Earthdance Workshop & Retreat Center
www.earthdance.net
OK, I admit it, I'm a bit biased here, I live down the road from Earthdance, but really, this is one of the best CI retreat centers in the world! Earthdance supports the practice and study of CI through four annual Residential Contact Jams, two monthly Sunday night jams (one with live music), and a multitude of workshops throughout the year. Volunteers and work-study positions are available to spend longer stints at Earthdance. (B,WS,PR,P,W,J,N,L)
Movement Research
www.movementresearch.org
Founded in 1978, Movement Research is New York City's premier center for experimental dance serving as a venue for performance, classes, workshops, public forums, and events. (B,WS,PR,J,M)
East Coast Jam
www.johannawalker.com/eastcoastjam
Two annual five day residential jams, autumn and spring, in West Virginia only 60 miles from Washington DC at Claymont Court, a 150 year old estate featuring 369 acres of woods, fields, and farmland. (J,P,R,M,L)
CI in Boston
http://contactimprovboston.com/
All Boston area Jams, classes, and events listed here. (B,WS,J,N,L)
The Dance Complex
www.dancecomplex.org
One of the biggest dance studios in the Boston area offering a wide range of classes and workshops including weekly CI classes and jams. (B,WS,J,PR,L)
CI in Maryland
www.danielburkholdertheplayground.org
CI Workshops in Bethesda Maryland taught by Daniel Burkholder/The PlayGround Dance Co. (B,WS,PR)
Wire Monkey Dance Co.
www.wiremonkeydance.com
Wire Monkey Dance, based in Holyoke, Massachusetts, creates highly physical dance installations utilizing steel scaffolding and other industrial materials. All the dancers have trained in CI and utilize the soft physicality of the form to transform the hard steel set. I had the honor of being part of this company for two exhilarating years. (B,PR,P,V,M)
The DC International Improvisation Festival
www.improvfestival.com
In its 11th year, this festival offers six nights of improvisation-based performances plus weekend workshops in CI and other improv based forms. (B,WS,PR,J)
Bearnstow
www.bearnstow.org
A summer camp in Maine dedicated to the nourishment of the creative arts:
Theatre, dance, poetry, and music. Weeklong summer workshops in CI and other dance forms are held here. (B,WS,R,P)
Rochester Contact Improv Community
www.contactimprovrochester.org
Weekly jam info for Rochester, NY. (J,M,L)
Dance New England (D.N.E.)
www.dne.org
An annual eleven-day dance camp in Poland Springs, Maine, held around the last two weeks of august. CI Jams and classes happen throughout the event. Much more than just a camp for dance, this amazing event is a community that has come together every year for 27 years to explore conscious living and full embodiment. (B,WS,J,N,L)
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GLACIER (Great Lakes Area Contact Improv Enthusiast's Retreat)
http://www.glaciercontactimprov.com/
Including seven midwestern states, GLACIER has become a fantastic model for how a network of Contactors can encourage and feed each other. Find out here about regularly scheduled CI opportunities in Chicago & Champaign/Urbana, IL, Madison, WI, Minneapolis, MN, Lafayette & Bloomington, IN, Ann Arbor & Detroit, MI, and Iowa City, IA. (WS,J,P,L)
Many of these Cities have their own mini-CI-site linked on GLACIER's site as follows:
Minneapolis/St.Paul, Minnesota
www.tccontact.org
Madison, Wisconsin
www.madstage.com/Companies/contact.html
Ann Arbor/Detroit, Michigan
http://detroitannarborci.org
Chicago, Illinois
www.chicagocontactimprov.com
Cleveland, Ohio
http://members.tripod.com/%7eleendance/index.html
Champaign/Urbana - University of Illinois
champaigncontactimprov.weebly.com
Southwest
Moab Jam Utah
www.moabjam.com
An annual CI Jam (No, Not just a jam!) in the canyons of eastern Utah. First there's a four-day workshop by a known CI teacher, then the four-day jam and finally a week of camping, hiking and dancing together in the Canyonlands! (B,WS,J,P,V,R,M,L)
The New Mexico Dance Coalition
www.nmdancecoalition.org
The New Mexico Dance Coalition is a non-profit organization whose mission is to develop and promote dance arts within New Mexico. (B,WS,J,N,P,L)
Tumblebones Contact Improvisation Collective
www.tumblebones.com
Gretchen Spiro, Steve Homsher, Alicia Grayson, Kristen Wheeler, Lucien Renjilian-Burgy and Sarkis Renjilian-Burgy.
Based in Boulder, CO. For more info contact: Gretchen Spiro (303) 545-9956, gretchen(at)magnoliaroad.net or Lucien Renjilian-Burgy (303) 907-7249, luciensarkis(at)yahoo.com
Contact Camp at Burning Man, (Black Rock Desert, Nevada)
http://campcontact.org/
Burning Man Festival happens at the end of August every year. Contact Camp is where CI is based at Burning Man. Over 100 people come together from many countries to form Contact Camp within the larger context (50,000 people) of this amazing creative festival in Black Rock Desert, Nevada. Hosting regular jams, classes, and labs within the Burning Man Festival, in two geodesic domes at Center Camp, and around the playa.
