Thirty-four games, arranged in five difficulty tiers plus a group/ensemble set. Each is a self-contained card — open to one and run it cold. For the relational games that build trust between these physical ones, see Chapter 5.

How to use this chapter: pick games from adjacent tiers to build a session (Chapter 6). Read a card top to bottom before running it. The WATCH FOR line is where the safety lives — never skip it.

The card format:

GAME NAME                                          [Tier ② Warming]
Players · Time · Contact level
PURPOSE / SETUP / PLAY / CUES / VARIATIONS / DEBRIEF / WATCH FOR

Index

Games 1–24 are the core deck; 25–34 are the Expansion Set (upper tiers + ensemble).

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Tier ① — Arriving

The dancer is new, self-conscious, unsure where to put their hands. The work is permission.

1. The Small Dance · [Tier ① Arriving]

Players: 1–10 (solo, done together) · Time: 5–8 min · Contact: none

PURPOSE — Paxton's foundational meditation. Introduces the whole form's premise — that dance is a negotiation with gravity — before anyone touches. Settles the nervous system and lands people in their bodies.

SETUP — Everyone stands, feet hip-width, eyes soft or closed, spread around the room. Quiet or ambient music, or silence.

PLAY 1. "Stand as simply as you can. Let your arms hang." 2. "Do nothing on purpose. Just notice: your body is not actually still. It's making tiny constant adjustments to keep you upright." 3. "Feel the sway. The micro-corrections in your ankles, your spine. That's the small dance. It's happening without you." 4. Let it run in silence for 2–3 minutes. "You're not doing it. You're watching it be done." 5. Slowly invite eyes open, staying with the sensation.

CUES — "Nothing to achieve." · "Let gravity find you." · "Notice, don't correct."

VARIATIONS - Easier: hand on a wall for the anxious. - Harder: introduce the idea that all CI is this negotiation, scaled up.

DEBRIEF — "What did you notice was moving that you thought was still?"

WATCH FOR — Standing eyes-closed can make some people dizzy; offer the wall. This is also your first read of who's comfortable and who's guarded.

2. Melt to the Floor · [Tier ① Arriving]

Players: 1–10 (solo) · Time: 8–10 min · Contact: self / floor

PURPOSE — Befriends the floor, the most important partner in CI. Teaches the sequential giving of weight and rehearses lowering the body safely — the root of all falling and rolling.

SETUP — Space per person to lie down. Slow music.

PLAY 1. Standing, "find one place in your body that's holding — soften it." 2. "Slowly, over the next few minutes, give your weight to the floor — one body part at a time. There's no rush. Let the floor take you." 3. Guide the descent: knees → hip → ribs → shoulders → head, sequentially, never a collapse. 4. On the floor: "Let the floor hold all of you. Where are you still holding weight off it?" 5. Slowly reverse: rise sequentially back to standing.

CUES — "The floor is completely reliable. It will never drop you." · "One part at a time." · "Give a little more."

VARIATIONS - Easier: just lie down and rest; feel contact points with the floor. - Harder: descend and rise via a spiral, discovering how the body naturally rotates.

DEBRIEF — "Where is it easy to give your weight? Where is it hard?" (This preview which body areas will trust a partner.)

WATCH FOR — Watch knees on the way down — offer a hand-to-floor path. This is where you first teach "give weight sequentially, don't collapse."

3. Body Weather Report · [Tier ① Arriving]

Players: 2–10 · Time: 5 min · Contact: none (verbal)

PURPOSE — Builds the container and consent culture with words before touch. Normalizes self-awareness and gives you a read on the room. Lowers the stakes with lightness.

SETUP — Circle, standing or sitting.

PLAY 1. "In one sentence, give the weather report for your body right now. 'Foggy with a chance of caffeine.' 'Tight shoulders, clear skies below.'" 2. Go around the circle. Keep it quick and playful. 3. As facilitator, go first and model brevity + honesty. 4. Optionally add: "…and one thing you'd like to protect today." (Injuries surface naturally here.)

CUES — "One sentence." · "No fixing, just reporting."

VARIATIONS - Easier: just a single weather word. - Harder / deeper: add "and what I'm here for today."

DEBRIEF — none needed; this is the debrief format for the day.

WATCH FOR — Keep it moving; don't let it become therapy. You're taking a reading, not opening cases.

4. The Mirror Hand · [Tier ① Arriving]

Players: 2 (pairs) · Time: 8 min · Contact: none → optional light

PURPOSE — First partnering, but without touch — removes the intimacy hurdle while introducing attunement, following, and shared leadership. The on-ramp to listening to another body.

SETUP — Pairs facing, palms up ~15 cm apart, no contact.

PLAY 1. Person A moves a hand slowly; B's hand follows as if magnetically linked, keeping the gap constant. 2. After a minute, switch leader. Then: "Let go of who's leading. Let it become mutual." 3. Expand: the following spreads from hand to whole body. The pair moves through space, still no contact, still linked. 4. Optional bridge: let the palms finally touch and continue — the first consented contact of the day.

CUES — "Keep the gap alive." · "Who's leading? Can you not know?" · "Let your feet get involved."

VARIATIONS - Easier: stay seated, hands only. - Harder: eyes softer, whole-body, travel across the room.

DEBRIEF — "Could you tell when leadership dissolved? How did that feel?"

WATCH FOR — Pair the shyest people with warm, patient partners. Rotate so no one's stuck.

5. Follow the Breath · [Tier ① Arriving]

Players: 2 (pairs) · Time: 6–8 min · Contact: light (back)

PURPOSE — The gentlest weight-and-listening game. Introduces sustained back contact and attunement through a calm, non-threatening channel: breathing.

