London Contact Improvisation (LCI) and Independent Dance are organising a family-friendly Contact Improv Jam at Siobhan Davies Studios (SDS). This is a fundraising event for people suffering the terrible affects of war in and beyond Ukraine.
The spacious roof space at SDS will be open from 12 noon to 6pm. The day starts with a warm-up at noon led by Caroline Waters and then open dancing until 3pm. Then there will be another warm-up with a Lalitaraja, into jamming, accompanied by double-bassist David Leahy.
The lounge at SDS will be open for socialising and refreshments and we’ll have a library of Contact Quarterly journals to peruse. Cake and refreshments are being coordinated by Eva Rozsas and Lily Mae Anderson; please bring cash on the day.
100% of proceeds will be evenly split between the following causes:
50% will go to directly supporting dance artists in Ukraine to run dance activity in Lviv, Kyiv and Odessa. LCI and ID are choosing to support this cause so that the dance community in London is directly supporting dance artists in parts of Ukraine. This fund has by necessity been set up on an emergency basis, by Ukrainian artist who is Ivanna Smolyana currently based in Lviv.
In Ivanna’s words:
So far here in Lviv we managed to organise different community events: Contact Improvisation class and jam, authentic movement practice, process work meeting. Rent is covered from international donations so that people can gather twice a week, teachers are paid, and people participate for free.
50% of proceeds will go to the charity Choose Love.
Choose Love provide refugees and displaced people with everything from lifesaving search and rescue boats to food and legal advice. We elevate the voices and visibility of refugees and galvanise public support for agile community organisations providing vital support to refugees along migration routes globally.
Due to the contact-based nature of this event, we strongly encourage everyone to take a Covid-19 lateral flow test before attending. If you do not have access to tests, ID will have some available at reception for you. Please do not attend if you have Covid-19 or cold symptoms, to reduce risk of transmission.
If you have any questions about the event, or would like to bake or help on the day, please get in touch with londoncontactimprovisation@gmail.com
LCI has run a weekly programme of Contact Improvisation classes and jams for 20 years at Moving East and Caxton House. It has also organised National Jams, workshops & intensives with founders of CI and international teachers of the form. LCI has collaborated with Moving East, Chisenhale Dance Space, and Contact Quarterly.
Contact Improvisation is a dance practice that involves training reflexes, touch, disorientation and reorientation. It is an open-ended exploration of the kinaesthetic possibilities of bodies moving through contact. Sometimes wild and athletic, sometimes quiet and meditative, it is a form open to all bodies and enquiring minds. It started in 1972 with a performance in New York as a project of American Choreographer Steve Paxton and has evolved into a whole new way of moving.
LCI is currently administrated by Colleen Bartley and Robert Anderson. It was formed in April 2001 by Robert Anderson, Kate Hilder and Joukje Kolff as an unincorporated association. It has relied on a team of volunteers (including Tim Clark, Jenny Moy [Moya], Jussi Tolvi, Kirsty Hannah, Jonathan Megaw, Mark Rietema, and Mira Hirtz) to support the running of events and direction of the organisation.
LCI ran online classes during 2020-21 and is now in the process of regrouping as we move out of the pandemic.