Contact Improvisation

The Underscore

Nancy Stark Smith began developing the Underscore in the early nineties. The score observes states that occur in the practice of Contact Improvisation and improvisational dance practices and follows the stages of arrival, development, and resolution that naturally tend to occur at Contact Improv Jams as well as other improvisational contexts, hence the name suggests the underpinnings of our practice. After the initial "Pow-wow" of verbal check-ins, the score is done without speaking until the "Thanksgiving" time of sharing reflections of individual experience.

A Global Underscore was initiated about five or six years ago and has been practiced annually on the summer solstice. In this structure CI groups from all over the world meet to hold simultaneous Underscore practices - connecting our explorative research and our growing community.

Below you'll find the linear timetable of the Underscore with the titles and symbols which Nancy has created to describe each stage. The research continues with each practice, and so these symbols reflect an ongoing imperfect representation which has many more subtleties and variations that can be found in the doing.

Click on each picture for an in-depth description of that stage.
(currently under construction)