SETUP — Pairs sit back-to-back on the floor, spines gently leaning together.

PLAY 1. "Let your backs rest against each other. Feel the light shared weight." 2. "Say nothing. Just breathe. Notice your partner's breath through your back." 3. "Without trying, let your breathing find a shared rhythm — or don't. Just notice." 4. After a few minutes: "Let a small sway begin, staying in contact."

CUES — "Feel the warmth of contact." · "Nothing to do but breathe and notice." · "Let the back listen."

VARIATIONS - Easier: just rest, no sway. - Harder: stand up together keeping backs in contact the whole way (bridges to game #8).

DEBRIEF — "What did you learn about your partner without a single word?"

WATCH FOR — Match heights loosely for back-to-back comfort. Honor anyone who prefers no back contact — offer shoulder-to-shoulder instead.

---

Tier ② — Warming

The dancer can share simple weight and stay in contact. The work is sensation.

6. Give Me a Pound · [Tier ② Warming]

Players: 2 · Time: 8–10 min · Contact: hands

PURPOSE — The literal, quantified introduction to sharing weight. Dancers learn that weight can be given in measured amounts and that a partner can be trusted with it, one increment at a time.

SETUP — Pairs stand facing, palms pressed together at chest height.

PLAY 1. "Press your palms together. Now give your partner one pound of your weight — just a little lean." 2. "Now take it back. Now give five pounds. Take it back." 3. "Now play: pass weight back and forth through your hands, changing how much, without words." 4. Grow it: "Let the hands travel — the point of contact can move while you keep sharing weight."

CUES — "How little can you give and still feel it?" · "Match what you receive." · "Stay in conversation."

VARIATIONS - Easier: stay at 1–2 pounds the whole time. - Harder: lean far enough that you'd fall if the partner vanished — real counterbalance (bridges to #13).

DEBRIEF — "When did you trust the weight? When did you brace against it?"

WATCH FOR — Feet planted, no sudden dumps of weight. Teach: never give more than your partner is receiving.

7. Listening Hands · [Tier ② Warming]

Players: 2 · Time: 8–10 min · Contact: one hand, constant

PURPOSE — Trains the core skill of following the point of contact in its simplest form, and introduces dancing with eyes closed — trusting touch over sight.

SETUP — Pairs, one palm resting against partner's palm. One dancer closes eyes.

PLAY 1. Eyes-open partner slowly leads the eyes-closed partner around via the hand contact only. Gentle, responsible. 2. "Leader: take them somewhere safe and interesting. Follower: trust the hand." 3. Switch roles. Then: "Both eyes closed. No leader. Let the hand decide."

CUES — "The hand is the whole conversation." · "Slow enough to be trustworthy." · "Follow the point, not your idea of where it's going."

VARIATIONS - Easier: both eyes open. - Harder: the contact point migrates from hand to forearm to shoulder while dancing.

DEBRIEF — "Eyes closed — what changed? Was it easier to lead or follow?"

WATCH FOR — The eyes-open leader is fully responsible for the blind partner's safety — no walls, no other pairs. Go slow.

8. Back-to-Back Rise · [Tier ② Warming]

Players: 2 · Time: 6 min · Contact: back, constant

PURPOSE — The classic first counterbalance: standing up together from the floor using shared weight through the backs. A small, reliable taste of "I can't do this without your weight."

SETUP — Pairs sit on the floor back-to-back, knees bent, feet flat, spines pressed together.

PLAY 1. "Press your backs together and find the shared lean." 2. "On a count, push through your feet and stand up together — using each other's weight through your backs. Don't lose contact." 3. Sit back down together, controlled. Repeat, finding efficiency. 4. Explore: rise and lower slowly, pausing anywhere.

CUES — "Push into each other, not away." · "Find the shared line of weight." · "Let their back help you."

VARIATIONS - Easier: link elbows for extra security. - Harder: rise and lower with eyes closed; find it by feel.

DEBRIEF — "You literally couldn't stand without their counter-weight. How did that trust feel?"

WATCH FOR — Match heights/weights roughly. Watch for knees; anyone with knee issues sits this out or goes slow.

9. The Leaning Tower · [Tier ② Warming]

Players: 2 · Time: 8 min · Contact: varies, constant

PURPOSE — Extends counterbalance into exploration: how far can two bodies lean, tilt, and hang off each other while staying balanced? Builds trust in shared weight as a structure.

SETUP — Pairs, hands clasped or forearms gripped, standing facing, feet close together.

PLAY 1. "Grip forearms. Lean back so your combined weight makes a stable A-frame. Feel how you hold each other up." 2. "Explore: lean further, tilt side to side, lower toward the floor and back, always balanced through the grip." 3. "Find the edge — how far off vertical can you go and still be a stable structure?"

CUES — "You are one structure now." · "Equal and opposite." · "Find the place where you could rest here."

VARIATIONS - Easier: small leans only, feet wide. - Harder: one partner lowers to the floor while the other counterbalances (bridges to #13/#15).

DEBRIEF — "Where was the balance point? What happened when you found it exactly?"

WATCH FOR — Grip that can't slip; sweaty hands are how people drop. Feet positioned to catch a lost balance. No sudden releases — teach: release weight gradually, always.

10. The Rolling Point · [Tier ② Warming]

Players: 1 then 2 · Time: 10–12 min · Contact: self → partner

PURPOSE — Isolates and trains the rolling point of contact — the single most central skill in CI — first solo against the floor, then with a partner.

SETUP — Space to move on the floor. Slow-to-mid music.

