary dance were part if his studies at the Sports Department of the Cologne University, in Germany. Besides his interest in Eastern philosophies like Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Aikido, along with Body-Mind Centering and Authentic Movement. He also collaborates in the organization of the Eastimprofestival and the Healingheartfestival and acts as teacher in many improvisation and dance festivals in Europe, Israel, Russia, USA and Japan.

The workshop he taught was called Sensitive Bodies and lasted for two days. Throughout the activities, Ingo intended for us participants to learn to observe and read ourselves and the others. We should explore the interactions and possibilities of this hearing. We had to go back to what is small and possible as being necessary to perceive our needs, to seek pleasure in movement, opening space so all could exist. Enjoying moments of meditation and healing integrated to the principles from different approaches of Contact Improvisation and dance. When we move our body and have knowledge of how this happens, we are about to help ourselves and to give ourselves to movement, so that we are more present, both in dance and in the encounter with others.

Contact Improvisation as dance proposal was created by Steve Paxton and is defined as a creative process that takes place when two or more people move with mutual support and play with the shift of collective balance. It is influenced by modern dance techniques and elements of acrobatics and has its own characteristic movement principles. Since it is intended for the relationship between skeleton, muscles and reflexes, such proposal is also attentive to the interaction between perceptive body and the body-mind organism. Through direct experience and perception of dance it is possible to learn new paths that put us in touch with ourselves and our environment. The main point of this system is simply the pleasure of moving and using our body. It is the pleasure of dancing with someone in an unplanned and spontaneous way, in which each person is free to invent, without disturbing the other. In short, the movement qualities highlighted by contact improvisation are the generation of movement through mutable contact points between the bodies; sensitivity through the skin; rolling with the body, focusing on a segment of the body and moving in different directions simultaneously; experimenting movement using the internal space; using the space in 360 degrees; acting on impulse, emphasizing fluency and weight. During a presentation there is a tacit inclusion of the audience accompanied by a conscious informality, shaped after a practice or jam session; the dancer is only one person among others and he lets dance happen by itself; in this context, everyone is equally important.

These experiences allow the presentation of the body as foundation for a responsible communication. Accordingly, my responsibility towards others is the fundamental structure upon which all other social structures are welcome. Dance as translation of bodily communication is not exempt from ethics. We always dance with the other or for the other, we never dance alone. Dance is not a solitary activity, by a solitary movement. It is worth stressing that dance is an attempt to become one with the other. The space of dance as collective structure harbors the idea of welcoming and hospitality. Improvising in contact is creating an experimental dance. In this case, Hélio Oiticica’s notion of experimentation asserts itself: “… the word ‘experimental’ is appropriate, it should not be understood as a description of an act to be judged later in terms of success or failure, but as an act whose result is unknown. What was determined?” Not knowing makes us open up to the possibilities of the aesthetic or perceptive dimension that allow a rupture with habit. We suppose the dance experience that welcomes someone else is a revelation of an unusual way of being in the world. In the dancing body, we search for a free, honest and affectionate communication with the world around us.

Ida Mara Freire is a professor at the Education Science Center of UFSC – Federal University of Santa Catarina and is the author of the blog Escrita da Dança