Everyday Touch
The more I work with touch and explore it, the more questions I have!
If you think about what physical contact you had over the last week… When do we touch other people? Who did you touch and what was the context?
Eg.
I gave my son a hug as he left for the day
I held the foot of a student to correct her position in a dance class
I brushed the hand of a parent in passing him a pen
Sometimes touch is intentional, some unintentional. Some moments of touch bring an intimate response, some we pass off as just part of a normal day. Touching others comes down to culture and context. It is a powerful experience and can be very intense.
More questions such as: Is the touch usual or unusual? Does it overstep boundaries or push the edges? Is it desired or rejected?
In itself the act of touch could be seen as an act of violation. Violation of the personal space of another being. I am entering their physical space and therefore their person. Touch is also pretty much unavoidable. If someone wants to touch another person, it takes a lot of effort to evade.
What is it about touch that is so powerful? I come back to thoughts on attachment. Touch is an act of connecting to another being. It stimulates and creates, engaging emotions. By touching someone, we are actively making a choice to bond with that person. At which level we connect can be different due to the situation or person, but all contact is an act of connection.
Attachment has special qualities in itself. It is like a magnet. As with touch we either accept it or reject it. There is very little in-between. Attachment has a space element, a distance to which we feel comfortable. So by touching we are breaching this distance. Maybe this is why touch is so powerful - it comes by closing the space causing an immediate acceptance or rejection response. For example: think of the person you embrace but as soon as the moment (or polite duty) is passed you are quite happy to separate. Or the hug you give and want to hold onto and keep as long as possible (until the magic wears off!).
How can I express this in dance? Well the ideas themselves lead to exploration of physical contact in a sensual, relationship, emotional way. Lots of dance gets lost in the mechanics or technique. What interests is the connection and through that, expression. Evoking emotional responses in humans to portray and express ideas that we all know so well.
If I abstract reality and engage the senses, I can create believable situations where touch is shown as well as experienced. My belief is it will lead to interesting moments of dance.
Touch as a theme brings so much to touch to think about conceptually. More to come…