PLAY 1. Solo: "Lie down. Find where your body touches the floor. Now roll slowly, so the point of contact travels continuously across your body — never lifting off, never jumping. Trace it." 2. "Follow that rolling point around your whole body — shoulder, back, hip, thigh." 3. Partner: pairs make one point of contact (shoulder to shoulder). "Now let that point roll — across shoulders, down arms, along backs — never breaking, never jumping." 4. Let it become a slow continuous dance led entirely by the traveling point.

CUES — "Continuous, not stepwise." · "The point leads; you follow." · "Where does it want to go?"

VARIATIONS - Easier: stay solo on the floor. - Harder: eyes closed; standing; add gentle weight through the point.

DEBRIEF — "When did the point 'lead' you somewhere you didn't plan? Could you follow without steering?"

WATCH FOR — The urge to jump the point to a new spot — that's not the skill. Keep it rolling and connected. This is the game you'll return to all form long.

11. Sticky Points · [Tier ② Warming]

Players: 2 · Time: 8 min · Contact: one point, constant

PURPOSE — Playful drilling of maintaining unbroken contact through changing shapes. Builds continuity and creativity while keeping the stakes light and fun.

SETUP — Pairs standing.

PLAY 1. "Touch at one point — say, elbow to elbow. Pretend it's glued. It cannot break." 2. "Now move, explore, change levels, turn — but that glue never lets go." 3. Facilitator calls new sticky points every 45 sec: "Now knee to knee!" "Now shoulder to hip!" Dancers travel to the new point without ever fully breaking contact.

CUES — "The glue never breaks." · "Find the strange shapes." · "Travel to the new point along the body."

VARIATIONS - Easier: fewer changes, hands only. - Harder: two sticky points at once; or transition to a new point only by rolling the old one there.

DEBRIEF — "What shapes did you end up in that you'd never choose on purpose?"

WATCH FOR — Fun energy can speed things up and get careless — keep it slow enough to stay safe. No wrenching to reach a point.

---

Tier ③ — Rolling

The dancer can follow a moving point of contact and give/take weight. The work is flow.

12. Rolling Point Duets · [Tier ③ Rolling]

Players: 2 · Time: 12–15 min · Contact: continuous, rolling

PURPOSE — The first true CI duet: a continuous improvised dance led by the rolling point of contact, integrating everything from Tier ②. This is "real" contact improv at an accessible flow.

SETUP — Pairs, clear space. Mid-tempo, spacious music.

PLAY 1. "Make one point of contact. Let it roll — like game #10 — but now let it travel anywhere, and let your whole bodies follow it into a continuous dance." 2. "No planning. The point leads. You'll rise, turn, lower, wind around each other — all from following that traveling contact." 3. "If you lose it, calmly find one new point and continue. Losing contact isn't failure — reconnecting is part of the dance." 4. Run 5–7 minutes per configuration; re-partner.

CUES — "Follow, don't drive." · "Let it surprise you." · "Reconnect without apology." · "Come to stillness anytime you need."

VARIATIONS - Easier: keep both feet mostly grounded; slow tempo. - Harder: let more weight travel through the point; eyes closed; add pauses of shared weight (#14).

DEBRIEF — "Who was leading? Could you tell? What was it like to not know where the dance was going?"

WATCH FOR — This is where beginners start bracing or steering. Cue softening. Ensure enough space between pairs; assign zones if crowded.

13. The Counterbalance · [Tier ③ Rolling]

Players: 2 · Time: 12 min · Contact: grips / points, weighted

PURPOSE — Develops true counterbalance in motion — two bodies leaning into and hanging off each other's weight, moving through space as a mutually dependent structure. The doorway to weight-taking.

SETUP — Pairs. Warm bodies (do after warm-up). Mid music.

PLAY 1. Recap the A-frame from The Leaning Tower (#9). 2. "Now keep that mutual weight, but move — travel across the floor, spiral down toward the ground and back up, circle each other, always counterbalanced." 3. "Explore giving more weight — the point where if your partner stepped away, you'd fall. Trust that they won't." 4. "Find sitting, hanging, and suspended shapes where you rely completely on each other's counter-weight."

CUES — "Equal and opposite, in motion." · "Commit your weight — half-commitment is what's unstable." · "Feel their center, not just their hands."

VARIATIONS - Easier: keep it grip-based and slow. - Harder: counterbalance down to the floor and back up in one continuous phrase; migrate the contact from hands to backs mid-lean.

DEBRIEF — "Counterbalance only works if you commit your weight. Where did you hold back, and what happened?"

WATCH FOR — Grip security; gradual weight changes; feet ready to recover. The classic injury is a sudden release — drill gradual release.

14. Give and Take · [Tier ③ Rolling]

Players: 2 · Time: 12–15 min · Contact: weighted, continuous

PURPOSE — Trains the active giving and taking of weight as a fluid conversation — the engine of CI. Dancers learn to offer weight, receive it, and pass it back, reading how much a partner can hold.

SETUP — Pairs, warm. Do after #12 or #13.

PLAY 1. "One of you gives weight — lean a real amount onto your partner. The other takes it — receives and supports it." 2. "Now trade fluidly: giver becomes taker. Weight sloshes back and forth between you." 3. "Explore: how much can you take? How little can you give and still be felt? Support each other's weight partially off the floor — a hip resting, a torso draped." 4. Let it dissolve into a full duet where giving and taking flow continuously.

CUES — "Offer, don't dump." · "Receive with your whole structure, not just your arms." · "Ask through your body: can you take this?"

