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 explores 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 practice 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.
This investigation has produced 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.
Jonathan Lilly
Jonathan Lilly is a movement researcher and improvisational dancer currently based in Connecticut. He practices, trains in, and teaches Contact Improvisation. The centerpiece of his teaching is Constellations, a rigorous and systematic presentation of the fundamentals of Contact Improvisation. Prior to encountering this dance form, he trained in the martial art of Aikido for more than two decades. His movement and teaching styles are also deeply informed by a period of in-depth study of the Feldenkrais method of somatic education, as well as by a daily meditation practice in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
Brianna López
Brianna López is a dance artist, educator, and improvisational practitioner based in New York City. Her movement background includes Gaga Movement Language and Contact Improvisation, alongside years of performance, teaching, and independent movement study. She is the creator of the naftali method.
Their Story
Ten years ago, Jonathan and Brianna met at a Contact Improvisation festival in Seattle. Although they went on to pursue separate practices and didn't stay in touch, Jonathan reached out spontaneously after seeing Brianna dance online. What began as a brief exchange about movement became an invitation to visit New Haven, where they spent time dancing, observing, and practicing together.
That encounter eventually grew into a collaboration around partnering: an emerging inquiry rooted in Contact Improvisation, Aikido, and the core principles of Synthesis Movement and the naftali method.
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?
