Somatic Communication: Relational Intelligence in Contact Improvisation
Facilitated By: Nita Little
April 17th-20th, 2025
This workshop is a 3.5 day Contact Improvisation & Relational Intelligence meant for Intermediate and Advanced dancers, led by Nita Little. The format will include guided movement explorations, scores (sets of instructions for improvisational dancing), theoretical discussions, and individual feedback. Nita’s teaching style is highly interactive and emphasizes direct experience over conceptual analysis. She frequently uses playful language, metaphors, and anecdotes to make complex ideas accessible to participants.
Ideal for movers who are interested in exploring physical communication within tactile relations on spatial and flesh-based levels, this workshop will also dive into ensemble movement as a form of communicative engagement. Working from a baseline of care, we will explore the almost magical potentials of moving together within time practices that coordinate our unspoken agreements. These alignments can happen faster than conscious decision making. We will learn to hold ourselves “lightly”, move readily, fly and support one another by becoming more than a singular being. Always more than one, we will play within highly creative physical forms that require our fullest being of presence.
Participants can expect to explore and “lab” the dynamic interplay of weight, momentum, and spatial relationships as they move in contact with one another, and to gain an experiential vocabulary that informs many states of your embodied relations.
Steeped in somatic communication, this adventure into our movement life begins within ourselves, but moves outwardly, to where selfhood refuses to be stable, set and limiting. Instead, its instability is key to its creativity, the play that appears when our relational communication is fluid, Movement scores throughout the weekend will make this connection. In this workshop we will form and reform what we know as touch, exploring how this touch translates into the flow of movement. We increase the strength of our moving together with the human and the more than human worlds we also are. Creative, thoughtful, heart based, skill based, our learning will be anchored in the core principles of Contact Improvisation, such as: how to move weight like water – actions of cascading. The details of touching within weight exchange. The rising and hanging of the body – each mode significant to communication. How attention lives in the very small. Extending to form surfaces that arc. Learning to trust the physicality of our extended intelligence. Movement practices include lots of dancing both as skills building and exploration. Although, in many cases these will be the same thing. The group will also investigate ensemble forms and co-creation.
Nita will add additional themes and concepts in response to the needs, level and curiosities of the participants.
Who is this for?
Contact Improvisation practitioners who are intermediate or advanced, as well as teachers/facilitators of Contact Improvisation
Schedule:
Wednesday April 16th – Arrival**
Thurs April 17 – CI Workshop Full Day
Fri April 18 – CI Workshop Full Day
Sat April 19 – CI Workshop Full Day
Sun April 20 – CI Workshop ends by 12 (residents need to move out before class am)
Arrival
4pm – 6pm Arrival window
6pm – 7pm Orientation tour
7pm – 8pm Dinner*
8pm – 9pm Kitchen orientation
*If you’re commuting, but you’re on the meal plan, we strongly encourage you to come to Wed PM dinner (7pm).
**If you are commuting and not joining the meal plan, you are welcome to join us on Wednesday evening, or come Thursday morning.
Sample Full Day:
Breakfast
AM Session (3-4 hours)
Lunch (90 minutes – 2 hours)
PM Session (3-4 hours)
Evening Rest or Group Activities
Departure
Departures are on Sunday April 20th between 2-4pm.
“Nita’s teaching and presence have informed my embodiment – the way I move, the way I direct my attention, and the moment-to-moment choice making about how and who I am in the world. Her teaching is generous, sharp, honest, and…magical.”
– GS
“Nita’s work invited me to recognize the collective field of consciousness that exists continually and simultaneously alongside (as) the field of individuality. I noticed with our attention often focused on the individual experience we may be unaware of the collective experience we generate in any moment. I experienced during the exercise ‘Follow the one you Lead’ that by putting our attention outside of ourselves (moving when someone else moves or stops) while being responsible for ourselves(being in charge of our movement) I saw we all were in continuous movement or stopping, who was doing what at any moment was a symptom of our collective attention rather than a defined statement of our individuality. In this moment of communion with the group- I felt a profound sense of always belonging. “
– JL
“I need places like this to dig deeper into ideas that then live in my body from then on – less of a mental carryover into my practices, but more of a habit of being that carries over. That’s what I love about this class in particular is that I feel like I am cultivating these deeper habits of existing that then I can’t help but bring into my creation.”
