CI events in Ukraine, summer 2026
Come dance contact improvisation in Ukraine!
While for outsiders there might be some cognitive dissonance in that invitation, life does go on in Ukraine. Being in a country at war and having loved ones on the front is very real rising their lives is real. The economy has been hit hard and major cities have to deal with regular drone attacks and air raid sirens.
At the same, life does go on and people need to find joy in life. Taking part in community and culture and collective joy is an act of survival and an act of resistance. Music, theater, art, and dance keep going, and Ukraine has a long history as a wonderful engaged nexus for contact improvisation… one of my absolute favorite communities to visit and dance with.
People appreciate visitors coming from abroad and just coming to dance together is an act of solidarity in the face of aggression. On the practical side, regular air raid sirens is a thing in the major cities, but at the same the individual civilian risk is actually quite low. There is actually a higher likelihood (for a civilian) of experiencing violence in Oakland, California than there is in Kyiv, Ukraine, including from Russian drones and missiles. As you go west (like to Lviv, near the Polish border) the risks decrease further. The power interruptions and the calls to shelter out of caution are a real thing, but you won’t be any more at risk in Lviv than in any EU city. As you go into the countryside in the west, the risk is negligible and you aren’t going to be hearing any sirens. (The risks in the war are mostly faced by military and by civilians in the east … that is a very different story. It’s also good to remember that Ukraine is huge… about twice the size of Germany.)
The dancing is great, the community is awesome, its a wonderful country to visit, and people really appreciate foreigners coming and showing solidarity now!
This will be my 6th time visiting Ukraine since the war started and the 5th since the full scale invasion. This July, I’m going to be teaching weekend contact improvisation workshops in Lviv and Kyiv…
- 27-28 June: Physical Poetics in Lviv
- 4/5 July: Listening, Following, Supporting, Floating in Kyiv
I’m donating all profit from my teaching in Ukraine for Ukrainian drone defense!
To get to Lviv, you take the train to Przemyśl, Poland and then take a 2 hour train to Lviv. Kyiv is then another 7 to 10 hours by train, depending on what train you catch. Often people will do a sleeping car, so you just sleep through the night and wake up in Kyiv
After my workshops in Lviv and Kyiv, there are two big CI community events in Ukraine…
Two summer countryside CI gatherings (ie, where you can easily sleep without the fear of being woken up by air raid alerts)
- 8-12 July: Dancefulness CI Festival in the Carpathians at the lovely MC6 retreat center, produced by Kate Taranova, Alex and Inna Postnikovi, … about 2 hours by train from south from Lviv
classes and jams in retreat center dance studio
- 16-26 July: “Lucky” Contact Camp near Vinnytsia hosted by Maryna and Ruslan Baranova, very affordable “rustic” CI gathering with dancing on an outdoor dance surface under the trees and camping in an apple orchard at a farm in the countryside, a short walk from river and lake… about 5 hours by train east from Lviv.
Come dance!
