Contemplative Dance Practice (CDP)
This practice was developed by Barbara Dilley, who was one of the members of the dance ensemble The Grand Union with Steve Paxton, the founder of Contact Improvisation.
About the practice:
The Contemplative Dance Practice is space for those who wish to explore their bodies regardless of dance experience. The structure is broken up into three 20 min practices.
1. We first meditate together in a circle for 20 minutes.
2. Then we start moving together, just enough so our attention is still inward, exploring the sensations of movement.
3. The last phase is when we open up our awareness to the space and start to move with each other, gathering information through observing and sensing.
“The underlying motivation was to let each person find their own connection between the stillness of sitting, posture, and movement to study what happens to your body-mind as you come out into the open....‘What is that membrane or atmosphere between you and other?’”
Barbara Dilley