contact festival kuala lumpur

June 22-28, 2015

Underscore Practice

On June 18–19, an Underscore practice will be facilitated to familiarize participants with Nancy Stark Smith's Underscore. The practice culminates in a modified Underscore to coincide with the Global Underscore, which is scheduled to happen on June 19 from 22:00 to 02:00 (UTC+08:00).

Drawing by Yeong
About 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 improvisation 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 generally without speaking until the "Thanksgiving" time of sharing reflections of individual experience.

Photo by Dorothy Pang
About the Global Underscore

The Global Underscore is a simultaneous practice of the Underscore around the world. The Global Underscore practice is a slightly modified Underscore. A special "small dance" stand happens during the "Skinesphere" phase, in which each site faces the next site on the path of Underscores happening around the world. A closing small dance stand, facing the other direction, concludes the Global Underscore.