FIVE THINGS TO PRACTISE ON YOUR OWN BETWEEN JAMS

Contact Improvisation is a partner form, so it is easy to assume you can only practise it with a partner. In fact most of the skills that make a duet feel easy, the soft landings, the rolling spine, the trust in the floor, are solo skills. A few minutes a day on your own makes a noticeable difference by the next jam. None of these need more than a clear patch of floor.

1. Rolling on the floor

Lie down and roll slowly across the room, letting each part of your back meet the floor in turn. Do not push with your arms; let your head, then your shoulders, then your hips lead the turn. The goal is to feel the floor as something that receives you rather than something you bump into. It is the same quality you want when a partner receives your weight.

2. Going down and coming up

From standing, lower yourself to the floor as smoothly as you can, then come back up, without using your hands as props. Try spiralling: folding at the knees and hips and turning as you go, so you arrive on the side of a hip rather than on your knees. Repeat it ten times, slower each time. This is the solo version of moving through levels, and it is how you learn to fall without stopping.

3. The small dance

Stand still for two minutes and notice the constant small adjustments that keep you upright. It trains the sensitivity you use to feel a partner's weight. There is a longer description in the small dance.

4. A wall as a partner

Lean your back, then your side, then your shoulder against a wall and practise giving it real weight, enough that you would have to move if it disappeared. Then roll your point of contact along it, from shoulder blade to hip, without losing the connection. A wall is a very patient partner, and it is honest: you can feel straight away whether you are really giving weight or just leaning.

5. Rolling the spine

Standing, let your head drop forward and roll down through your spine, one vertebra at a time, until you are hanging forward with soft knees. Then roll back up the same way. Lifts and weight-sharing ask the spine to curve and support at the same time, and this keeps it supple and familiar. Do it slowly and breathe out on the way down.

If any of these feels strange, that is normal; most of them feel strange the first week. More practice ideas are on keep practising, the mechanics behind them are in weight-sharing, explained, and the place to try them with other people is the Friday jam.