Magnets a Hand Apart: A Contact Duet Without Touching

Duets imagine a magnet between two of their body parts that attracts or repels at a hand's width, and they dance while keeping that distance constant. It captures the logic of contact improvisation (following, yielding, offering) without physical contact, so the whole group can take part on equal terms.

How to play

1. In pairs, hands facing each other a hand's width apart; the leader moves their hand and the follower keeps the exact distance, like a magnet (3 min).
2. Move the magnet to new spots: elbow-knee, back-hand, forehead-shoulder, and explore traveling and turning (5 min).
3. Repelling magnet: when one moves closer, the other moves away at the same speed with the body part named (4 min).
4. One-minute free duet to music alternating attraction and repulsion; perform in two rounds while the audience points out moments of best sync (8 min).

Rules

• Never touch your partner: if there is contact, the duet separates and restarts.
• Each duet stays in its own area without invading others.
• Level changes are done by controlling the descent with the legs.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: the wheelchair user leads with hands and torso and the partner adjusts the traveling.
• Visual impairment: work at a shorter distance with the leader breathing audibly, who also quietly calls out direction changes.
• Hearing impairment: phase changes are shown with a visual signal from the teacher.

Learning goals

• Apply the leading and following principles of contact improvisation without physical contact.
• Improve spatial awareness and synchronization with a partner.
• Make sure every student can take part regardless of their contact limits.

Equipment for a class of 25

• speaker: 1

Teacher tip

Use it as a parallel option in any contact session: no-contact duets work on the same content and nobody is left out.

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