VARIATIONS - Easier: stay with small, grounded weight exchanges. - Harder: one partner takes another's full weight briefly (leads toward Tier ④–⑤). Only with skilled, warm dancers.

DEBRIEF — "How did you communicate 'I can take more' or 'that's my limit' without words?"

WATCH FOR — Never dump full weight without the taker ready. Teach receivers to route weight down through their skeleton to the floor, not to muscle it.

15. Surfing the Table · [Tier ③ Rolling]

Players: 2 · Time: 12 min · Contact: broad surfaces, weighted

PURPOSE — Introduces getting onto a partner's supportive surface (the "table" — a hands-and-knees back) and traveling across it. First taste of being supported off the floor, safely and low.

SETUP — Pairs. One makes a stable "table": hands-and-knees, strong flat back, head neutral.

PLAY 1. "Table: make a strong, stable surface. Do not move unless you choose to — you're the ground now." 2. "Surfer: explore the table with your weight. Drape your back over it. Roll across it slowly. Let it support part of your weight." 3. "Table: you can slowly move — travel forward, sink toward the floor — offering the surfer new terrain." 4. Switch roles. Then explore transitions between the two.

CUES — "Table: strong and honest." · "Surfer: distribute your weight, don't point-load." · "Roll across, don't clamber."

VARIATIONS - Easier: surfer only leans across; no full weight. - Harder: surfer rolls fully across the table's back and off the other side into the floor (rehearse the landing/roll first).

DEBRIEF — "As the table, what told you the surfer trusted you? As the surfer, when did you commit your weight?"

WATCH FOR — Never put weight on the spine's small of the back or the neck — weight rides over the strong ribcage/pelvis area of the table. Table protects their own neck and lower back. Keep everything low and rollable.

16. Over and Under · [Tier ③ Rolling]

Players: 2 · Time: 10–12 min · Contact: continuous

PURPOSE — Builds three-dimensional flow: dancers pass over and under each other continuously, training level changes, spirals, and the vertical dimension of the dance.

SETUP — Pairs, warm, clear floor.

PLAY 1. "Keeping one point of contact, one of you goes over your partner, the other goes under — like weaving." 2. "Now keep weaving — over, under, over, under — continuously, always in contact, always changing levels." 3. "Let it become a spiral: the weaving naturally turns you around each other." 4. Drop the assigned roles: "Let over/under happen organically wherever the dance offers it."

CUES — "Spiral, don't stiffen." · "Use the floor as a partner too." · "Let a duck-under become a roll."

VARIATIONS - Easier: slow, one clear over and one clear under, reset between. - Harder: add weight-sharing through the passes; continuous with no resets.

DEBRIEF — "How did the vertical dimension change the dance? Where did spirals appear on their own?"

WATCH FOR — Heads under bodies is a pinch-point — keep passes roomy and slow. No one goes fully under a partner's weight yet.

17. Follow the Blob · [Tier ③ Rolling]

Players: 3–6 (small group) · Time: 12–15 min · Contact: group, continuous

PURPOSE — The first group contact score. Multiple bodies stay in continuous contact as one moving mass, training group attunement, spatial awareness, and shared weight beyond the duet.

SETUP — Groups of 3–6. Everyone in gentle contact, forming one connected "blob."

PLAY 1. "You're one organism now — the blob. Everyone stays in contact with at least one other body at all times." 2. "The blob moves. No leader. It travels, changes shape, rises and lowers — as one connected mass." 3. "Roll the points of contact through the whole blob. Weight can be shared anywhere." 4. Add a soft prompt: "The blob is curious… the blob is sleepy… the blob wants the far wall."

CUES — "At least one point of contact, always." · "Feel the whole blob, not just your neighbor." · "No one drives; everyone listens."

VARIATIONS - Easier: stay standing/leaning, minimal weight. - Harder: the blob passes a single body across its surface; eyes closed for some members.

DEBRIEF — "Did the group ever move as one? What made it fragment? Who noticed the whole vs. just their partner?"

WATCH FOR — More bodies = more collision risk. Keep it slow. Ensure the physically smallest aren't crushed under group weight; no one takes more than their own.

---

Tier ④ — Flowing

The dancer improvises continuously, uses momentum, goes off-balance willingly. The work is range.

18. Off the Vertical · [Tier ④ Flowing]

Players: 2 · Time: 12–15 min · Contact: weighted, continuous

PURPOSE — Trains the willingness to leave stable uprightness — to go off-balance on purpose and trust the partner and the floor to catch the fall. The psychological gateway to advanced CI.

SETUP — Experienced pairs, fully warm. Soft floor. Rolling rehearsed.

PLAY 1. Recap safe rolling and falling solo. "You already know how to meet the floor." 2. "In a duet, start letting yourself go past your balance point — tip off the vertical — knowing you can roll out of it or your partner's weight can redirect it." 3. "Use your partner's counter-weight to go further off balance than you could alone, then recover or roll." 4. "Play at the edge: the thrilling moment of falling, redirected into the dance."

CUES — "Fall into the dance, not away from it." · "The floor is still your friend." · "Redirect, don't resist."

VARIATIONS - Easier: small tips with quick recovery. - Harder: sustained off-balance passes; falls that become rolls that become the next lift-off.

DEBRIEF — "What's the story your body tells when it goes off balance — fear or thrill? Did that change over the game?"

WATCH FOR — Only for groups who can roll reflexively. Clear floor, big margins. Any dancer can decline any off-balance moment. This is where the form gets genuinely risky — earn it.

19. Momentum Studies · [Tier ④ Flowing]

Players: 2 · Time: 12–15 min · Contact: continuous, dynamic

PURPOSE — Introduces momentum as a dance partner — using swing, arc, and centrifugal force so that movement flows from physics rather than muscle. The efficiency that makes advanced CI possible (and safe).

