Ontario Regional Contact Jam – Apr. 3-5, 2026 – Toronto

400 Jarvis St, Toronto. Doors open at 9 am each day, and we dance to midnight on Friday and Saturday, 5 pm on Sunday.

Registration includes three lunches and snacks, forty classes and activities in four studios, and continuous open jamming. All for $140 if paid in December, $150 in Janurary, $160 in February, $170 in March or April. Online registration will close a week before the jam, Thursday, March 26. It may be possible to pay at the door, but food will not be included.

We’d love to have you join for all of it. You’d get the best value if you do. And there is option to pay $30 for any one morning, afternoon or evening.

Registering is simple: Make an Interac transfer to ontjam@contactimprov.ca. We’ll get your name from the etransfer itself. If you are not able to use Interac transfer, contact ontjam@contactimprov.ca for alternative. If you have a financial barrier or access need, contact us at ontjam@contactimprov.ca to discuss support.

For this large event with people joining from all over, it helps us plan if you register as soon as possible.

For more details and updates, visit contactimprov.ca/orcj

We welcome every body including people with no dance experience and people of all identities, abilities, ages and sizes.
The venue is wheelchair accessible.

New to contact improvisation dance? We’ll have lots of options for total beginners.

FEEL THE LOVE at Detroit’s next 9HR Jam- Sat. Feb. 14, 2025 (plus Sunday)!

Join us Noon to 9 PM on Saturday February 14th for a loosely structured long jam in Detroit! Indoors at lovely Andy Arts.  You can also take part in the regular Sunday class & jam the following day (10:30-1pm.) We’ll provide an optional dinner Saturday at cost around 5pm on location. Bring some snacks to share as well. There are many Air BnBs/hotels in the area or let us know if you want to stay with a local host for Friday and/or Saturday night.

The last two iterations of this event provided a delicious mixing of local dancers and out-of-town dancers in a focused creative container. We ask that you have some experience with contact improv before attending the 9HR JAM.

Sliding scale fee for Saturday jam is $30-$60, plus an optional Lebanese dinner for $15.

Not sure what to pay on the sliding scale? Pay $60 if you can easily afford to. Pay around $45 if you’re on a tighter budget but that amount is not a hardship. Pay $30 (or contact us to pay less) if paying more is a hardship.

Visiting dancers are also welcome to join our Sunday class and jam–emphasizing rest and rehabilitation!–for an additional $5-$15 donation. Class is from 10:30-11:30am and the jam is 11:30am-1pm. 

LOCATION:  We’re dancing in the spacious, luscious corner studio at Andy Arts: 3000 Fenkell Ave, Detroit, MI 48238. PARK & ENTER ON PARKSIDE. Andy is a wheelchair-accessible venue.

Questions? contact Cara at caragraninger@gmail.com

Info / registration – https://forms.gle/gTFfBhMVbhWkxLJH6

Contact Improv Workshop – Aug. 23. 2025

Sat – Aug 23, 2025 – 10:00am EDT

Location: Canada’s National Ballet School, Studio 2B

EDAM

This 2 hour dance workshop is inspired by principles of Contact Improvisation (CI) and will be led by EDAM (Experimental Dance and Music).

Contact Improvisation is a dance form that moves in and out of physical contact in an improvised manner and by communicating using the surfaces of our bodies. The workshop will invite participants through a series of structured and open explorations to cultivate an improvisational mindset and a shared “language” in our dancing. There will be invitations to dance on your own, with a partner, and within the entire group. Prompts such as rolling, sliding, and sequencing across the floor and with a partner will be explored, as well as the invitation to communicate by exchanging weight / pressure through various parts of our bodies. 

Contact Improvisation spans from small and meditative movement all the way to dynamic, high velocity dancing. Above all, every moment is a collaboration with a focus on “listening” with one’s whole self and by sensitizing to the physical point of contact. It is a practice of presence and heightened body awareness, as well as a play of physics by harnessing gravity, momentum, and inertia to inspire our dancing together.

Who the workshop is for:

This workshop is suited for those with some dance or movement background, however, all levels and abilities are welcome; options will be provided for multiple ways of participating and participants are welcome to partake as much or as little as they feel inspired. Witnessing is an active form of participation and a welcomed form of learning and integration.

How to prepare for the workshop:

No need to bring a partner. Wear comfortable clothing: long sleeves and pants are recommended. Kneepads are optional. Dancing is usually done in bare feet.

