Leipzig Sunday CI

For Whom: The jam is beginner friendly, but primarily intended for those who already have an introduction to CI practice and techniques of weight sharing, physical listening, and adaptation, those comfortable in autonomous, self-inspired exploration. There is no instruction, so those newer to the exploration should feel comfortable with their own independent sense of investigation. Those newer to the practice should check in with the host in or before opening circle.

Contact Improvisation is a 50 year old movement exploration and art practice, an open ended explorations of the physics, creative possibilities, and art-making territories of listening bodies moving through interdependent contact. People in the jam space are autonomous and explorations can range from the quiet and meditative to the explosive and acrobatic, following the shared or interacting curiousities of those exploring together.

Jam Protocol

The sessions begin with arrival and brief check-in circle to share intentions or curiosities in CI for the session. This is followed by open jam going until closing called by the host. There may or may not be a brief closing circle to share observations and experiences and thoughts.

Arrival/Departure: You are encouraged but not strictly required to come at the beginning and stay until the end. ‘not a rule, just a strong suggestion. No judgement if you have to arrive late or leave early, though.

The CI Deck: as an experiment, for the winter and spring, the CI Deck will be a resource available for sparking and focusing curiosity. The CI Deck is a deck of cards with technical details, focuses of investigation, or aspects of practice in CI. There is not a formal rule about using it, but as one arrives or at any point during the jam when one isn’t actively dancing, one might look through the deck or draw a card and think about or feel into what is written as a way to provoke, focus, or start investigation in the jam

Sound: “traditionally”, CI jams are done without sound. As sound can have a heavy influence on investigation , working without music allows for a finer listening to the physics and idiosyncrasies of physics and body-mechanics free from external pulse of hypnotic effect of sound. This also allows for a wider diversity of explorations in a shared space. That said, CI has always avoided hard rules, and so sometimes music is brought in to act as a springboard for exploration. This is decided each night by the host. Also, it’s not exactly a “social space”. There is not a precious rule about silence, but conversations not relevant to CI and explorations of the moment are discouraged so we collectively create a container for deepening CI practice.

This space is for classic CI as art and physical exploration. “Contact improvisation” can have different interpretations. Here, it is a convivial shared practice in the scope of contemporary dance. We embrace the idea that others are going to make physical and aesthetic instigations in physical contact, and we all own our own agency in moving with or adapting to the offerings of others as well as in non-verbally or verbally negotiating our desires for personal/private warm-up/investigation vs joining shared investigation.