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April, 2015


Welcome to the Global Underscore 2015. This year's Global Underscore will take place on Sunday June 21 4-8 pm UTC +2. 

 

UTC stands for Coordinated Universal Time

 EDT is Eastern Daylight Time or UTC-4

 

The Underscore is a long-form dance improvisation structure developed by Nancy Stark Smith and practiced worldwide. The form includes contact improvisation and allows for a full spectrum of physical forms and changing states, often including periods of quiet internal activity and other times of higher energy and interactive dancing. The Underscore's undirected practice affords simultaneously a framework for research, a forum for play, and an opportunity to experience collective improvised composition. 

 

Global Underscore was originally conceived in 2000 and organized for a decade by French dancer Claire Filmon

in collaboration with Nancy Stark Smith. Coinciding with the summer solstice, this annual event invites dancers at sites all around the world to practice the Underscore simultaneously and share their experiences with a global community of practitioners.  Now in its 15th year, Underscore NYC proudly hosts Global Underscore 2015.  

 

We enthusiastically invite you to join us physically and energetically, in time and in space. With Nancy's direction and your participation, we will surely create an amazing event together!

 

Nancy Stark Smith and Mike Vargas will be in Geneva, hosting an Underscore there on Sunday June 21 4-8 pm  UTC +2.  Underscore NYC will be hosting their monthly Underscore practice in NYC, coordinating across time zones to dance in time with Geneva-and YOU- from 10 am - 2 pm EDT.

 

We invite you to look at the information posted here and let us know if you'd like to join!

 

Love,

 

Underscore NYC

coordinators

Brandin Steffensen and Nancy Hughes 

with Nancy Stark Smith and

GUS Advisor Patrick Crowley

 

Thanks and happy dancing!!

 

 

Options for Participation
Time Zones:
Photo courtesy of Anne Sorenson
 7 am - 11 am West Coast in USA/Vancouver               (Canada)
 8  am - 12 pm Bolder, CO
 9  am - 1 pm chicago, IL
10 am - 2 pm New York, DC, Massachusetts
11 am - 3 pm Buenos Aires (Argentina)                                Halifax (Canada)
  3 pm - 7 pm London (United Kingdom)
  4 pm - 8 pm Europe including Paris, Berlin 
  5 pm - 9 pm Israel/Palestine
  6 pm - 10 pm Moscow 
 11 pm - 3 am Japan
 12 am - 4 am (June 22nd) Melbourne/Sydney (Australia) 


Do you need to look  for the time zone of your town or city? There are many online time converters.  Click  HERE for World Clock-Time Converter.

2. Options for Participation

V Warsaw Flow festival and www.polandcontactfestival.com
The Global Underscore is organized for people who know Contact Improvisation and the Underscore.  However, in an effort to include others who are not as familiar with the Underscore, or cannot organize people to join them, there are six possible levels of participation one can choose from in joining this practice. Please read the descriptions below to determine which of the four forms of participation best suits your community:  


Full Score Practice - Y ou are a community of dancers in which every dancer present is a part of a serious exploration of the ideas/perceptions/principles operating in the Underscore and Contact Improvisation. This probably means that several of you have studied and/or practiced the Underscore with Nancy directly or with someone else who has. Since the event, for you, is about practicing the Underscore, even 1 or 2 dancers who are not familiar with this score will change the experience of the practice. Please feel free to set limits based on experience, to offer talk-throughs (see below), and to contact us with any questions.

Non-Synchronous Full Score PracticeYou may be a "Full Score Practice" that, for any reason, is not exactly coordinated in time with the other sites.

Modified Jam Score - You are a community of dancers who have various levels of experience with Contact Improvisation and the Underscore. You may have one person who has studied with Nancy or has done an Underscore, but in general your experience as a group is in jamming and exploring CI and improvisation. You might feel more resonance with a more open participation. For example, you might open and close with the Small Dance in connection with the other Underscore sites. In the dancing section, you might warm-up individually, circulate a bit, find a first partner for a contact improvisation dance, and then move into an Open Jam format. You might even end together at the global "Final Resolution" time, take some time for personal reflection, rest, or warm-down, and then have a circle of sharing at the end. This closing circle might not necessarily be a Harvest in terms of the perceptions of Nancy's score, but would be a rich way of sharing your experience. Your Modified Jam Score would end with a Small Dance (standing meditation) with everyone facing the next site on the Facing List.

Non-Synchronous Modified Jam - Same as Modified Jam Score above, but you and your community have decided to hold a contact jam over the solstice but OUTSIDE of the synchronized time frame.

Satellite - You want to participate but are unable to for any reason: you are alone, you have an obligation, etc. You might join us for the opening and/or closing Small Dance (both would be great!) to sort of "click-in" to sense the dancing, and to give your support. You know enough about the Small Dance of Standing to be able to explore it deeply for that brief shared time. You might also choose to do other segments of the Underscore "with us" as well. You will not be in the Global Ring of Facings around the globe, but your "satellite" will be indicated on the Global map. You can choose the nearest sites for your facings.

Non-Synchronous Satellite - Same as Satellite above, but you will participate in the opening and closing small dance OUTSIDE the synchronized time frame.

talk-throughTalk-throughs - In keeping with the oral tradition of the Underscore, we encourage facilitators to offer "talk-throughs" before the Global Underscore to introduce newcomers (and refresh familiars )  to the language, glyphs, and structures of the Underscore .  We ask that all participants of the Global Underscore 2015 be familiar with the practice ahead of time.  

 

 

3. Register Your GUS Location
How To Connect
V Warsaw Flow festival and www.polandcontactfestival.com

If you would like to facilitate a Global Underscore practice in your city, please click 

 

 

 

We can't wait to dance with you. If you have any questions please email us at underscorenyc@gmail.com.