Photo Credits

Photographer: Luciana Photography

Dancers: Olivia Shaffer + Francesca Frewer

Accessibility

If you require any assistance or accessibility, please email boxoffice@princessproductions.ca. Please allow up to 48 hours for a response.

Registration

Move and Be Moved: Sharing Support in Your Dance – Sunday March 23, 2025 – Peterborough

All Levels Contact Improvisation Class (beginners welcome)
A big part of the fun of contact improvisation dance is when we allow ourselves to be moved and to move others. This becomes possible when we share support / weight in any way from a light leaning into our partner all the way up to a lift.
Add to your creative, expressive options in partner dance. Join us to learn and practice:- finding ease in safely taking weight- finding trust in safely offering weight- making and accepting offers for different lifts- being open to emergent possibilities
Contact improvisation is a dance with gravity, momentum, and the physical and energetic contact the dance-partners share. Join us to discover ease, flow and possibility in the dance of relationship.  

Class for all physical abilities – with or without dance experience.
Every body is welcome.

Recommend:
– sport, dance or yoga-type clothing for easy movement- avoid skirts and clothes with anything exposed which could scratch – e.g. zippers- bring a water bottle
Sunday March 23, 2025
2:00 pm: Doors open
2:15 pm: Class starts
4:00: Open dance jam
4:50: Closing circle

Cost: $ 20-30 sliding scale

Location: Studio 505 (505 Sherbrooke street, Peterborough)
Please park in the side or back of the building (not in the spaces in front of the studio – these are for residential tenants). 
*** PLEASE LIST here any accessibility notes – e.g. number of stairs into building, whether there is a wheel chair accessible washroom.

Please register as space is limited – To register, please send the name(s) and contact information of person(s) and etransfer funds to suzanne@suzannegalloway.com
About the Facilitator: Henry Wai started dancing at the age of 44 and for 17 years has been having fun exploring a world of movement. He delights in introducing Contact Improvisation to people with little or no dance background.

Ontario Regional Contact Jam – Toronto – April 18-20, 2025

The Ontario Regional Contact Jam is back in Friday, April 18 to Sunday, April 20 at 400 Jarvis St, in Toronto. Doors open at 9 am each day, and we dance to midnight on Friday and Saturday, 5 pm on Sunday.

Registration includes three lunches and snacks, 17+ classes and activities, and continuous open jamming.

Price is $140 if paid in January; $150 in February; $160 in March; $170 in April.

We’d love to have you for the three days. That is the best value for the price. And there is option to join for any one morning, afternoon or evening for $40

Registration: Make an Interac transfer to ontjam@contactimprov.ca. If this does not work for you, contact ontjam@contactimprov.ca for alternative way to pay. If you have a financial barrier or access need, contact us at ontjam@contactimprov.ca to discuss support.

For this large event with people joining from all over, it helps us plan if you register as soon as possible.

For more details and updates, visit contactimprov.ca/orcj

We welcome every body including people with no dance experience and people of all identities, abilities, ages and sizes.
The venue is wheelchair accessible.

New to contact improvisation dance? We’ll have an Intro Class for Total Beginners on Friday morning. (Included with the full jam price or can be attended as drop-in with option to attend more of the jam).

Detroit’s NOON to NINE Jam – Saturday February 22nd, 2025

Detroit’s NOON to NINE Jam!

Join us Noon to 9 PM on Saturday February 22nd for a loosely structured long jam in Detroit! You can also take part in the regular Sunday class & Jam the following day (10:30-1pm.) We’ll provide an optional dinner Saturday at cost around 5pm on location. Bring some snacks to share as well. There is no on-site housing but there are many Air BnBs in the area or let us know if you need help finding a space with a local host for Friday and/or Saturday night.

Sliding scale fee for Saturday jam is $30-$60, plus an optional dinner for no more than $20.

Not sure what to pay on the sliding scale? Pay $60 if you can easily afford to. Pay around $45 if you’re on a tighter budget but that amount is not a hardship. Pay $30 (or contact us to pay less) if paying more is a hardship.

If you travelled more than an hour to attend the 9-hr Saturday jam, you’re welcome to join our regular Sunday class and jam for an additional $5-$15 donation. Class is from 10:30-11:30am and the jam is 11:30am-1pm.

We’re hoping that this event will provide a delicious mixing of local dancers and out-of-towners for interesting cross pollination, but we ask that you have at least some contact experience before attending the 9-hr jam.

