The Experience of the "Encounter" Phenomenon in Contact Improvisation Practice

This project presents the results of studying the experience of the “Encounter” Phenomenon in Contact Improvisation practice. The dance in Contact Improvisation involves free interaction with a partner in close physical contact. We consider this practice as containing the potential to create interpersonal field that is the basis for a personal “Encounter” and essential for client’s psychotherapeutic transformation in the existential analysis approach of A. Längle. The researchers have raised the question of whether it is possible to teach an “Encounter” purposefully. The aim of this work is to describe the content of the “Encounter” phenomenon in Contact Improvisation practice. This has been accomplished through in-depth semi-structured interviews with dancers and teachers practicing this form of dance from 1 to 17 years. Phenomenological data analysis has been used to describe the “Encounter” phenomenon and reveal the conditions of its genesis and results of experiencing a sense of “We” in the dance. The main result of this study is that we have identified the potential of teaching an “Encounter” purposefully for using this skill in psychotherapeutic practice to improve the quality of the psychotherapeutic relationship. However, the study has limitations which is insufficient analysis of empirical data because of the phenomenological analysis approach.