moving touch – Understanding the Realm of Interpersonal Touch in Community Dance / Annabell Duft (2024)

Moving touch by Annabell Duft is an inquiry into the realm of interpersonal touch in dance, focusing on pedagogical aspects of teaching touch to build an informed approach to introducing touch in community dance settings. The process includes researching people’s diverse touch experiences in community dance contexts, considering benefits and issues to using touch, unravelling different pedagogical aspects and practices of introducing and using touch in dance and unpicking the findings aiming to inform both others’ and my own touch practice. The methodology includes a review of existing literature, observations of Contact Improvisation (CI) classes, a questionnaire aimed at the general population regarding their touch experiences (post Covid), and expert and dancer interviews with community dance and CI practitioners and participants. Triangulating the data non-hierarchically, the researcher aims to build a spectrum of people’s touch experience informing the pedagogy of dance touch. The project culminates in a written document including a detailed lesson plan and approach. Keywords: touch; pedagogy; community dance; community-based participatory research