on the island of the Minotaur and Amalthea, amid the blue of the sea and sky, a perpetual spiral of a wavy labyrinth, transparent and a nymph-like Ariadne, barefoot
drift together
across sacred stones
humming
and the ball of string unwinds
and an old dance starts
stirring in the depths of a volcano
and the three fates, smile and wink
at he who comes, at he who leaves, at he who is here,
at the traveller, the random visitor, the suspended man,
the dancer

a three-day collaborative event exploring the alchemical and other edges of Contact improvisation.

As the event is open to any T&P relevant proposal our line up is ever shifting but at the moment it looks like this:

A Touch Of Seduction
Facilitation : Daniel J Hayes
An intense and playful laboratory exploring contact improvisation as a tool for seduction.
We will be examining how well we can read another’s desires and with subtle persuasiveness transmit our own.

Face 2 Face Physics
Facilitation : Daniel J. Hayes
Why is it that in the democratization of the body through contact improvisation the face was left out? Instead of indulging in the normal chemical reactions that take place in face to face contact what happens if we enter into the physics of lips chins and noses? For the more daring there will also be the possibility to experiment with technically sound tongue twisting.

Improvising Contact
Facilitation: William Woolf & Caroline Waters
Working & playing with the essence of contact (a state of meeting) & the essence of improvisation (making use of whatever is available) we’ll be exploring the nature & nurture of improvisational freedom, dissolving the conceptual & experiential boundaries separating dancing from not dancing, teaching from learning, meeting the moment from missing the point…

The Dance Of Hope & Patience
Facilitation: William Woolf & Eva Tsagariki
What is happening now?
What is wanting to happen?
What is my part in the play?
Working & playing with awareness, time & space as creative potential, we’ll be attuning ourselves to the call of the moment, the shape of the moment, the flavour of the moment…
Becoming a melting pot of ingredients, creative potential unfolds as the music of life.

Tango: Passion & Duality
Facilitation : David Firmin
Tango is a dance in which the emotion defines the possibilities of movement. In this workshop we will explore the couple as a source of creativity to create this movement. Establish an intimate relationship through the embrace. Accept the dynamic of the emotions that arise. Create a common listening to move together with the music. Develop a partner’s dance with/without conflict. Open the dance from the couple to a shared space.

Capturing Contact
Facilitation : Ramon Roig
In this workshop Ramon Roig, an experienced video artist, will guide us through a series of exercises giving us valuable tools to capture the romance, mystery and spontaneity of classical or more edgy contact duets.

Drama and Contact
Facilitation : Sonja Bruhlman
I would like to explore what happens if we take images, emotions and qualities of different characters (and ultimately ourselves) into a contact encounter (a physical encounter of two people). In other words: how can allowing us to live emotions expand the possibilities of finding different qualities in the dance? And vice versa, how can the touchability that we experience in contact help us to find authenticity in acting?

Bound Together
Facilitation : Desper_TNT and Martin Shaw
With the help of these two rope artists we will create a contact bondage jam where we can explore what it is like to dance and play with your movement restricted by rope and what happens if you are bound directly to your partner.

Awakening the Tiger
Facilitation : Queralt Jorba
In this workshop Queralt Jorba, a Psychotherapist specialized in Movement Therapy will play with the concept of the tiger that lives inside all of us. While in normal life we try to sublimate and ignore this tiger in this exploration we will be invited to delve into and cultivate this strong animalistic energy and investigate how we might relate to the other in this state.

and more….

if you would like to propose something please contact me at: daniel@touchandplay.org
Hope to catch you there…

sjDANCEco
presents
Contact IMPROV Jam

Hosted by Nhan Ho
When: Once a MONTH,
Dates: October 7th, 2011, Upcoming Months: TBA
Times: 8-10pm (8-9pm Class, 9-10pm Jam)
Where: SJSU’s Washington Square Hall 204
FREE!!!!

OCTOBER CLASS with KARA DAVIS:
This evenings improvisation jam will focus on exploring movement that comes from a deeper energetic layer in the body. We will begin by practicing different exercises developed by Budo master Akira Hino, that are based on developing Ishki, or consciousness. This is mainly done in partnerships where the sensation of “connection to other” is the primary intention. The experiences taken from these exercises will then be developed into improvisation tasks that will further emphasize the body’s state of connectedness to itself, others, and the surrounding environment.