SETUP — Experienced pairs, very warm. Generous space.

PLAY 1. "Find a shared point and start a gentle swing — an arm, a lean, a turn — let momentum build." 2. "Now use the momentum: let it carry a body around, down, up. Don't muscle — let the swing do the work." 3. "Pass momentum between you: your spin feeds their arc feeds your fall feeds their rise." 4. "Find the effortless places where physics is doing the dancing."

CUES — "Let the swing decide." · "Muscle is expensive; momentum is free." · "Feed the arc, don't stop it."

VARIATIONS - Easier: small pendulum swings, grounded. - Harder: momentum carries a partner briefly airborne (bridges to #22); spins into off-balance (#18).

DEBRIEF — "Where did the dance move you instead of you moving it? How did that feel different from effortful dancing?"

WATCH FOR — Momentum makes things fast and hard to abort — build speed gradually, keep exits available. Watch for wrists/shoulders taking swing loads.

20. The Rolling Table · [Tier ④ Flowing]

Players: 2–3 · Time: 12 min · Contact: broad, weighted, dynamic

PURPOSE — Advances Surfing the Table into continuous flow: the supporting surface itself moves and morphs, and the supported dancer travels across a changing landscape — training dynamic, on-the-move weight support.

SETUP — Experienced pairs/trios, warm.

PLAY 1. Recap the table/surfer roles (#15). 2. "Now the table is alive and moving — it travels, tilts, rises to a stand, sinks to the floor — offering a constantly changing surface." 3. "Surfer: ride the changing landscape continuously. As the table sinks, roll off; as it rises, drape on." 4. "Trade table/surfer roles fluidly, without stopping — whoever's lower becomes the surface."

CUES — "The landscape is always changing — stay curious." · "Trade roles by feel, not by plan." · "Support travels through the strong bones."

VARIATIONS - Easier: table moves slowly, low to the ground. - Harder: trio — two make a shifting landscape, one surfs; rotate.

DEBRIEF — "How did it feel to be supported by something that wouldn't hold still? When did role-trades happen cleanly?"

WATCH FOR — Rising tables carry real load — only strong, warm bodies, and never weight on spine/neck. Keep the surfer low enough that any fall is a short roll.

21. Trio Weather · [Tier ④ Flowing]

Players: 3 · Time: 12–15 min · Contact: continuous, shifting

PURPOSE — Trains the specific intelligence of the trio — the constant shifting of who's dancing with whom, when to join, when to give space. The bridge from duet fluency to true ensemble sensing.

SETUP — Groups of 3, experienced. Mid music.

PLAY 1. "Three bodies, continuous contact-dancing. But three can't all fully dance at once — so the shape keeps shifting: a duet with a witness, then a trio, then a different duet." 2. "Feel when to join a duet and when to give it space. Feel when to be the one who rests and watches." 3. "Let weight and points of contact flow between all three, in every combination."

CUES — "Read the whole triangle." · "Sometimes the dance is to step out." · "Join by feel, not by force."

VARIATIONS - Easier: pre-assign a rotation (A+B dance, C rests, then rotate). - Harder: fully emergent; add weight-taking across all three.

DEBRIEF — "How did you know when to enter and when to wait? Did anyone dominate or disappear?"

WATCH FOR — Third-person collisions; the "rester" needs a clear safe spot. Watch that the same person isn't always left out — that's a container wound.

---

Tier ⑤ — Fluent

The dancer plays with lifts, disorientation, and risk in real time. The work is artistry.

22. Taking Flight · [Tier ⑤ Fluent]

Players: 2 (+ 1 spotter) · Time: 15–20 min · Contact: full weight, airborne

PURPOSE — Introduces lifts — one body fully supported off the floor — arising from momentum and shared weight rather than strength. The most exhilarating and highest-risk element in the form.

SETUP — Only fully warm, experienced, fluent dancers. A stable, forgiving floor — sprung wood if you have it, and not deep foam: a soft base under the base dancer's feet is exactly what you don't want when someone is airborne. A spotter for each pair. Rolling and off-balance work already solid.

PLAY 1. Frame hard: "Lifts come from momentum and shared weight, not lifting. If it feels like weightlifting, stop — that's the injury path." 2. Start tiny: "Find a moment where a swing or counterbalance carries one body's feet just off the floor — for an instant. Land it as a roll." 3. "Grow the airborne moment gradually. The flyer stays active — responsible for their own landing, always." 4. "Let flight arise inside a flowing dance, not as a stunt you set up."

CUES — "Flight is a long counterbalance, not a lift." · "Flyer: never go passive — steer your own landing." · "Small and safe beats big and scary."

VARIATIONS - Easier: feet-just-off-floor moments only; no height. - Harder: sustained flight, flowing entries and exits — for genuinely fluent dancers only.

DEBRIEF — "Where did flight come from momentum vs. muscle? Flyers — did you stay active through the landing?"

WATCH FOR — The highest-risk game in this book. Spotters mandatory, and a spotter is not a bystander: they stand close enough to feel awkward about it, hands up, with one overriding job — keep the flyer's head and neck off the floor. A spotter who doesn't feel able to catch a particular lift says so, and it doesn't happen.

Agree the exit out loud before the entry — most lift injuries come from confusion about how it ends, not how it starts. One word aborts anything: "Down." Any of the three can call it and everyone goes to the floor immediately, no discussion. Never surprise-lift anyone. The base protects their own spine; the flyer protects their own neck and lands as a roll. When in doubt, don't.

