Contact Improvisation Los Angeles
Welcome to the Web home of contact improvisation for Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Southern California.
Carmela Hermann (left) and Sarah Swenson enjoying the dance. Photo by Gail Brooks.
On this page:
- The Latest
- Upcoming Contact Improvisation Events
- New to Contact Improvisation?
- Los Angeles area jams
- CI-LA Discussion Group
- Los Angeles Contact Improvisation Newsletter
The Latest
Beginner's Jam on May 18thh
Be-or-bring-a-beginner night! The one-hour class to be taught by Stefan Fabry.
Harbin Hot Springs Memorial Weekend Jam on May 22-26
The 23-year jam tradition at Harbin continues with a new group of organizers. Join the California Contact Improvisation community for four days of natural hot springs and swimming pools, fabulous catered food and warm, inclusive jams and classes.
The mission of the Harbin Jam is to support a contact improvisation dance community in which all are valued and welcome.
For more information and tickets, go to harbinjam.org. Early bird (till April 10) registration is $425, after May 1st the cost is $475. We can personally endorse this retreat as a great gentle way to dive into Contact Improvisation.
CI36 is coming in June 2008
The 35th anniversary celebration of the birth of contact improvisation was supposed to happen sometime during 2007. It didn't quite.
But instead, there's going to be CI36. Which is happening June 2008, in Pennsylvania. There's not much information yet, but you can look at the early version of the Web site. This will probably be huge.
Get more information on CI36.
Stefan Fabry videos on YouTube
Stefan Fabry has posted some new videos on YouTube of his contact improvisation performances with Shel Wagner Rasch, Stephanie Nugent, and Kristen Smiarowski. They include a performance from iDFest 2006 that is particularly impressive.
See all six of Stefan's CI performances at http://www.youtube.com/stefanfabry.
LA jam in the LA Times
The Los Angeles Contact Improvisation Jam was featured in an article about contact improvisation in the Los Angeles Times on Monday, July 31, 2006. Janet Cromley interviewed a number of people from our community and attended the LA jam. Then she wrote all about it in an article titled "Three, two, one — contact!"
We believe this is the first time the LA Times has done an article about contact improvisation, and may be the first article about contact improvisation in a major US newspaper in at least ten years.
Unfortunately, the article is no longer available for free and has drifted into the LA Times Archives. However you can view the abstract and purchase the full text for a fee.
New to Contact Improvisation?
If you're new to contact improvisation, start with our new to CI? pages.
Los Angeles area jams
Los Angeles - Santa Monica
The Los Angeles - Santa Monica jam takes place every Sunday evening from 6:30 pm to 9 pm at:
Dance Home
522 Santa Monica Blvd.
(between 5th and 6th Sts.)
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(View Google map (with Street View).)
Cost is $7 or what you can pay; your second time is free.
Get more information on the LA jam: specifics, directions, and parking.
Laguna Beach
The Laguna Beach jam is usually a three-hour class followed by potluck lunch, then a three-hour jam on the first Saturday of each month.
The next Laguna Beach jam is currently scheduled for TBA.
Get more information on the Laguna Beach jam: class descriptions, directions, etc.
CI-LA Discussion Group
There is a mailing list/discussion group for the LA contact improvisation community, hosted by Yahoo!Groups. The list functions to discuss issues relating to contact improvisation, conduct jam administration business, provide for Web-based community interaction, and make occasional CI-related announcements. To sign-up, send e-mail to Ci-LA-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ci-LA/ for more information.Los Angeles Contact Improvisation Newsletter
The Los Angeles Contact Improvisation Newsletter contains announcements for contact improvisation and other dance and dance-related events and opportunties on the west coast, particularly in the southern CA and Bay areas. The Newsletter was founded by Luke Johnson and is currently maintained and edited by Sarah Swenson.
The newsletter currently exists in a Google groups format. To receive the newsletter, go to the group page at http://groups-beta.google.com/group/LAContactImprovNewsletter. You may need to create a Google account in order to sign up. You may also write sarahvox@earthlink.net directly to simply receive a daily digest.
Questions, feedback, suggestions? Send e-mail to webmaster "AT" contactimprovla "dot" com.
Last updated Sunday, April 27, 2008, 6:08 pm.