Nancy Stark Smith
Co-founder, editor and teacher: the books, films and texts that show her work.
Nancy Stark Smith was a co-founder of contact improvisation, a co-editor of its collected writing and the creator of the Underscore.123
The early years
Stark Smith and Lisa Nelson, who were there, wrote A Short History for Contact Quarterly in 1980. It runs from Magnesium at Oberlin in January 1972 to the Weber Gallery event, the 1973 tour, ReUnion and the Contact Newsletter.4 Chrysa Parkinson and Emma Bigé quote a Stark Smith line that Paxton transmitted the form as a frame with the middle left empty.6
The Underscore
Her long-form jam score has its own page: The Underscore.37
Editing the record
With Lisa Nelson she edited the three CQ/CI Sourcebooks, the community's own collected literature: 1975 to 1992,2 1992 to 20078 and 2008 to 2018.9 In a Contact Quarterly feature on CI and identity she opened by saying the editors had watched the topic grow for years, then printed ten answers.10
Teaching, in print and on film
The book Caught Falling, by David Koteen and Stark Smith, tells contact improvisation through her life and teaching. The library calls it the most-cited CI book of the last twenty years.1 In Hieroglyphs, filmed at the Bates Dance Festival in 2013, she teaches a pen-and-paper exercise she calls writing from the body.11 The Poetics of Touch is a 24-minute portrait filmed in Italy that centres her.12
Remembered
Eighteen people who danced with her, Paxton among them, wrote in the month after her death about her teaching, her editing, the Underscore and her insistence that the form stay open to every body.13
Frequently asked questions
Who was Nancy Stark Smith?
A co-founder of contact improvisation, co-editor of the CQ/CI Sourcebooks and creator of the Underscore.123
What is Caught Falling?
A 2008 book by David Koteen and Nancy Stark Smith, part biography and part practice book, telling contact improvisation through her life and teaching.1
Where can I watch Nancy Stark Smith teach?
The library lists a 46-minute interview on the Underscore, an 18-minute pen-and-paper exercise filmed at Bates, and a 24-minute portrait film.71112
| Guides in this wiki |
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| What is Contact Improvisation? · The small dance · The Underscore · Jams · Steve Paxton · Nancy Stark Smith · Falling and gravity · Consent · Exercises · Glossary · How it is written · Contribute |
Sources in the library
1Caught Falling David Koteen & Nancy Stark Smith, 2008, Contact Editions. In the library: Books: the complete shelf.
2CQ/CI Sourcebook, Vol. I (1975–1992) eds. Stark Smith & Nelson, Contact Editions. In the library: Books: the complete shelf.
3The Underscore Nancy Stark Smith's long-form jam score. In the library: Jams, scores, pedagogy.
4A Short History Lisa Nelson and Nancy Stark Smith, Contact Quarterly 5.3/4, Spring/Summer 1980, page 43. In the library: History & scenes.
5Fall After Newton: the excerpts Videoda, 1987; excerpts via Martin Keogh. In the library: Video library & directory.
6Real-time Authorship Chrysa Parkinson & Emma Bigé, Contact Quarterly 2018 · published under the name Romain Bigé, Emma Bigé’s earlier name. In the library: Attention & perception.
7An Emergent Underscore Nancy Stark Smith, interviewed by Marlon Barrios Solano, London, July 10, 2012; embodied techne series on dance-tech.tv (46 min video). In the library: Video library & directory.
8CQ/CI Sourcebook, Vol. II (1992–2007) eds. Stark Smith & Nelson, Contact Editions. In the library: Books: the complete shelf.
9CQ/CI Sourcebook, Vol. III (2008–2018) eds. Stark Smith & Nelson, Contact Editions. In the library: Books: the complete shelf.
10Contact Improvisation Intersections Nancy Stark Smith ("Frictions and Illuminations") with Keith Hennessy, Ann Cooper Albright, Geneviève Cron-Riger, Daniela Schwartz, Kent Alexander, Za. In the library: Consent, gender, hierarchy.
11Hieroglyphs Nancy Stark Smith, Embodied Activity #1 for Meta-academy at the Bates Dance Festival, 2013 (18 min video). In the library: Jams, scores, pedagogy.
12The Poetics of Touch A film by Sara Pozzoli and Germana Siciliani, shot at Casina Settarte, Italy; published on YouTube April 2013 (24 min). In the library: Video library & directory.
13Reflections on Nancy Stark Smith Compiled by Jonathan Stein, thINKingDANCE, 1 June 2020, two parts. In the library: History & scenes.
Cite this page
Alessi, Eric (curator). “Nancy Stark Smith.” The Wiki of Contact Improvisation. Published 30 October 2026, updated 31 October 2026. https://ci-wiki.com/concepts/nancy-stark-smith/. Accessed .