Contact Improvisation – Creative & dance journal

Sea ice and mass flow

I travelled overnight from Stockholm to Helsinki on February 5 across the Baltic sea by ship to the Skiing on Skin 2026 dance festival. This year is much colder than last year, and the sea ice is more extensive. This mass flow of ice on sea, makes me think of movement and dance. Here’s photographs and thoughts.

Dance & Movement Research 2024: dance and poetry workshop

The poet Francis Boua join me, dancer Jo Dyer and photographer Hugh Pryor at the Old Fire Station dance studio in Oxford on Friday 19 January 2024 for a dance and poetry workshop. Here’s a film clip from it. And yes, it took me more than a year to obtain the permissions for the use of the film so I might create this post!

Sketches from Skiing On Skin 2025 (Contact Improvisation Festival Finland)

I attended a week long dance festival called Skiing On Skin 2025 (Contact Improvisation Festival Finland) at the Vierumäki sports institute near Helsinki in February 2025. For one of the workshops, I draw sketches which are presented here.

Residuals #1: artefact

The Residuals #1 performance on 16 January produced many photographs of the charcoal/carbon drawing – both as an artefact/ installation, or as marks on a surface. Here is a gallery of images about Residuals #1 as artefact.

Residuals #1: surface

The Residuals #1 performance on 16 January produced many opportunities for photography, particularly of the charcoal/carbon drawing – both as an artefact/ installation or as marks on a surface. Here is a gallery of images about Residuals #1 surface.

Residuals #1: drawings

Beside the dance and movement making of the Residuals #1 performance, it created a large charcoal drawing about 3 metres by 1.5 metres in size. There were also numerous photographs made by my co-creator John Hazel and me of its surface during and after the performance.

Residuals #1: performance

I dived into the surface of the paper. Beneath me, carbon residuals (charcoal) assisted my passage as I slide across the white paper, parting the material and marking the paper. John Hazel who was co-creating the charcoal drawing with me, followed by stepping and drawing with his shod foot. The dance studio at the Old Fire Station, Oxford was our performance venue for this ‘drawing-dance’ on Tuesday 16 January 2024.

Dance & Movement Research 2024 #dmr2024

Dance & Movement Research 2024, Monday 15 January to Friday 19 January at the Old Fire Station Arts Centre, Oxford is a week of exploration in dance and movement for creative artists and dance artists organised by Oxford Contact Dance.

Residuals: mark-making investigation

In December, I investigated surfaces and mark-making for the residuals project with Oxfordshire artists Hugh Pryor and John Hazel. Canvas, paper and various grades and sizes of carbon (charcoal) were investigated. We used hands, feet, broom and sponge to research mark marking.

Kinetic sculpture: Clock at Slower than Slow

In June, I attended a workshop entitled ‘Slower than Slow’ with Eva Karczag in Budapest, Hungary. On the second day, Wednesday 28 June we used our feet to contact each other in a sequential production. We created a kinetic sculpture with our moving bodies which I named Clock.