Sensation and space.

Sensation comes first

Speed looks like dancing, so beginners often rush toward it. Before speed there is sensation: pressure, warmth, the texture of a sleeve, the tilt of a partner's ribs. Dancing from sensation means you let those details decide what happens next.

Martin Keogh ran regular focus jams in Boston in the early 2000s and posted the closing-circle notes, including a jam on the step from sensation into momentum. We suggest you test the idea yourself. Dance one slow minute where speed is only allowed to appear if the contact asks for it, then one minute where you start fast, and compare how much control you felt.

Try this: slow hands

Work with a partner and agree where the contact is, for example a palm on a forearm. One of you moves their arm slowly and the other keeps contact. Stay with these questions for a few minutes. Where does the skin shift? Where is the warmth? Where does the pressure travel?

Do not speed up until you can describe what you feel. When the contact itself asks for more speed, give it only as much as it asks. Then swap roles.

A wide, soft gaze

Much of what keeps you safe in a room is peripheral awareness. Pick a spot in front of you and let your eyes go soft until you notice the edges of your vision. Wiggle your fingers out to the side and see how far back you can still catch the movement. Now walk across the room like that, with the whole space inside your attention.

The documentary Fall After Newton, which follows the form's first eleven years, describes the senses learning to work in every direction so that any point on the body can take part in a dance. Keogh quotes it on his page about spherical space. You do not need to understand it to try it. Soften your gaze and the room gets bigger.

The back of the room

The area behind you is the biggest blind spot, and it is where most beginners collide. Keogh opened one of his Boston focus jams on the back space with a line worth keeping: "We don't have blind spots, only places we are not willing to look". The invitation is to look and to feel there on purpose.

Try this: the over-the-shoulder spiral

1. Stand with your knees soft. Look over your left shoulder and let that look pull your head, ribs, hips and feet around until you face the way you were not facing.
2. Do it again to the right. Keep it slow, and keep your feet under you.
3. Add a partner behind you, with a hand on your back. They say "I'm here" so you know where they are. Spiral toward them slowly and notice how much of the room your back can feel.

Moving backwards safely at a jam

Warm up before you try it, because dancing into the back space with cold muscles is where twists happen. After that, three habits keep you and the people around you out of trouble.

• Look first. Turn your head over your shoulder before your body follows.
• Go slowly. A backwards step at walking pace is plenty.
• Keep a feeler. Leave the back of a hand, a forearm or a shoulder blade extended and soft, so you touch a wall or a person gently before you meet them.

If you do bump someone, stop, check in and thank them for the information. The first jam walkthrough covers what the room expects, and chapter 5 covers what to do when a collision shakes you.