Contemporary Documentation
Two definitions of Contemporary
Contemporary – adopting an ever-shifting set of values so as to elude any sort of qualitative criteria. Contemporary – adopting a differing set of values so as to problematize the normative set of qualitative criteria
Contemporary Contact Improvisation…or achieving the full potential
If, as some have stated contemporary dance is about the search for and exploration of potential, then contact improvisation in its nigh-omnipresent hetero-normative iterations is not contemporary as the hetero-normativity represents merely a third of the potential permutations of the duet based on biological sex.
Extending this thought to the duet in relation to number, the normativity of the duet in relation to the physical practice of the form is also a limitation of potential. A dancer of CI, in order to make use of the full potential of the form, should be able to dance with anyone in the place of practice and not be limited to one person.
In order to achieve the full potential of the form, and thus bring CI into back into contemporality, practitioners of the form must move beyond the hegemony of the hetero-normative duet.