Steve Paxton

“Steve can change the atmosphere of a room with just the tiniest gesture and the deepest understanding of timing,” Ms. Hussie-Taylor said. “He is one of the Buddhas of American dance.”

Mr. Paxton is perhaps best known as the inventor of Contact Improvisation, a touch-based, weight sensitive, conversational and often athletic dance technique that, since its inception in 1972, has become practiced around the world. Its roots reflect his childhood, growing up in Tucson where he became an accomplished gymnast.

When he was young, Mr. Paxton said, he realized “all I ever wanted to do was dance,” so he came East in 1958 after being offered a scholarship to the American Dance Festival in Connecticut. He met choreographers there, including José Limón and Merce Cunningham, and joined Limón’s troupe before becoming a major figure in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in the early 1960s.

source
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/arts/dance/steve-paxton-tea-for-three-yvonne-rainer-simone-forti.html