Maya Schwartz — Beyond Our Assumptions

How do the assumptions we carry shape the way we dance, connect, and understand one another? Dancer and improviser Maya Schwartz shares her path into dance and Contact Improvisation, opening a conversation about belonging and how we meet each other. We talk about the shared space of the jam: responsibility, technique, boundaries, and saying no. From there, the conversation moves into community, what we choose to share or keep private, and how identity and politics enter our encounters—on and beyond the dance floor. Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:16 Beginning the conversation
02:10 Finding her way into dance
09:39 Early Contact Improvisation
12:55 Yoga, meditation, and belonging
21:17 The space of the jam
26:27 Responsibility on the dance floor
32:33 Technique, floor, and space
41:40 Saying no
48:10 Moving, reading, and staying
54:36 Freiburg and community
01:00:53 Sharing and privacy
01:02:03 Identity and politics
01:14:03 Ending with hope

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