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Heteronormativity in Contact Improvisation

Article August 2007

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Andreas Hechler
Dissens - Institut fr Bildung und Forschung
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This summer (2007) several women I talked to told me that they had their personal boundaries violated at
this years Freiburg Contactfestival. It was men who did it.
To me, these cases do not seem to be isolated, but rather follow a certain structure. What structure?
***
Five examples may serve as an illustration:
1. Two years ago at the very same festival a male friend of mine realized that whenever he wanted to
dance with men, they quite quickly went out of contact. This happened to him about ten times at one
single jam.
2. At this years festival I recounted this experience at the study lab The shadow of CI recognizing
structures of domination and exploitation in our practice of contact improvisation. The reaction of some
of the participants: they found it problematic that my friend just wanted to dance with one gender this
wouldnt work, he was not open for an encounter, and so on. Other male participants in that very same
study lab later on said that they prefer dancing only with women. They were not challenged with the
argument of being not open, too much focused on (one) gender, etc.
3. So far I have never heard a woman stating that she prefers dancing only with one gender.
4. In classes as well as in jams the dominant way of bonding is man-woman-couples. To a lesser degree it
is woman-woman-couples and even less man-man-couples. But it is not only that: (heterosexual) men as
well as women seem to dance differently according to the gender of their partner sensual and sensitive
with a woman, rather technical with a man if he is a good dancer. If he is a beginner he might have more
trouble in finding a partner than a female beginner.
5. Even at the blind jam which offers the possibility to get in contact with dancers one might otherwise
not get in contact with many contacters first touched each others hair to find out the gender of the
counterpart. Men suddenly touching a bald head dropped back
Apparently, gender is one of the factors which structures and regulates who gets into contact with whom
and how this contact then evolves.
The primary contact structure of (heterosexual) men and women when dancing contact improvisation
does not seem to be very different from other everyday behavioral patterns.
***
The above mentioned examples are part of what I would call a heteronormative structure.
Heteronormativity is a normative social structure tied to the idea that human beings fall into two (and only
two) distinct and complementary categories male and female naturally linked by mutual desire.
Coupled with this notion come ideas about what men and women are or should be like.
Heteronormativity relies on the firm belief in gender dichotomies (rational-emotional, activity-passivity,
strength-weakness, hard-soft, taking-giving, autonomy-dependency, ) and on the belief that
heterosexual masculinities and femininities always relate to a binary feminine or masculine other. Thus,
heterosexuality is set up as normal. Heteronormativity in this sense works with a set of expectations,
demands, and constraints produced when heterosexuality is taken as normative it is a social structure
built around traditional gender models with an underlying justification for the normality and
appropriateness of these structures.

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As a consequence, any behavior that does not fit into a hetero-setting is avoided: Physical contact between
men is rare, and if present it tends to be rather technical, rough and emotionally reserved. Physical contact
between women is more accepted and also more common; often there is no tussling, fast, wild, aerial and
acrobatic dancing to be found here. If you want that, you dance with a man, and vice versa, if you want a
soft, slow and warm contact, you dance with a woman. What kinds of structures are reproduced here, how
do we behave as men and women and what do we expect from other men and women?
***
I not only enjoy dancing CI because it is simply enjoyable. To me, CI offers the possibility for individual
and social change. Women can learn to lift men, men can learn to be lifted by a woman, (heterosexual)
men can learn to be sensuous and tender with each other, Limited choices and possibilities due to rigid
gender conceptions are expanded. CI thus has the potential for change in terms of dominant gender
relations and homophobia. That is great!
I think this potential should be taken very seriously. The process of becoming a man or a woman is
not only often quite brutal, it also limits our behavioral options. Understanding this may not only be
liberating in the sense of having more options it would also be an important contribution to ending
violence. The simple fact is: the more rigid gender roles are in a society, the more heterosexuality is
reinforced as the only way to desire, interact and communicate with other persons, the more violence is
exerted by men over women.
Andreas Hechler, Berlin/Germany, August 2007

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