Sensing Consent

Our senses begin as potential. They develop in response to experience. –Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

2 day workshop in Leavenworth, WA.
August 16 and 17, 2025

Registration ....

Sensing Consent

If we desire to dance with integrity and consent with a partner, we also need to be able to proprioceptively sense our own inner landscapes in order to differentiate ourself from the "other." Abundant creative potential develops in our dance as our touch perception becomes more refined. Touch refinement is an expansive portal into our own dancing landscape and it supports the creation of a shared dance with others.

Negotiating consent through touch in every mo(ve)ment is one of the most important skills of dancing Contact Improvisation. It is the skill that encases every other skill. Consent cannot be achieved by rules, it can only be experienced in an interplay of movement and touch – to sense what your partner is expressing and how your body responds. Tissues, cells, hearts, brains all have cellular intelligence and it can be felt where they want to be in space.

The relationship between touch and movement are primal. Touch and Movement are keystones of life. They are the earliest senses to appear in the womb and help set the foundation for the development of other senses. Touch is emphasized in the skin. Movement is emphasized in the proprioceptive and kinesthetic receptors in the joints, ligaments, muscles, tendons, organs, and the vestibular system. Movement and touch develop simultaneously. Through this interplay we have better chances to accurately reflect on what is actually happening in the moment.

We will allow our skin and joints to teach us about their fluid interactions in simple and more complex situations like weight sharing, lifts, falls and moving as an ensemble. We'll explore touch as a foundation for dancing solo, in duets, trios and in an ensemble. I intend this workshop to be a collaborative learning environment and space for personal research, LOTS of PLAY, writing, discussion and feeling the beauty of an emerging dance.