Wednesday Focus Jam Leipzig
Ongoing Contact Improvisation Practice and Exploration
- Wednesdays 20h – 22h
- a contact jam rooted in the classic contact improvisation of weight exchange and exploration of physics and interdependent body-mechanics
- at Fudoshin Aikido Dojo Josephstraße 45 in Plagwitz
- cost 8 – 15 euro sliding scale, “No one turned away for lack of funds*
- sign up for Telegram group here (The Telegram group is used for regular updates on format and facilitators, as well as other Leipzig CI community announcements involving Body Research and friends)
SCHEDULE
click here for the schedule of themes, hosts, formats, and scores
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Note: Jam restarts with new formats and collective leadership 8 January 2025
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The Focus Jam is not a class. It is also not a totally open space, but a lightly structured practice space for the “classic” contact improvisation art-sport of experimentation and play with shared weight, mutual support, physical listening, and dynamic, mechanically-interdependent movement. There is encouragement to embrace freedom and autonomy of exploration within the shared container of classic CI, a friendly space where we can safely assume that others there are enthusiastic for mutual initiation of exploration and have a sense of agency in their own exploration.
The structure…
- Arrive and warm-up on your own
- A host will introduce the framework for the day. This may or may not include some short exercises.
- Open exploration
- We close with a little feedback and discussion (as well as community announcements)
Frameworks or Formats include…
- Focus Jam … a theme is introduced through short exercises and conversation
- Score Jam … host introduces a frame or lightly constraining set of rules/agreements for the session
- Encuentro … simply open conversation about curiosities and intentions leading into open jam. no pre-agreed theme or agreements.
- Bodywork into open jam … host facilitates bodywork practice leading into open jam. no preset-focus other than that arising organically from the bodywork
Click here for more information on formats
Experience expectations. All are assumed to have some familiarity and comfort with classic, physics-based CI explorations. Brave beginners are welcome, understanding it as a “do it yourself” space and ready to adapt to the norms of self-responsibility in the space.
It could be useful to read the “Ground Rules” if it is your first time coming, and particularly the “For Beginners” link if you are newer to CI.
We work on a padded Aikido floor to facilitate safer physical risk taking.
While different people mean and hold space for different things under the name “contact improvisation”, this weekly session is a space for movement and physics based explorations of classic contact improvisation*. See the Fundamentals of Contact Improvisation page for more info on classic CI.
We aim for a friendly but focused physical practice space as one might find in a contemporary dance or martial arts class, with openness to explore with others sharing an interest in classic CI. Everyone coming should be ready for self-initiated, autonomous exploration, but also comfortable with some amount of direction and shared focus.
Music: While sometimes there may be experiments with use of music, at least as often sessions will be without music, facilitating focus on the physics of falling together and openness to unexpected flows unique to each dance.
Come explore!
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* Note: Meanings and interpretations of “contact improvisation” have diverged since the 1990s. Without getting into discussions of what CI “really” is, the frame here is that of experiential art-making and physics, rather than relational intimacy. There is a deep intimacy of mutual sensing, mechanically affecting and being affected, but we focus our attention on the physics, art, imaginative journey rather than the relational. This shift in focus is what allows the depth of exploration in CI, as well as a more inclusive practice driven by curiosity in the body.
All should be comfortable working in close physical contact with others who share this frame of physics and body mechanics exploration, much as one would find in a martial arts class or bodywork session. It is a “do-it-yourself” space where all take responsibility for their own choices and for following their own curiosity.
*NOTAFLOF … like most Body Research events, the Wednesday Focus Jam is ” no one turned away for lack of funds”. That means if you are feeling particularly money-stressed and the minimum would keep you away, come anyway and try it out, and don’t worry about it. If you want to keep coming and are money stressed, talk to the organizers and something can be worked out for non-monetary exchange.