This Jam Session is an opportunity for dancers, musicians, and other artists to collaborate in an open space. There are no rules or structure for the evening. Just enjoy the process or be an audience. This venue was created to provide a space for artists who want to explore the endless possibilities of improv and contact improv. Feel free come and go as you wish. All ages and levels are welcome. Live accompanists and other artists is highly appreciated for the contribution of the evening. We hope to continue this Jam as an ongoing event monthly and that you will join us whenever you can. Thank you.

The art of sharing weightless weight
Intermediate/advanced level

In this workshop we will investigate the relation of our body to the “UP” and the “DOWN” in stillness and movement.

We will explore the bone system and its relationship to gravity, as the weight falls through the architecture of the body into the floor, and we project from the ground into the three dimensionality of the space, finding the alignment of each situation.

We will investigate the use of the floor, of the architecture of our bodies, of other bodies, the internal/external space, giving our attention to the breath as a tool to invite the active release to happen: into the touch, into the down, into the rising up and into the direction of the movement, all at the same time, supporting each other and the physical communication.

Integrating this principles will invite you to be in the present moment, listening to the momentary needs of the bodies moving together, between earth and sky.

Our objective is to offer you tools to find more ease, lightness and freedom in your dance, to be comfortable as mobile underdancer/overdancer while you modulate the weight and tone of your body to open possible ways to relate to someone else.

Eckhard Mueller (Germany) and Daniela Schwartz (Argentina) travel together the world to share their vision and their practice of Contact Improvisation since 2005, offering workshops for CI or developing projects based on Improvisation. By collaborating, their interests are influenced by each other, creating a diverse and surprising pathway. They share the passion for the improvisation, the present moment, the relation between bodies communicating through touch. Daniela interested in the details and the capacity of attention and Eckhard fascinated for the physicality and its limits plunge together into a research on the perceptive and the sensorial exploration to rediscover an open movement dialogue through the bodies.

LINDSAY SWORSKI & JOE STOLLER (USA), European Teaching Tour

September 20th – November 29th, 2011 (location & date details below)

Website info: www.MOVINGPRESENCE.com

In these Contact Improvisation workshops we will explore the physically sustainable, balancing, and restorative aspects of CI, as well as the psychologically transformative and enlightening potentials of the form. Using practices from massage, somatic bodywork, Authentic Movement, psychotherapy, and mindfulness training, we will enter into a healing retreat together, co-creating a powerful dance medicine. From skillful bodywork to spiritual practice, we invite you into a way of dancing together that is playful, practical, and deeply profound.

September 24 & 25
MARSEILLE, France
Intention, forme et vacuité: Contact Improvisation. Une pratique holistique.
Contact: Mathilde Monfreux, mathildemonfreux@yahoo.fr, (06 16 15 25 35)

October 1 & 2
OSTUNI, Southern Italy
Intenzione, Forma, Vuoto: Contact Improvisation come profonda pratica di benessere
Casinasettarte, www.casinasettarte.org
Contact: Germana Siciliani and Franco Zita, info@casinasettarte.org (348 66 44 073)

October 15 – 16
ATHENS, Greece
Σεμινάριο Contact Improvisation: H Πρόθεση, η Mορφή και το Kενό
Contact: Christina Klissiouni, helixco@yahoo.gr

October 22 – 25
THESSALONIKI, Greece
Σεμινάριο Contact Improvisation: H Πρόθεση, η Mορφή και το Kενό
Contact: Veroniki Velli, veronikivelli@yahoo.gr

October 29 – November 1
MALLORCA, Spain
El Tao de CI: Un Retiro de Contact Improvisación, Sanación y Meditación
Contact: malonesimon@hotmail.com / contactmallorca@gmail.com
(0034) 971 227039 / 0034 663540082

November 7 – 13
GRENOBLE, France
1001 Contact Improvisation Festival
Contact: www.1001festival.fr

November 26 & 27
LONDON, England
Intention, Form & Emptiness: CI as a Holistic Well-being and Depth Practice
Contact: Robert Anderson, robert@contactimprovisation.co.uk

LINDSAY SWORSKI brings together her in-depth study of Contact Improvisation, Authentic Movement, psychotherapy, bodywork, creative process, and spiritual development in her teaching. She offers a hybrid blend of these disciplines internationally and is honored to have the chance to invite people to connect deeply with themselves, their bodies, each other, and the present moment. She is one of the Core organizing members of the thriving Boulder Contact Lab, where she facilitates community growth and depth in dancing, and she danced and studied for many years with the Lower Left Performance Collective. She is trained in the Hakomi Method of Experiential Psychotherapy and is an ongoing member of the Ridhwan School of Inner Work. She is grateful to the lineage of depth-divers before her who have paved the way for her offerings. Learn more at www.MovingPresence.com.