– IB
Frequently Asked Questions
Q- How do I know if this is the right level for me?
A- For more information on assessing your level, please visit www.nitalittle.com/levels
Q- Can I join the workshop late?
A- Because the workshop builds on itself, it is best for participants to be able to attend in full.
About Nita Little
Nita Little investigates embodied attention within movement practices with a concentration on the technicities of both creative and relational practices. Through ensemble dance improvisation practice and performance she works toward a future that recognizes our environmental entanglements and values many forms of embodied communication. A dance researcher, theorist/artist, and one of the founding developers of Contact Improvisation (CI) she teaches around the globe, guiding one of its forward leading edges. She began 50 years ago, working with Steve Paxton on materials that became CI (1972) and was a participant in the earliest performances and teaching that helped it to become significant within dance and dance communities. Within CI’s first year she developed a curiosity about the relationship of the (physical) mind and relational events. Now, she investigates ecological actions of embodied attention, particularly with respect to somatic communication between humans and beyond.
Nita received her PhD in Performance Studies with a focus on the articulation of presence and creative actions of attention (2014). Her life work is inclusive of mindbody training, performing, choreographing, researching and writing about the ethics, politics and entanglement of somatic relations. With a world-wide audience for her teaching, dance making, and lecturing, she is an activist for relational intelligence and an advocate for dancers as embodied researchers. She looks forward to returning to direct the internationally active Institute for the Study of Somatic Communication (ISSC, 2016), a network of laboratories populated by dancer researchers and associate research experts from diverse fields. She lives near Seattle, in the USA. During the years of worldwide retreat she initiated online classes of “Relational Intelligence” and “Composing Emergence” as well as private coaching which continue. Currently she tours throughout the year and may be found on 6 continents. She invites you to get her monthly newsletter available by signing up at: www.nitalitte.com
Instagram: @NitaLittleCI
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nita.little
A note on food
We pour a lot of love into every aspect of our food system, and pride ourselves on being able to accommodate a wide range of dietary needs. We serve meat and dairy daily, and always have vegan and gluten-free options available. If you send us your dietary preferences in advance, we will do our best to make sure there is good food for you at each meal! All living accommodations have access to a full kitchen (separate from the main/commercial kitchen). We will provide breakfast groceries for you to prepare and eat on your own. Lunches and dinners are communal shared meals with participants helping 1 hour per day either with meal prep or clean. Drinks include: coffee and tea, dairy and non-dairy milk, lemon and lime juice for water, red and white wine.
Retreat Location
WildHeart is located on 46+ beautiful acres in the Hudson Valley. Retreatants will have the option to stay in a single room, double room, dorm, or camping in either our main retreat center or in private two-bedroom cabins. All options have access to shared kitchens and bathrooms. Daily events will take place in the studio, shared common spaces, and outdoors. Retreatants are welcome to enjoy the lawns, walk in the forest, and swim and boat in the lake during their stay! More info about directions and transportation options HERE.
Registration
Program Costs
By offering a variety of housing options, and two free BIPOC spots, we hope to make this retreat financially accessible to all! Beyond that, please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need financial assistance to attend: contact@wildheartcenter.art
These prices are all inclusive! You receive all retreat content and facilitation, housing, food and drinks, and access to the land, lake, and studio spaces.
$699 Single-occupancy (private room in a shared house)
$530 Double-occupancy bedroom (per person)
$470 Dorm (a bed in our spacious 5 person dorm)
$410 Camping (bring your own tent and equipment)
$330 Commuter (meals included)
$210 Commuter (meals not included included)
$999 Support Price (for those who can pay extra to help us build the dream!)
Refund Policy
In advance of 2 weeks – full refund (less bank processing fees)
Within 2 weeks – no refund
(This policy stands even in case of sickness so we encourage participants to plan accordingly.)
COVID Policy
To protect the group, please don’t come if you have any symptoms of illness or had contact in the last 3 days with anyone who has COVID
BIPOC Spots
We are offering 2 free spots for BIPOC folx. Please email contact@wildheartcenter.art to get the registration code for one of these spots.
