The Underscore
Nancy Stark Smith's score for a whole jam, and where to learn it from her own words.
| Created by | Nancy Stark Smith1 |
|---|---|
| Developed | From 19901 |
| Worldwide event | The Global Underscore, every June1 |
| Watch her explain it | 46 minutes, London, 20122 |
The Underscore is Nancy Stark Smith's long-form jam score: a structure that treats a whole contact improvisation jam as one composed arc.1
What it is
The library's entry points to her own page on the practice and to the one-page glyph sheet, which maps the phases in her hand-drawn symbols. It is described there as the map for designing a long session.1
In her own voice
In 2012 Stark Smith explained the Underscore to camera for 46 minutes in an interview with Marlon Barrios Solano in London. She defines it as a framework for research in improvisation, walks through its phases one by one, and talks about the Global Underscore. The library calls it the spoken companion to the written entry and suggests watching it before you hold your first long jam.2
Drawing the dance
In 2013, at the Bates Dance Festival, Stark Smith taught a pen-and-paper exercise she calls writing from the body, and the video runs 18 minutes.3 The Underscore is also drawn as glyphs, one per phase.1
The person behind it
Stark Smith's long-form work sits inside a larger life in the form. The book Caught Falling, with David Koteen, tells contact improvisation through her life and teaching.4 A 24-minute film portrait centres her, where most films on that shelf centre Paxton.5 After her death eighteen people, Paxton among them, wrote about her teaching, her editing, the Underscore and her insistence that the form stay open to every body.6
Frequently asked questions
What is the Underscore in contact improvisation?
It is Nancy Stark Smith's structure for a whole jam as one composed arc, with phases she mapped in a one-page glyph sheet.1
What is the Global Underscore?
The Underscore practised worldwide every June.1
When did Nancy Stark Smith create the Underscore?
She developed it from 1990 on.1
Where can I learn the Underscore?
Start with her 46-minute interview, which the library suggests watching before you hold your first long jam.2
| 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
1The Underscore Nancy Stark Smith's long-form jam score. In the library: Jams, scores, pedagogy.
2An 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.
3Hieroglyphs Nancy Stark Smith, Embodied Activity #1 for Meta-academy at the Bates Dance Festival, 2013 (18 min video). In the library: Jams, scores, pedagogy.
4Caught Falling David Koteen & Nancy Stark Smith, 2008, Contact Editions. In the library: Books: the complete shelf.
5The 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.
6Reflections 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). “The Underscore.” The Wiki of Contact Improvisation. Published 30 October 2026, updated 31 October 2026. https://ci-wiki.com/concepts/the-underscore/. Accessed .