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
- "One of you gives weight — lean a real amount onto your partner. The other takes it — receives and supports it."
- "Now trade fluidly: giver becomes taker. Weight sloshes back and forth between you."
- "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."
- 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.