splash
splash is an evolving collaborative practice developed by Brianna López and Jonathan Lilly (Synthesis Movement).
Bringing two distinct movement practices into dialogue, the module investigates how softness, momentum, and responsiveness reorganize when movement becomes relational. Rather than seeking a unified technique, the work asks how different movement histories can remain intact while generating a shared dance.
Rooted in our backgrounds in contact improvisation, the research explores touch, shared weight, physical listening, and the exchange of momentum as sites of inquiry. As one body influences another, new questions emerge around support, timing, decision-making, and the continual negotiation of movement.
Emerging from this investigation has been a duet experience with its own distinct character, a dialogue of interwoven solos. Dancing to music and beginning with an extended exploration of our own solo dances, the duets feel light, free, fast, and soft, with a sense of physical connection that remains continuous throughout moments of both contact and distance.
Guiding questions:
How does softness reorganize when movement is shared between two bodies?
What forms of momentum emerge when energy is exchanged rather than generated independently?
How does touch expand the body's capacity for instantaneous choice?
How do two movement histories remain distinct while participating in a shared dance?
When responsibility is shared, what new forms of listening become possible?
