A Birthday Card for Contact Improvisation
Dear C.I.,Here's a list of 25 gifts you've given me:
Thank you for:
- a network of companions all over the world
- for resisting definition, codification and doctrine
- for not making us dress up
- for the desire and discipline of the practitioners to bring language to this dance form
- for not being trendy
- for a strong and supple body
- for many good C.I. performances, and some bad ones
- for the adrenelinnnnnnnnne
Thank you for:
- the generosity of the people who teach this form
- for not having to learn any steps
- for the challenge of dancing with people of all different abilities, including those in wheelchairs and the blind
- for being fertile ground for metaphor
- for being a dance inclusive of regional, temporal and personal variations
- for the friends, colleagues and lovers
- for deepening our capacity for pleasure
- for always being an incomplete form- so people can complete it with themselves
Thank you for:
- the range of touching and being touched
- for the reverence dancing with men and the rapture dancing with women
- for not having certifications, belts, diplomas, ranks, and hazing initiations
- for the laughter
- for getting to be around (and around) such wonderful bodies
- for being my living, my support, my lively-hood
- for often inspiring humility by how inclusive and magnanimous you are
- for being such a spontaneous yet consistent partner
- for keeping me so close to the worlds of paradox and mystery
Happy 25th Birthday C.I. I love you,