What happens in a Contact Jam? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9AhpFxfEfs

The rollingpoint jams are a place for focused Contact Improvisation dancing where CI is practiced as contemporary dance and art form. We want to take care to offer a space in which everyone feels safe. Participants are asked to have CI course experience in the sense of basic knowledge.

The regular rollingpoint Contact Improvisation Jam takes place
every Tuesday when schoolday 18.00 - 20.30, opening circle 18.30
in the nice gym of the school VS Einsiedlergasse 7, 1050 Wien.
No jams during school holidays!

Costs donation based: € 8 - 12€
Please pay on our bank account IBAN: AT54 3200 0000 1701 2717, BIC: RLNWATWW, Verein rollingpoint

Notes about safety in the CI jam:

At a CI jam, we share the basic agreement that all participants mind their own safety AND the safety of their dance partners. “Take care not to hurt anyone. Take care not to get hurt.” Knowing your own physical and emotional limits and learning to read those of your dance partners is part of the learning process in CI. Knowing our limits offers safety and opens up the freedom to move and experiment in close proximity to these limits.

For physical safety it is important to learn some basic techniques, such as rolling on the floor, pouring your weight, and rolling or sliding together. Techniques for emotional safety are more diverse between individuals, and they are at least as important as those for physical safety.

  • Wear comfortable clothes and remove jewellery that might get caught in clothes, hair, etc.
  • Dance with your eyes open and be aware of the space(„periphery gaze“) in order to be able to quickly react to what is happening on the dancefloor.
  • See movement impulses as „invitations”. Dancers should always have the possibility to decide whether to follow an impulse or not.
  • Don’t hold on to your dance partners arms and legs – they are their landing gear!
  • You can end a dance at any time – no need to give a reason.• Boundaries are often communicated non-verbally. Still, it is always possible to say a “No” out loud.
  • A “No“ is non-negotiable and does not require an explanation.

Physical contact in CI:

A CI dance mostly develops out of the dancers being in physical contact. This contact is necessary in order to be able to give and take weight and to dance with a mutual point of contact.

Using touch for making sexual advances is not CI!

Physical contact provides us with essential information about our dance partners:

What is the body’s organisation in space and in relation to my own body?

What kind of support do my dance partners need; how much weight can they take?
In which direction is our point of contactmoving?

It is great fun and can be very inspiring to yield to the play of our bodies and the physical forces and to discover endless possibilities for movement – from the lightest touch to dynamic and forceful encounters.

http://vienna.contactimprovisation.at/images/CI-Jam-Info%201-0E.pdf