Contact Improv Weekly Jam
"...dancing with somebody in an unplanned and spontaneous way, when you're free to invent and they're free to invent and you are neither one hampering the other - that's a very pleasant social form." ~Steve Paxton "Contact Improvisation is an open-ended exploration of the kinaesthetic possibilities of bodies moving through contact. Sometimes wild and athletic, sometimes quiet and meditative, it is a form open to all bodies and enquiring minds." ~Ray Chung |
Every Wednesday 7-8:30pm
Hosted by Amanda Franz, Abbi Jaffe, Sarai Hinkley, Mandy Snyder and other community facilitators Come join us in the dance. Contact Improvisation is dance/sport/art form involving an open-ended exploration of movement by listening with our bodies through a moving point of contact. It is a meeting point of physics, meditation and playfulness investigated within the body and in dialogue with another. As you engage the practice of contact improv, you may learn: ease of movement, comfortable ways for your body to share and receive weight, how to cultivate awareness and listening with eyes, ears, and skin, and how to be authentic to your own dance while moving with others. No prior experience required. Witnessing and observing are welcome elements of this practice. We also offer contact improv class series each year. $5-10 sliding scale. No one turned away. |
Community Roles and Accountabilities
As a community, we have co-created roles and accountabilities for the jam host, community members and new community members.
Feedback
We are here to co-create long term community relationships over time.
As organizers, we know that feedback loops are a necessary part of every system. Feedback loops are found in nature, in our bodies and in our social structures. Often unhealthy systems have destroyed or not listened to the feedback loops that were present. We value your opinions, perspectives and wisdom.
Options for feedback: You can fill out the feedback form linked below, make a comment in the comment box at The Everything Space, speak with the jam host on a Wed night, email Abbi or Amanda and/or the jam host, or ask to speak with one of us on the phone or in person.
As organizers, we know that feedback loops are a necessary part of every system. Feedback loops are found in nature, in our bodies and in our social structures. Often unhealthy systems have destroyed or not listened to the feedback loops that were present. We value your opinions, perspectives and wisdom.
Options for feedback: You can fill out the feedback form linked below, make a comment in the comment box at The Everything Space, speak with the jam host on a Wed night, email Abbi or Amanda and/or the jam host, or ask to speak with one of us on the phone or in person.
Community Evolution Forum
Contact Improvisation is a movement practice that can radically change ones' relationship to touch and interpersonal connection, which are two basic needs of human existence. While this is exciting and offers profound potential, it can also naturally have challenges.
The Montpelier CI Organizers and general community are committed to continually evolving the jam space to create a safer and more inclusive container. We do this through feedback loops, discussions, language, jam structure, personal inquiry and remaining in dialogue if something challenging comes up.
Please join us to evolve our community through our next Community Evolution Forum- a facilitated event to grow together.
All voices, every body welcome and wanted.
The Montpelier CI Organizers and general community are committed to continually evolving the jam space to create a safer and more inclusive container. We do this through feedback loops, discussions, language, jam structure, personal inquiry and remaining in dialogue if something challenging comes up.
Please join us to evolve our community through our next Community Evolution Forum- a facilitated event to grow together.
All voices, every body welcome and wanted.
Contact Improvisation and Social Justice Network
The Everything Space is dedicated to the intersection of somatics with social and environmental justice.
We are a part of a wider network of contact improvisers that are dedicated to social justice.
We are a part of a wider network of contact improvisers that are dedicated to social justice.
Learn More
Kathleen Rae's Contact Improv Consent Culture: Building of consent based culture within which to practice the art of contact dance improvisation
Richard Kim's Contact Improvisation Blog: Evangelizing, de-mystifying, supporting, and opining about my favorite post-modern art-sport
Richard Kim's Contact Improvisation Blog: Evangelizing, de-mystifying, supporting, and opining about my favorite post-modern art-sport
"I went to Contact Improv tonight for the first time. I'm not an athlete or a real dancer but it was a fantastic experience. Only the accomplished dancers did lifts or acrobatics. The rest of us established a point of physical contact and kept it moving. It was a hot evening and I was afraid it would be nasty but... it was incredibly sweet and thoughtful. No music but the sound of our feet." -Delia Robinson, age 65, after attending a contact improv jam at The Everything Space