Dance knowledge through the body: Gender roles within contact improvisation

This article challenges the assumption of contact improvisation (CI) as a gender-neutral dance form, as it has been claimed since the emergence of the dance form in the 1970s and pertained until recent times. Drawing on ethnographic research in Montreal (2019), the investigation combines autoethnography and participant observation to examine the influence of gender roles and power dynamics on the dance floor. To understand the claim of egalitarianism in CI, the study first exposes a discourse analysis of CI’s initial gender egalitarian ideology (1970s) and its reaction against dominant dance forms like ballet. The article discusses the role of the body in ethnographic work, suggesting that the researcher’s sensorial and affective experiences can challenge scholarly assumptions and fieldwork’s discourses. By highlighting how knowledge is embodied, the article emphasizes anthropology’s contribution to dance theory through the disclosure of knowledge via somatic experience.