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Barking Legs Theater - CI in Tennessee
www.barkinglegs.org
A nonprofit organization in Chattanooga, Tennessee, dedicated to supporting the work of contemporary performing artists in the Southeast. Occasional CI workshops are given here and free Improvisational Jams held here every Sunday. (B,WS,J,M)
Ashville, NC Jam
Regular Saturday Jams in Ashville, NC
www.ashevillejam.com
Carolina Contact
http://cc.baynbrigge.com/
Weekly and annual jams held in Carrboro, North Carolina. This site also has some nice writing about CI techniques and principles. (WS,J,P,V,W,L)
Zen Monkey Project
www.zenmonkeyproject.com
Based in Charlottesville, Virginia, since its inception in 1995, Z.M.P. has been consistently exploring the boundaries of somatic movement education and contemporary dance forms including CI. They offer an annual two-week summer intensive. (B,WS,R)
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Bay Area Jam and class info site
www.bayarea.contact-improvisation.net
Great new resource site for events, classes and jams in the San Francisco Bay area.
Moving on Center - School of Participatory Arts & Research
www.movingoncenter.org
Offering certification programs in somatic movement therapy and Participatory Arts. Modules this year include: Somatic Education & Massage, The Socially Conscious Body: Embodied Process Arts & Communication, Improvisational Mind and Performance. (B,WS,R,W,L)
West Coast Contact Improvisation Jam (Formerly the WCCIF)
www.wccijam.org
WCCI JAM is a grassroots Contact Improvisation festival. It is created by us, for us: there will be ample space for participants to investigate, experiment, discuss, present, and above all jam! Whether we are long-time teachers or first-time beginners, the jam is a great opportunity to be immersed in dancing, and gain perspective on the many ways CI is practiced. (B,WS,M,R,V,P,L)
CounterPULSE (Formerly 848 Community Space)
www.counterpulse.org
San Francisco's heart-full community space for performances, workshops and classes, committed accessibility and diversity. (B,WS,PR,J,M,N)
Harbin Hot Springs Jam
www.harbinjam.org
In its 20th year, this jam is another long time annual California tradition, every year on Memorial Day Weekend. The natural hot springs and swimming pools make this jam a unique event. (B,P,R,M)
ODC/San Francisco (Oberlin Dance Collective)
www.odcdance.org
A repertory dance company, based in SF, with its own theater, gallery, and studios. Besides offering many classes in Modern, Ballet, Release Technique, they offer weekly CI classes with rotating teachers. (B,WS,PR,S,P)
La-Alternativa
http://www.la-alternativa.us/
La-Alternativa (formerly known as Motion-Lab), based in San Francisco and directed by dancer Kathleen Hermesdorf and musician Albert Mathias since 1998, is a perpetual experiment of dance and music. La-Alternativa produces choreography, CI workshops, events, music, and dance training at all levels. (B,WS,PR,P,S)
Dance Visions
www.danceaction.org
A studio in Palo Alto that offers weekly CI classes with a variety of teachers. (B,WS,M,L)
Passion University
www.passion.edu
This organization offers trainings in yoga, meditation, dance, coaching, counseling, and holistic health. The main reason I list it here is the very useful clickable calendar they have which can be set for date, region, and subject. On this calendar they list many CI jams, mostly in California, but also many in Canada and other parts of the USA.
San Diego Center for the Moving Arts
www.movingarts.net
In addition to hosting Dance Jam, San Diego's freeform barefoot boogie, there is a CI jam that happens three times a month here. (J,M,L)
Contact Improvisation Los Angeles
www.contactimprovla.com
The Web home of CI for events, jams, and classes in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Southern California. (WS,J,N,M)
Making Faces Productions
www.makingfacesproductions.org
This Los Angeles Arts Organization hosts the Los Angeles Improv Dance Festival featuring CI. Also including Body-Mind Centering, Capoeira, Break Dancing, Release Technique, Authentic Movement, and Alexander Technique. (B,WS,R)
SFADI & Dance Art Group
www.danceartgroup.org
The Dance Art Group in Seattle hosts the Seattle Festival of Alternative Dance & Improvisation as well as other workshops throughout the year. (B,WS,R,S,L)
Velocity Dance Center - Seattle, WA
www.velocitydancecenter.org
Velocity Dance Center is a contemporary performing arts non-profit organization serving the greater Puget Sound area and beyond. They host a weekly open improv jam and have occasional CI workshops. (B,WS,J,PR,M,L)
Seattle Contact Improvisation Dance
http://seattlecontactimprovisation.blogspot.com/
CI and related dance/movement events happening around Seattle, WA. (B,WS,PR,J,L Articles coming soon!)
Breitenbush Hot Springs
www.breitenbush.com
Go to "events" on this site to find info on the annual Fall and Spring CI Jams that take place at this beautiful retreat center near Portland Oregon. (J,M)
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