ABSTRACT

In 1986, dancer Steve Paxton began examining the spine he had observed in the practice of Contact Improvisation, a duet movement form he had instigated in 1972, in which the torsos of the dancers are especially interactive. In 2008, Contredanse Editions (Brussels) released the four hour DVD-ROM Material for the Spine: A Movement Study containing audiovisual essays, motion capture sequences, and extracts from lectures, classes, and performances that together present an extensive introduction to Paxton’s modes of working and thinking.