Touching the (Not) Touching:  

Three research projects that apply Contact Improvisation in settings that range from socio-political and pedagogical to cognitive science: They show how systematic-reflexive approaches advance the understanding of CI principles and the contributions it can make to interaction theory (regarding topics like autonomy, collaboration, and participatory sense making) and its wider socio-political import. Facilitated by Kevin O’Connor.

Defne Erdur’s PhD research focused on psycho-social and socio-political implications of implementation of CI in Turkey where body, touch and sexuality are still taboo; gender inequality, power relations in daily life are problematic and personal boundaries are frequently violated. In the light of “metaphors for life” arising from CI, she reflects on the changes amateur dancers went through in relation to concepts that framed her research.

Cognitive scientist Michael Kimmel investigates expert CI duets in very thin slices of interaction - often shorter than a second – describing in detail which perception skill, micro-actions, and body habits contribute to success, and how they are interwoven. This analysis also shows how complex coupled movements need not emerge from somebody’s inner design, showcasing a new, interactive approach to creativity"

Eryn Rosenthal, whose work investigates the connections between CI and democratic activism in South Africa, Spain and the US, will share some of her current research applying CI to diversity and inclusion initiatives at the University of Michigan. How can the body be a laboratory for examining dialogue-building, choice-making, roles and habits? 

Biographies:

Defne Erdur

is trained in Contemporary Dance (PhD), Sociology (MA), Intermodel Art Therapy, Body Therapies, Meditation, and Trauma Healing (SEP). She has been regularly teaching and researching at ImPulsTanz, MSGSU Istanbul State Conservatory, ElimSende, ÇATI Contemporary Dance Artists Association, and CI-Turkey as well as supporting WINPeace and Beyond Borders initiatives. Invested in building safe, inclusive, and collaborative creative environments she performs and offers workshops (Hunting Gathering Cultivating, Every Body Knows, Mind the Body, and Embodying Time) around the world. Defne is the co-founder of IDOCDE and editor of idocde.net. 

Michael Kimmel

is a Vienna-based cognitive scientist specializing in the topics of embodied skills, joint embodied action, joint creativity, and methods for tapping into expert knowledge.

Eryn Rosenthal

examines the democratic underpinnings of Contact Improvisation, and the role of the body in transgressing previously legislated boundaries as a choreographer. Her dance theater performance on youth activism, Freedom Suite: Transaction Being Processed, based on ongoing oral history research with anti-Apartheid activists from South Africa, will be touring to several festivals in 2017-18. Eryn is currently the Artist-in-Residence for Dialogue-Building, Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives at the University of Michigan.  www.erynrosenthal.com

Kevin O'Connor from Ontario Canada is currently finishing his PhD in performance studies at UC Davis, California. He is an artist working as a choreographer, dancer, improviser, circus and installation artist, axis syllabus teacher and biodynamic cranial sacral practitioner. Recently he worked with NAKA dance and the artists of Skywatchers exploring the intersection of race and gentrification in San Francisco and is currently working with the feminist art collective oncogrrrls in Spain.  His research explores emerging anatomies, body performance capacities and imaginations, decolonizing practices, and community-based performance activism.