23. Disorientation Scores · [Tier ⑤ Fluent]

Players: 2 · Time: 12–15 min · Contact: continuous, dynamic

PURPOSE — Deliberately trains dancing while upside-down, spinning, and spatially disoriented — the state where the body's righting reflexes lead. The frontier where advanced CI becomes reflex-led art.

SETUP — Fluent dancers, fully warm, expert rolling. Soft floor, big margins.

PLAY 1. "Play with orientation: inversions, spins, rolls where up and down keep changing." 2. "Let your reflexes take over. You've trained your body to find the floor — now trust it while disoriented." 3. "Dance the moments where you genuinely don't know which way is up, and let the recovery be the dance."

CUES — "Trust the reflex you've trained." · "Disorientation is information, not danger." · "Let the recovery flow, don't slam the brakes."

VARIATIONS - Easier: controlled inversions with clear entries/exits. - Harder: sustained disorientation woven through momentum and flight.

DEBRIEF — "What happened in the moments you couldn't orient? Did your trained reflexes catch you?"

WATCH FOR — Dizziness and misjudged floors are real hazards; keep durations short and margins huge. Any dancer opts out of any inversion. Necks are precious — no weight through an inverted neck.

24. The Round Robin Jam · [Tier ⑤ Fluent]

Players: 4–10 · Time: 20–40 min · Contact: open, ensemble

PURPOSE — The traditional culminating form of a CI gathering: an open, self-organizing jam with a witnessing container. Integrates everything — duets form and dissolve, dancers enter and exit, the group breathes as one. This is CI in its native, artful state.

SETUP — The whole group. A defined dance space with a clear "edge" where dancers can sit, rest, and witness. Full playlist. Consent tools already alive.

PLAY 1. "This is an open jam. Dance with whoever, whenever — duets, trios, solos. Enter when you're called, rest at the edge when you're not." 2. "The edge is part of the dance — witnessing is participating. Rest is honored, not lazy." 3. "Enter a dance by offering contact; leave one with the exit bow. Let the whole room's weather guide you." 4. Facilitator holds time and space, tends the edges, and dances only to seed or rescue.

CUES — "Witnessing is dancing." · "Enter and exit cleanly." · "Feel the whole room, not just your dance." · "Stillness is always complete."

VARIATIONS - Easier: time-boxed rounds; suggest configurations ("find a new partner"). - Harder / freer: fully open, facilitator nearly silent — the group self-governs.

DEBRIEF — Circle up after. "What did the room's weather do over the jam? When did you dance, and when did you rest — and could you honor both?"

WATCH FOR — In a free jam, mixed fluency means mixed risk — keep an eye on beginner/advanced pairings and on anyone consistently left at the edge. Protect the exit culture. This is where you host, mostly silent, always watching.

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Expansion Set — More Contact Games

Ten further scores that thicken the upper tiers and add group/ensemble work, numbered continuing from the core deck. Slot them into the tier sections above when you plan.

Tier ③ — Rolling (continued)

25. Falling & Rolling Practice · [Tier ③ Rolling]

Players: 1 → 2 · Time: 12–15 min · Contact: self / floor → light

PURPOSE — Dedicated training in the single most protective skill in CI: dispersing a fall across a rounded body into a roll, rather than catching it on a joint. A group that can roll reflexively can play safely at the edge of balance — so this unlocks the whole upper half of the ladder.

SETUP — Cushioned floor ideal (foam shines here). Space per person. Warm bodies.

PLAY 1. Solo, low: "From sitting or kneeling, practice rolling — log rolls, then rolling diagonally across the rounded back from one shoulder to the opposite hip. Stay round; no flat landings." 2. "Add the spiral descent: from standing, spiral down to the floor along a continuous curve, and back up." 3. "Now let a small loss of balance become a roll — tip, and roll out of it smoothly." 4. Partner: "One gently takes the other slightly off balance; the falling partner rolls out of it safely. Trade."

CUES — "Round everywhere — no corners." · "Meet the floor, don't hit it." · "Turn the fall into a roll."

VARIATIONS - Easier: floor-level rolling only, no falling. - Harder: rolls from standing; rolls that flow directly into the next movement.

DEBRIEF — "Where does your body still brace instead of round? What made falling feel safe?"

WATCH FOR — Never roll across the head, neck, or a straight arm; tuck and round. Wrists don't take the landing — the rounded back does. Foam floor or mats for repeated practice.

26. The Underdance · [Tier ③ Rolling]

Players: 2 · Time: 12–15 min · Contact: continuous, floor-based

PURPOSE — An entire duet danced low — on and near the floor — where bodies roll through, under, and around each other continuously. Delivers rich, complex contact with almost none of the height risk, which makes it ideal for building fluency (and perfect on a foam floor).

SETUP — Pairs. Cushioned floor preferred. Warm.

PLAY 1. "Stay below kneeling height for this whole dance — the ceiling is low." 2. "Find a rolling point of contact on the ground and let it lead you through, under, and around each other — sliding, spiraling, weaving on the floor." 3. "Share weight freely — down here, if you lose balance you're already home." 4. Let it be a continuous, unhurried floor duet.

CUES — "Keep the ceiling low." · "Roll through, not over." · "The floor is the third dancer."

VARIATIONS - Easier: slow, minimal weight; lots of space. - Harder: add brief rises to kneeling and back; eyes closed passages.

DEBRIEF — "What became possible staying low that feels risky standing? How did the floor help?"

WATCH FOR — Pinned limbs and hair; keep weight off the spine and neck; communicate before rolling onto a partner. Low and slow.

