T H R E S H O L D

Aluna

Guangzhou, China

中 国 · 广 州

From 2014 to 2019, serving as the primary liaison for the Guangzhou Contact Improvisation community, I consistently invited international CI teachers to lead workshops and seminars in the city. During this period, I facilitated weekly jams and was responsible for the organization, curation, and translation of major initiatives, including the Touch Contact Improvisation Art Festival (Guangzhou, 2018 & 2019) and a series of Intensive CI Training Camps led by Ukrainian mentors from 2018 to 2020.

Throughout these years, my CI practice became deeply intertwined with my studies in mindfulness meditation and Vipassana retreats, with each discipline informing and deepening the other. In 2018, my exploration expanded into Contact Improvisation in Water (Aquatic CI) and Amerta Movement. Since then, elements of nature and holistic fields have increasingly intersected with my dance, sparking new realms of experimentation.

For me, Contact Improvisation (CI) completely subverted my prior perceptions of street dance, stage arts, and performance. In one sense, it extended the love for humanity and the human spirit that had taken root during my dance therapy studies; in another, it dismantled and reconstructed my very concept of what dance is—particularly through my study and practice of the Underscore .

From the moment I first encountered this form, I was struck by a profound sense of excitement, joy, warmth, and freedom. Although I have moved through many moments of feeling "bored" or uncertain of how to continue, I found that I always, inevitably, return to the dance floor.

I am deeply grateful for this form of dance and life practice. Physically, the surrender of weight, the play with center and gravity, and the following of momentum bring about a state of mental clarity and celebration that transcends the intellect in every moment. It is through this absolute presence that the heart finds deep fulfillment.

During my time living in Southeast Asia from 2020 to 2024, I continued to facilitate and share dance jams, aquatic jams, and workshops on the Underscore and Authentic Movement in Koh Phangan and Chiang Mai, Thailand. As I moved between different dimensions of land and water, and navigated various global dance communities, a vivid internal landscape began to take shape—the image of the "Daughter of Mountains and Seas."

It is an inquiry into how we love ourselves

How we love those around us

And how we love the world

Ultimately, it is a language of love

Through this practice, one develops an expanded awareness and observation of space—learning to move the body with minimal effort and maximum economy, in a way that is truly sustainable. It is because of this unspoken field of tacit understanding that I have been able to find "tribes" across the globe—communities that speak the very same somatic language.

Gradually, I have come to realize that Contact Improvisation is more than just a dance form, or a space for practice and experimentation. It is, profoundly, a vital and invaluable way of life.