CWPS Faculty Lecture with Amy Chavasse: “Contact Improvisation at the edge of democracy: improvising new steps from south to north”

Amy Chavasse will discuss their nine-month collaborative project, supported by the Center for World Performance Studies, exploring the evolution of Contact Improvisation (CI) in Argentina – where it arose after the dictatorship’s end in 1985 – as a lens for examining democracy, resistance, and artmaking amid social upheaval. Through workshops, lectures, and community events in Buenos Aires with Argentinian CI leaders Marina Tampini and Cristina Turdo and U-M alum Sarah Konner, the team mapped the South-North dynamics of the dance’s history, using archival video and interviews to spark reflection on democracy, authoritarianism, and cultural exchange, while highlighting how CI has become a vibrant, activist art form deeply tied to Argentina’s sociopolitical context.

Free and open to the public.

FACULTY BIO:

Amy Chavasse