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Tier ④ — Flowing (continued)

27. Sliding & Gliding · [Tier ④ Flowing]

Players: 2 · Time: 10–12 min · Contact: dynamic, weighted

PURPOSE — Harnesses momentum on a smooth floor so a body travels by gliding rather than stepping — the signature pleasure of a hardwood or marley surface. Trains sending, receiving, and redirecting travelling weight.

SETUP — A gliding surface (hardwood/marley), socks or smooth soles. Long clear runway. Warm, experienced pairs. (This game does not work on foam — see Chapter 6.)

PLAY 1. "One of you sinks low and stable; the other builds a little momentum and glides along the floor, supported at the point of contact." 2. "Send and receive: give a partner a gentle glide across the floor, then catch and redirect it back." 3. "Explore gliding on hips, backs, sides — let the floor carry the weight while you steer."

CUES — "Let the floor do the carrying." · "Send, don't shove." · "Steer the glide; don't stop it."

VARIATIONS - Easier: short, slow glides close to the ground. - Harder: longer glides, standing entries, glide-to-roll finishes.

DEBRIEF — "How is moving by momentum different from moving by muscle? What did the floor make possible?"

WATCH FOR — Requires a slippery floor and a clear runway — never on foam, never toward walls. Watch fingers/toes catching the floor; build speed gradually; keep an abort-to-stillness always available.

28. Suspension & Hang · [Tier ④ Flowing]

Players: 2 · Time: 10–12 min · Contact: weighted, gripping

PURPOSE — Explores hanging part or most of one's weight off a partner's stable frame — traction, grip, and the delicious length of a hung spine. A lower-risk cousin of lifts: no flight, but real weight-bearing and trust.

SETUP — Pairs, roughly matched or strong base. Warm.

PLAY 1. "Base: make a strong, grounded frame — a wide stable stance, a braced offered arm or shoulder or hip." 2. "Hanger: give your weight down through a grip — hang from the offered frame, letting your spine and limbs lengthen. Feet stay light, or briefly leave the floor." 3. "Explore different hangs — from clasped hands, from the shoulders, draped over a hip. Feel the traction." 4. Switch roles.

CUES — "Hang from the strong bones." · "Base: root and brace." · "Let the weight lengthen you."

VARIATIONS - Easier: feet stay grounded; partial hang only. - Harder: fuller hangs with feet off; moving while one hangs.

DEBRIEF — "What did it feel like to fully commit your weight to a grip? Base — where did you have to be strong?"

WATCH FOR — Base keeps a neutral, braced spine and never hangs weight off their own lumbar; grip must be secure (dry hands); build gradually and release gradually. Not a yank — a settle.

29. The Spiral · [Tier ④ Flowing]

Players: 2 · Time: 10–12 min · Contact: continuous

PURPOSE — A continuous helix: two bodies winding up and down around a shared axis without stopping. Integrates level change, rotation, and momentum into one seamless phrase — the quality that makes advanced CI look like a single flowing braid.

SETUP — Pairs, warm, clear space.

PLAY 1. "Find a point of contact and a shared vertical axis between you." 2. "Now spiral — wind slowly down toward the floor around that axis, then wind back up — continuously, like a double helix turning." 3. "Let the contact roll as you spiral; let momentum carry the turns." 4. "Never stop and restart — find the endless spiral."

CUES — "One continuous helix." · "Let the turn carry you down and up." · "Roll the point as you wind."

VARIATIONS - Easier: slow, small spirals staying upright. - Harder: full floor-to-standing spirals; add weight-sharing through the wind.

DEBRIEF — "Where did the spiral flow on its own? Where did you have to force a turn?"

WATCH FOR — Continuous turning can bring dizziness — pace it; keep knees soft on the descents; protect the point of contact through the level changes.

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Tier ⑤ — Fluent (continued)

30. The Lift Vocabulary · [Tier ⑤ Fluent]

Players: 2 (+ 1 spotter) · Time: 15–20 min · Contact: full weight, airborne

PURPOSE — Gives Taking Flight (#22) concrete form: three named, relatively accessible lifts that arise from shared weight and counterbalance rather than muscle. A vocabulary to draw on once flight is safe for a group.

SETUP — Only fully warm, fluent dancers. A stable, forgiving floor — not deep foam (see #22). A spotter per pair. Solid rolling and off-balance work already in place.

PLAY 1. The Table Lift: base makes a strong table (#15); flyer drapes their belly/hips across the base's back, finds balance, and floats their feet — supported, not held. Roll off to finish. 2. The Counterbalance Lift: partners grip and lean into opposition (#13) until one is carried off the floor by the shared weight, then lowered. 3. The Lap/Thigh Sit: base sinks to a strong seated-squat; flyer perches on the offered thigh/lap, weight shared, briefly, then down. 4. "Enter each from a flowing dance, not a setup. Small and safe first."

CUES — "It's counterbalance, not lifting." · "Flyer stays active — steer your own landing." · "Enter from the flow; exit to a roll."

VARIATIONS - Easier: feet-just-off-floor versions of each; never above hip height. - Harder: flowing entries and exits linking lifts into a dance — fluent dancers only.

DEBRIEF — "Which lift came from shared weight vs. muscle? Flyers — did you stay active through the landing?"

WATCH FOR — Highest-risk material in the book. Spotters mandatory, positioned to protect the flyer's head and neck above all else, and free to decline any lift they don't feel able to catch. Agree the exit out loud before the entry; "Down" aborts anything, called by anyone, instantly. Never surprise-lift anyone. Base protects their spine; flyer protects their neck and lands as a roll. If it feels like weightlifting, stop. When in doubt, don't. (See Chapter 4.)

