Reflection on Public Teach in

I decided to lead a contact improvisation workshop so that other people in the class could learn ways to physically connect not only with the ground but with each other as well. I collaborated with Marian and Abby and we combined our projects to become an acting/dancing exercise. We began with counting as a collective group. Then we did some group warm ups and trust exercises (i.e. leading people across the circle with their eyes closed).  This was then followed by another warm up aimed to connect people more with the ground. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough space or time to perform the entire warm up. We then moved on to some simple contact improvisation exercises when walking around a space--connection via eyes, hands, shoulders, and backs. At the end, we did group flying exercises (Celeste, Marian, and Caleb were our brave flyers) to do something really fun and cool with this connection we established with the ground and each other. We then performed the counting exercise one more time, which felt much faster and more in rhythm. I think this was a great contribution to the teach in because it offered everyone another way we can think about the world and our connection to it through trust and movement.