The Teacher: Nita Little

Nita Little initiated and developed contact improvisation (CI) with Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith and others. She travels throughout the US, Canada and Europe performing and
teaching. Her dance theater work includes a strong element of improvisation. Among others she received a Dance USA/National Endowment for the Arts, and National College Dance Initiative awards, with which she developed “Playing God,” a dance opera.

What do you teach? Improvisation is always the base.

I teach CI, Mind in Motion, composition and improvisation, and dance technique taught through improvisation. I focus on the underlying principles that make the physical union of CI possible, rather than on specific movement pathways. Mind in Motion is a syllabus of work that attends to the vital relationship between mind and body and its influence on our technical and creative potential. Our physical capacities are in direct relationship to how we frame our experience, and what we attend to, moment by moment.

Your favorite studio? I taught a workshop to the residents at a zen monastery in California. We used the zendo, which had been an old barn, as our studio. I spent two hours before class on my knees taping the ...