The Montpelier Contact Improv (CI) Community Jams are starting up again! You are warmly invited .

We will be holding monthly jams the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month beginning 12/21 and the 2nd Sunday of every month beginning THIS Sunday (12/11). The Sunday jams will be preceded by a class. We will have a rotation of CI teachers and jam facilitators leading the class and jam respectively, in the beautiful Blossom Wellness Studio located at 7 Main Street, 2nd floor.

THIS SUNDAY:
CLASS from 3-4pm taught by Liesje Smith (see description below). This class will be capped at 20 people and requires pre-registration at https://www.union.fit/events/blossom-wellness-center-from-the-ground-up-a-beginner-s-class-i[...]re5 Suggested donation $10-20.

JAM from 4-5:30pm facilitated by Jamie Hansen. Opening circle at 4:10pm.

Suggested donation sliding scale $5-15.

If you are new to contact improvisation we highly encourage you to attend our class before joining a jam. For the jam, during opening circle we will share a brief description of jam guidelines and etiquette. Please plan to arrive in time for the circle! A rotating group of facilitators will always be on hand to answer questions and for support.

Covid-19 Protocol: If you have any symptoms or are not feeling well in the slightest please stay at home. It will be a mask optional space.

CLASS DESCRIPTION:
We are breathed by the lungs of space, the ground and…… the bodies that find us. But we need to first learn how to trust Space. This inquiry begins when we find support while moving into and out of contact with the ground and/or with another body and we start to feel open to all of Space which showers us with connection.

In Contact Improvisation, we learn to reclaim leverage of ourselves and our "emotional valves" exploring movement through a dance of call and response. In this class, can we take the time to explore how movement is "called" through seeing, listening, or letting our hand be so easeful carried away from us as a gesture through space. This awareness ultimately leads into the lightness and freedom of (e)motional range; a clearing away of hindrances of past impacts by aligning with motion and senses, rather than that which is constricting, hiding or inhibiting our very body and being.

I'm curious to see how this inquiry of finding support from outside of us is interesting when working with other moving bodies. How can we feel the safety beneath us and around us to let ourselves really breath, be, expand, feel ourselves filling the space we inhabit with complete regard for our human, earthing, indigenous, instinctive and natural beingness.

Within the awareness of our movement, we leverage and bend- based on how we touch, or don't, the released gestures that we allow ourselves or don't-all have immediately impactful results on our connection.

Beginners welcome!

This writing was sourced mostly from the writings of Aline Newton, Tonic Function and Rolf Movement Teacher.

Liesje Smith is a Somatic Movement Educator, Rolfer, Dancer, Performer, and Writer working in Burlington VT.

Event Info

Nov 21, 2024, 2 to 5 PM

Nov 22, 2024, 7 to 9 PM

Nov 22, 2024, 7 to 8:30 PM