JOE STOLLER discovered and became fascinated with Contact Improvisation in 1998. He has since taught, researched and performed CI in Europe, China, Taiwan, Japan, and Argentina. This included a year of work supported by a Watson Fellowship, which took him to13 countries around the world to study differences between CI practices in relationship to local cultural contexts. He has taught in a range of settings including, Universities, Dance festivals, tiny little studios, and a high school. More and more, his dancing and teaching blend with his work as a massage therapist, and extensive practice of Qigong and somatic education. He currently lives in Boulder, CO, USA, dancing with the Tumblebones Dance Collective and exploring new forms blending bodywork, Authentic Movement and CI with focus groups. He believes that CI, its edges and its children offer profound contexts for somatic inquiry, nourishment, development, and sharing authenticity.

Intuitive Systems for Contact Improvisation

In this workshop we will explore the center-periphery connection as a key principle to separate and reconnect the limbs to the center in different ways. With more awareness for our own body in motion, we will be ready to connect to our partner’s body and fully commit to the dance, while we stay centered and grounded, as we enter our spherical space. Through respectful listening and body actions like scanning, sensing, reading, leaning, proposing, following, accepting, resisting, balancing, counter-balancing, etc, we will engage ourselves in an open physical dialogue. Understanding and integrating some of the principles, we will find more trust and freedom in our own body, own movements and in the communication with our partner.

Eckhard Mueller (Germany) and Daniela Schwartz (Argentina) travel together the world to share their vision and their practice of Contact Improvisation since 2005, offering workshops for CI or developing projects based on Improvisation. By collaborating, their interests are influenced by each other, creating a diverse and surprising pathway. They share the passion for the improvisation, the present moment, the relation between bodies communicating through touch. Daniela interested in the details and the capacity of attention and Eckhard fascinated for the physicality and its limits plunge together into a research on the perceptive and the sensorial exploration to rediscover an open movement dialogue through the bodies.

The art of sharing weightless weight

In this workshop we will investigate the relation of our body to the “UP” and the “DOWN” in stillness and movement.

We will explore the bone system and its relationship to gravity, as the weight falls through the architecture of the body into the floor, and we project from the ground into the three dimensionality of the space, finding the alignment of each situation.

We will investigate the use of the floor, of the architecture of our bodies, of other bodies, the internal/external space, giving our attention to the breath as a tool to invite the active release to happen: into the touch, into the down, into the rising up and into the direction of the movement, all at the same time, supporting each other and the physical communication.

Integrating this principles will invite you to be in the present moment, listening to the momentary needs of the bodies moving together, between earth and sky.

Our objective is to offer you tools to find more ease, lightness and freedom in your dance, to be comfortable as mobile underdancer/overdancer while you modulate the weight and tone of your body to open possible ways to relate to someone else.

Eckhard Mueller (Germany) and Daniela Schwartz (Argentina) travel together the world to share their vision and their practice of Contact Improvisation since 2005, offering workshops for CI or developing projects based on Improvisation. By collaborating, their interests are influenced by each other, creating a diverse and surprising pathway. They share the passion for the improvisation, the present moment, the relation between bodies communicating through touch. Daniela interested in the details and the capacity of attention and Eckhard fascinated for the physicality and its limits plunge together into a research on the perceptive and the sensorial exploration to rediscover an open movement dialogue through the bodies.

7 ° ROME INTERNATIONAL JAM
For the first time in a residential formula near to the lake of Bracciano, just 50 km from Rome.

Four days of CONTACT: lectures, guided warmups, body work, live music … and especially lots of space for the JAM!

This year we will move to "Borgo Paola (www.borgopaola.com), a beautiful estate surrounded by nature, we will dance in a beautiful circular room with large glass windows.

From the “Borgo” you can reach the lake along a trail through the woods.
Accommodation can be in rooms with a bathroom (double or triple), or in a common room using your own mattress and sleeping bag (limited places).

The cuisine is vegetarian, tasty and healthy.

:::: Deadline for the reduced price September 30, 2011::::

NEWS FOR THIS YEARS JAM:
contest “the Jam T-shirt designs”

Submit by 30 September to info@romacontact. com your design (monochrome format. jpg, or tiff ) to create the Tshirt for the Rome International Jam 2011.

The most original idea will be rewarded with
free entry to the jam!