23/08/2025
In memoriam of Curtis!
Stephanie Maher and Kathleen Hermsdorf (pictured above), along with Jess Curtis, Sara Shelton Mann, Frederike Plafki, Peter Pleyer, Karen Schaffman, and Meg Stuart, gathered at a panel discussion at Tanzfabrik in Berlin in 2007. Learn more in “Contact Improvisation and its Influence on Contemporary Dance Practice” from CQ Vol. 33 No. 2 (Summer/Fall 2008): https://contactquarterly.com/cq/vol-33-no-2
“As Steph’s story illustrated, there is for me a practice in my emotional body or in my chemical
body that’s related to my physics body. A practice of being present with each of those modes and being able to move from territory to territory with more facility. Engaging those chemicals in a rehearsal studio is part of what is consequential and meaningful about performance. When I’m on stage, there is something in that elevated state— Steve Paxton talks in the video Fall After Newton about being adrenalized. I find adrenaline to be pretty sexy, and I find that the tools for being able to negotiate the engagement of those hormonal shifts come out of the practice of Cl as well. The practice of being able to pass that to an audience and bringing it back from the audience is very much rooted in my Contact practice…” –Jess Curtis
Image Description: Stephanie Maher [left] and Kathleen Hermesdorf [right] reach their arms for each other, blurred in motion, dancing in Schwebezustand, Ponderosa Festival 2006. Text over the photo reads “still moving.” Image is in black and white. Photo by Saliq Francis Savage.