CONTACT IMPROVISATION JAMS & CLASSES
Images from our 2024 Easter Jam. Photo credit chani bockwinkel / @Chani Bockwinkel
Sense Object is invested in creating containers for focused Contact Improvisation (CI) practice that feel safe, welcoming, and have clearly stated intentions, while also calling in the experimental, performative, and anarchic spirit of the work to bring it into focus as a radical community process. We host several weekly CI events, weekend workshops and community jams, as well as an annual festival, the West Coast Contact Improvisation JAM.
TUESDAY JAM
SATURDAY JAM
POC Jam
*Coming up on January 31: Special POC + Allies Fundraiser Jam!
WEEKEND JAMS: Next up is the Spring Thing Jam, March 28-30, 2025
WEST COAST CONTACT IMPROVISATION FESTIVAL | wcciJAM: Save the date for July 2-6 2025!
SPRING THING JAM
March 28-20 2025
A weekend of Contact Improvisation practice in community with shared meals, jams, classes, labs, one-on-one learning, perfomances, and more!
Save the date! More details and registration information coming soon.
THE SATURDAY JAM
Weekly in the upstairs Meeting Room of the Berkeley Finnish Hall.
We move to the Auditorium downstairs if the hall calendar allows.
Check for signs at the front stoop!
$5 - 10 suggested donation
no one turned away for lack of funds
Zelle (preferred) or PayPal:
contactsenseobject@gmail.com
Venmo
@senseobject
Facebook Group "Berkeley Saturday Contact Improvisation Jam”
https://www.facebook.com/groups/203055929767397
Host Team:
Laura Cowie-Haskell
Zev Bennett
Rosemary Hannon
Miriam Wolodarski
Cole Lehman
TUESDAY JAM
Weekly focused Contact Improvisation practice
in the Auditorium of the Berkeley Finnish Hall.
$5 - 10 suggested donation
no one turned away for lack of funds
Zelle (preferred) or PayPal:
contactsenseobject@gmail.com
Venmo
@senseobject
There is a pre-jam class 6-7:30PM
organized by Interkinected
Host Team:
Miriam Wolodarski
Andy Lunberg
Rosemary Hannon
Stephen Schiller
Cole Lehman
Christine Renaudin
Facebook Group for Updates & Community:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/230776477604086
JAM GUIDELINES
Please read! By jamming with us, you are agreeing to abide by these:
GROUND RULES
Health - keep fever, cough, and mucus at home.
Safety - tune to & respect your own and others’ boundaries.
sexual advances/ behavior are not appropriate at the jam.
* In case of conflict, jam hosts reserve the right to ask anyone to leave if a solution cannot be found that works for everyone.
VALUES
Inclusivity
The whole room is always in one improvisation together. A jam is a happening; whatever arises is the material for the dance.
Responsibility
Keep sensing, within and without.
Communication facilitates negotiation and mutual enjoyment.
Dancers with kids are responsible for their child’s safety at all times.
Respecting Diversity of Experience
Keep noticing, keep questioning assumptions.
Engage with compassion. Community culture is a process, not a product.
Speak up if a question or need arises, or if something is bothering you. This is easier said than done: let’s practice and support each other!
Sound
Remember that sounds reach the whole room. This is predominantly a no-music jam.
If you would like to play music or create a soundscape, do so with sensitivity, and be aware that you may be asked to stop / turn it off; no offense intended! A bell is available — anyone can ring it to ask the room for awareness of noise levels / focus.
PERMISSION
- To step out of the social and prioritize real-time sensation and movement.
- To use words at any time. (Especially “No”/ “Wait” / “Stop!”/ “Is this ok?”)
- To dance in and out of contact; to dance with space and time as well as with weight and momentum.
- To telescope and shift the awareness from inner worlds to physical relationship to compositional play, and beyond and in between.
BI-MONTHLY CONTACT IMPROVISATION CLASSES & JAMS FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR
1st Friday
Class 6:00pm,-7:30pm
Auditorium
Jam 7:30pm-10:00pm
Auditorium
3rd Friday
Jam 7:30pm-10:00pm
Meeting Room
* By Donation: no one turned away for lack of funds.
Systemic inequities and marginalization of POC communities inherent in our society reverberate into our dance spaces. Providing a consistent POC jam space helps to counteract these inequities by centering POC dancer’s experiences, needs and contributions.
The POC Jam provides a much-needed space for existing and future POC dancers to be centered within the larger CI community. We hope the jam will support the evolution of the BayArea CI community into a more diverse, inclusive and equitable space.
Jam may sometimes move to the upstairs meeting room — signs will be posted at the entrance.
Join the FB Group for updates!
facebook.com/groups/bayareapocci