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Group & Ensemble Scores (3–10 dancers)

Scores for the whole room. They train the ensemble intelligence a jam runs on — sensing and moving as a collective body.

31. Flocking · [Tier ③ Rolling · group]

Players: 4–10 · Time: 8–10 min · Contact: none / light

PURPOSE — Ensemble attunement with little or no contact: the group moves as a flock — a murmuration — following whoever is momentarily at the "front," leadership passing silently as the flock turns. The gentlest on-ramp to group sensing.

SETUP — The group in a loose clump, all roughly facing one direction. Open space.

PLAY 1. "Move together as a flock, all following the person currently at the front, matching their movement." 2. "When the flock turns, whoever is now at the front becomes the leader — no words, no appointing. Leadership just shifts with the facing." 3. "Stay close, move as one body, keep it slow enough that the whole flock can follow."

CUES — "One flock, one movement." · "Leadership shifts with the turn." · "Feel the whole, not just the front."

VARIATIONS - Easier: very slow, simple movements, tight clump. - Harder: add levels, travel, and speed changes; let sub-flocks split and merge.

DEBRIEF — "Could you feel leadership pass without anyone deciding? When did the flock move as one?"

WATCH FOR — Collisions when it speeds up — keep it slow and spatially aware. Everyone shares responsibility for not steering the flock into walls.

32. The Landscape · [Tier ④ Flowing · group]

Players: 4–10 · Time: 12–15 min · Contact: broad, weighted

PURPOSE — Extends Surfing the Table and The Rolling Table to a group: several bodies become a shifting terrain — tables, slopes, bridges, valleys — while one or two dancers travel across it. Trains group weight-support and reading a living environment.

SETUP — Groups of 4–10. Some form the landscape; 1–2 travel. Warm.

PLAY 1. "Landscape: together, build a terrain of strong surfaces — tables, low bridges, gentle slopes — and let it slowly shift and breathe." 2. "Travelers: journey across the landscape, distributing your weight, rolling and draping over its strong parts." 3. "Rotate: travelers melt into the landscape; landscape-makers peel off to travel."

CUES — "Landscape: strong and honest surfaces." · "Travelers: spread your weight; roll, don't clamber." · "Let the terrain slowly change."

VARIATIONS - Easier: a still landscape, low to the ground. - Harder: a slowly moving landscape; two travelers at once.

DEBRIEF — "As terrain, what told you a traveler trusted you? As traveler, where did you commit your weight?"

WATCH FOR — Weight only over strong bones (ribcage/pelvis), never spine or neck; travelers stay low so any fall is a short roll; everyone communicates before shifting. Foam is kind here.

33. Group Weight-Sharing (The Pile) · [Tier ④ Flowing · group]

Players: 3–10 · Time: 10–12 min · Contact: weighted, collective

PURPOSE — The whole group becomes one mutually-supported structure — everyone giving and receiving weight at once, a collective counterbalance. The felt experience of a group literally holding itself up together.

SETUP — Groups of 3–10, warm, experienced enough to share real weight. Establish clear communication first.

PLAY 1. "Start with three: lean into each other to make a stable tripod, weight shared through the middle." 2. "Add bodies one at a time, each finding a place to give and receive weight, until the whole group is one interdependent structure." 3. "Feel the shared load. Then dissolve it — slowly, one body at a time — until everyone is back on their own feet."

CUES — "Everyone gives and receives at once." · "Build slowly; dissolve even more slowly." · "Announce before you move."

VARIATIONS - Easier: small clusters of 3–4, gentle leans. - Harder: larger structures with level changes — advanced groups only.

DEBRIEF — "What did it feel like to be held by — and to help hold up — the whole group?"

WATCH FOR — The dissolve is the danger — a structure that collapses at once can hurt someone; come apart gradually and with warning. Protect anyone lower in the structure; never build weight onto a spine. Constant communication.

34. The Long-Form Score (The Underscore) · [Tier ⑤ Fluent · group]

Players: 4–10 · Time: 30–60 min · Contact: open, ensemble

PURPOSE — An extended, gently-structured group improvisation — inspired by Nancy Stark Smith's Underscore — that gives a long jam a shared arc. The room moves together through a sequence of named states, integrating everything in this book into one sustained practice. The culminating score.

SETUP — The whole group, ample time, a clear space with a witnessing edge. Consent and container fully established. Full playlist or long stretches of silence.

PLAY 1. Guide the room, with minimal words, through a slow sequence of phases over 30–60 minutes, e.g.: arriving (solo, small dances on the floor) → surfacing (rising, beginning to move through space) → meeting (first contact, small duets forming) → engaging (full weight-sharing, the heart of the jam) → resolving (dances completing, coming back to stillness) → harvesting (rest, integration). 2. "Within each phase, dance freely — the phase is a weather, not a rule." 3. Name each transition softly and sparingly; otherwise let the room self-organize.

CUES — "Let the phase color your dancing." · "Enter and exit dances cleanly." · "Witnessing is part of the score." · "Come to stillness whenever you need."

VARIATIONS - Easier: shorter (20 min), more explicit phase guidance. - Harder / freer: longer, nearly silent, the group holding the arc themselves.

DEBRIEF — Circle up. "How did the room's weather move through the phases? Where did you meet the whole group as one body?"

WATCH FOR — Your job is to hold time, space, and the edges while saying almost nothing. Protect the exit and witnessing culture; watch mixed-fluency pairings; land the group at the end — never leave a long deep jam without a real close. This is where everything integrates.

→ Next: Chapter 9 — Appendices