Falling

This chapter explores the interconnected realms of the theoretical and the practical by tracing the physical experience of moving from up to down, as well as the cultural rhetoric which equates falling with failure. What can the intentional practice of falling teach us about how to survive personal and national crises in this time of social instability and political uncertainty? Instead of nervously trying to avoid falling in a world in which so many aspects of our lives are being turned upside down, we can take a lesson from the contemporary movement form of Contact Improvisation, and practice ways in which to feel more comfortable with falling, failure, the ground, and gravity. Indeed, falling can teach us a great deal about resiliency—physical as well as emotional and even financial resiliency—helping us, in turn, mitigate the effects of panic about falling behind that seems to have permeated almost everyone’s being these days.