The Small Dance (the Stand)
Steve Paxton's standing practice for contact improvisation, and where to hear it guided.
| Also called | The stand |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1972, by Steve Paxton1 |
| Hear Paxton guide it | 5 min 50 s2 |
| Recorded in | English, French, Spanish, German345 |
The small dance, also called the stand, is Steve Paxton's standing practice in contact improvisation.6
- What you do. You stand and attend to the skeleton, to weight, and to your relation to gravity.6
- Where it came from. Paxton introduced it in 1972 so that gravity could be observed working on the upright body.1
- Hear it. Paxton guides it in 5 minutes 50 seconds, and recordings exist in French, Spanish and German.23
How the practice goes
Paxton's 1977 class notes walk you through the skeleton first: the skull balanced on the spine, the lungs expanding, your relation to gravity. Then attention moves to weight and compression through the bones while the muscles stay soft. The practice ends with rehearsing steps in imagination.6 In his 1993 essay on interior technique he adds that imagining a step already displaces weight.7
The library flags a compact, teachable script of the practice in Malaika Sarco-Thomas's 2015 article.8
Why Paxton kept coming back to it
In an interview annotated in 2013 Paxton regrets that standing has dropped out of practice.1 In March 2014, at the Breitenbush Jam in Oregon, he gave two talks on how the stand relates to stage fright and to entrainment. Contact Quarterly printed them side by side, so you can watch him add to his own first talk.9 A full free lecture of about an hour, on gravity, the small dance and your feet, is on Contredanse's Vimeo.10
What the scholars say
Hubert Godard and Emma Bigé read the small dance as the discovery that we stream movements that come from outside us, and root it in the infant's tonic dialogue.11 Bigé elsewhere describes it as opening perception beneath volition.12 Kimmel, Hristova and Kussmaul interviewed dancers about creating together, and the library points to their paper as naming what the small dance feels like from inside.13
Hear it in four languages
The library holds four recordings, all collected by Emma Bigé. Paxton reads his own instruction in English for 5 minutes 50 seconds, an excerpt from the audiobook of Gravity.2 Patricia Kuypers recorded a French version of 7 minutes 14 seconds in the mountains near her studio in Auvergne, taking her inspiration from Paxton's teaching and her own felt experience.3 Daniela Schwartz speaks a Spanish version of 7 minutes 19 seconds, with feminine word endings and a note on why.4 Ecki Müller speaks the German version, 7 minutes 33 seconds.5
Frequently asked questions
What is the small dance in contact improvisation?
It is Steve Paxton's standing practice. You attend to the skeleton, to weight passing through the bones, and to your relation to gravity while standing.6
Is the small dance the same as the stand?
Paxton talks about standing as a practice in his Breitenbush talks on the Stand, and in the library his small dance is the standing instruction itself.96 The library treats the two names as one practice.
How long does the small dance take?
Paxton's own recorded version runs 5 minutes 50 seconds, and the French, Spanish and German recordings run between 7 and 7.5 minutes.235
Who made the small dance?
Steve Paxton introduced it in 1972.1
| Guides in this wiki |
|---|
| 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
1Thoughts on Contact Improvisation Paxton interviewed 1981, annotated by his 2013 self (ed. Mazzaglia, Danza e Ricerca 2013). In the library: Paxton in his own words.
2The Small Dance, read by Steve Paxton Steve Paxton, English, audio (2020), excerpt from the audiobook of Gravity (Contredanse, 2019); collected by Emma Bigé. In the library: The Small Dance.
3The Small Dance in French, Patricia Kuypers Patricia Kuypers, French, audio (2019), 7 min 14 sec; collected by Emma Bigé. In the library: The Small Dance.
4The Small Dance in Spanish, Daniela Schwartz Daniela Schwartz, Spanish, audio (2020), 7 min 19 sec; collected by Emma Bigé. In the library: The Small Dance.
5The Small Dance in German, Ecki Müller Ecki Müller, German, audio (2020), 7 min 33 sec; collected by Emma Bigé. In the library: The Small Dance.
6The Small Dance, 1977 Steve Paxton, class notes from the ReUnion West Coast tour, February 1977; annotated by Paxton April 2008; hosted by Ken Manheimer at myriadicity.net. In the library: Paxton in his own words.
7Drafting Interior Techniques Paxton, Contact Quarterly 18.1, 1993. In the library: Paxton in his own words.
8Momentum, gravity and "sensational facts" Sarco-Thomas, 2015. In the library: Attention & perception.
9Why Standing? Steve Paxton, edited by Karen Nelson, Contact Quarterly 40.1, Winter/Spring 2015. In the library: Paxton in his own words.
10Swimming in Gravity Steve Paxton lecture, 62 min, Contredanse. In the library: Video library & directory.
11Moving-moved Hubert Godard & Emma Bigé, in the 2019 Culturgest book · published under the name Romain Bigé, Emma Bigé’s earlier name. In the library: The gravity school.
12Tonic Space Emma Bigé, CQ Unbound 2017. In the library: The gravity school.
13Sources of Embodied Creativity Michael Kimmel, Dayana Hristova & Kerstin Kussmaul, Behavioral Sciences, 2018. In the library: The gravity school.
Cite this page
Alessi, Eric (curator). “The Small Dance (the Stand).” The Wiki of Contact Improvisation. Published 30 October 2026, updated 31 October 2026. https://ci-wiki.com/concepts/the-small-dance/. Accessed .