Habit and Presence—Episode 8, August

Welcome to our eighth episode of Points of Contact, the podcast where we delve into Contact Improvisation with Carolyn Stuart. Each month she shares her experiences, philosophy, and teachings on this unique dance form. This episode focuses on habit and presence in Contact Improvisation. Leave us a comment. We are curious about what you enjoyed or found relevant in this episode. We welcome feedback, reflections, constructive criticism. You are welcome to leave a voice memo or written comment, your choice. A devotee of Contact Improvisation since 1984, Carolyn’s research and development of the dance form spans 17 countries, hundreds of projects, and diverse populations. Her primary teachers have been commitment to the process of exploration and the use of the blindfold. Her mission is to make contact improvising accessible by distilling the vastness of possibility into the simplest of terms. The current edge of her investigation is applying the principles of the C.I. paradigm to life at large. If mutual well-being is possible on the dance floor, then what about off the dance floor too—for the generations to come!  Writings by Carolyn Stuart can be found at: ⁠www.contactgames.wordpress.com⁠ Your host, Eric Nordstrom is a dance performer, filmmaker, and teacher living in Portland, Oregon. He teaches in the Dance Program at Lewis and Clark College and has taught at contact festival Freiburg in Germany, the Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation, and Conduit Dance. He has performed with Karen Nelson, Keith V. Goodman, and was a core company member of Oslund + Company. To help preserve Portland dance history, Eric created a documentary film Moving History: Portland Contemporary Dance Past and Present. To centralize and preserve dance history source material, Eric has partnered with Portland State University to create the Portland Dance Archives. He studied with filmmaker Mitchell Rose and choreographer Bebe Miller at The Ohio State University, where he earned his MFA in Dance. For more information about Eric Nordstrom: ⁠www.eric-nordstrom.com⁠Photo by Gregory Bartning