The ability to shift between states, focus, and awareness is central to both the Feldenkrais Method and Contact Improvisation. In Feldenkrais, we cultivate awareness by noticing sensations and honouring the body’s intelligence, allowing attention to shift and pendulate between different parts of the body or the body as a whole. Experiencing this shifting is fundamental for re-patterning movement – moving away from inefficient, uncomfortable, or painful habits toward ease, effortlessness, and pleasure.

In Contact Improvisation, shifting attention, focus, and energetic states allows us to pendulate – moving between engagement with our partners and awareness of our own body. This flow supports conscious choices, honouring curiosity, creativity, and personal boundaries. Using pendulation as a lens, we will revisit specific Contact Improvisation vocabularies in which pendulation relates to shifting weight and the relationship between centre and periphery while lifting, supporting, moving through space, and sharing weight.

Finally, we explore how the oscillation between states nourishes the flowing arc of the dance in duets, trios, and group configurations – inviting both grounded and delicate physical conversation, while opening the door to higher levels of physical and energetic engagement.