LOCATION:  We’re dancing in the spacious, luscious corner studio at Andy Arts: 3000 Fenkell Ave, Detroit, MI 48238. PARK & ENTER ON PARKSIDE. Andy is a wheelchair-accessible venue.

Questions? contact Cara at caragraninger@gmail.com

Registration https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScB9ovTzOAX8YZ9TmJ4ginEOAu9s6kGI6EctfyZqiOX9FligA/viewform?usp=sharing

Ontario Jam – April 18-20, 2025 – Toronto

We’re delighted to restart our annual jam and invite you!

The Ontario Regional Contact Jam is back on Friday, April 18 to Sunday, April 20 at 400 Jarvis St., Toronto. Doors open at 9 am each day, and we dance to midnight on Friday and Saturday, 5 pm on Sunday.
Registration includes three lunches and snacks, 17+ classes and activities, and continuous open jamming. 150+ dancers from Saskatchewan to Quebec to New York state.

Price is $140 if paid in January $150 in February $160 in March $170 in April.
We strongly encourage participation in the whole three days. It is the best deal. And there is option to pay $40 for any one morning, afternoon or evening.

Registration: Make an Interac transfer to ontjam@contactimprov.ca. If this method of payment does not work for you, contact ontjam@contactimprov.ca for alternatives. If you have a financial barrier or access need, contact us at ontjam@contactimprov.ca to discuss support.

For this large event with people joining from all over, it helps us plan if you register as soon as possible.

For more details and updates, visit contactimprov.ca/orcj

We welcome every body including people with no dance experience and people of all identities, abilities, ages and sizes. The venue is wheelchair accessible.

New to contact improvisation dance? We’ll have an Intro Class for Total Beginners on Friday morning. (Included with the full jam price or can be attended as drop-in with option to attend more of the jam).

Small well-connected “lifts” – Dec 2 also Dec 3, 2023

A contact improv workshop with Philip Shinnick (highly recommended opportunity – Henry Wai)

• Learning the skills to find the floor through your partner / learning to offer the floor to your partner with sekitei not muscle strength
• Moving with ease; with momentum and move-counter moves.
• ————————————-
• Experienced dancers: Sat Dec 2nd,
  9:30 am – 4:00 pm ($80)
• ————————————-
• Beginners: Sun Dec 3rd,
  2:00 pm – 4:30 pm ($40)
• ————————————-
• Dovercourt House, 805 Dovercourt Rd., 3rd fl
  Register with Daryl at darylv6@gmail.com
• ————————————-
  Philip has been dancing CI since 2000, and has taught with Neige Christenson in Boston, NYC
  and Montreal.
• ————————————
  See him in action here:
  https://youtu.be/8eui0faQaNs
  https://youtu.be/0mZgO3KCslg
• ————————————

Toronto Contact Improvisation Festival – Dec 22 & 23, 2022

Toronto CI 50 is happening December 22nd and 23rd, 2022 at the National Ballet School to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Contact Improvisation. This 50th-anniversary jam aims to be a dance-focused exploration of Contact Improv’s past, present, and future, featuring classes, workshops, and open jams. Wheelchair accessible.

REGISTER:
https://events.eventzilla.net/e/toronto-ci-50-celebration-2138574299
Registering in advance really helps out the organizers.

SCHEDULE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kayjp3q5Lfn75nds-bVn5lC2M8JnJUlu/view?usp=share_link

DATES AND TIMES:
Thursday, December 22, 2022, from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm
Friday, December 23, 2022, from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm

LOCATION: Celia Franca Centre, 400 Jarvis St, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G6, Canada (Wheelchair accessible and barrier-free)

ACCESS: Celia Franca Center is a barrier-free wheelchair-accessible space. Wellesley is the closest subway station with an elevator. If you have accessibility questions or want to discuss accommodation that you may need please contact kathleen.rea@reasondetre.com

ORGANISING TEAM: Ariel Brink, Jessica Houghton, Sarah Jones, Liav Koren, Suzanne Liska, Kathleen Rea, and Jayeden Walker. COVID POLICY: All levels of vaccinations and non-vaccination are welcome. Masks are optional except for one workshop/jam in which they are mandatory due to at-risk individuals.

PRODUCED BY: REAson d’etre dance (RDD)
www.reasondetre.com

Some Dance Events Restarted

Please see the

Contact Improvisation Jams page

and the

Ecstatic / Improvised Dance page

for updates.