WELCOME to the
Chicago Contact Improvisation Jam web page!

Here you can find information about our contact improvisation jam in Chicago, as well as links to information about upcoming events in Chicago and the Great Lakes area.
To learn about contact improvisation, click on this link:
Resources for Students of Contact Improvisation
If you in Daniel's Contact Improvisation class at Columbia College, click on this link:
Info for Columbia College Contact Improvisation Students
[If you are a teacher of contact improvisation and are interested in the teaching materials I use in a beginning level college course (class syllabus, assignments, handouts), you can look here as well]
If you are looking for info about other jams, click on this link:
Finding Other Contact Improvisation Jams

If you have already been to the jam and want to join the Yahoo e-mail groups to keep up with what is going on in Chicago and the Great Lakes area, click here or scroll to the bottom of this webpage.

Chicago Contact Improv Sunday Jam 11:30am-2:00pm

Location: Links Hall Dance Studio, 3435 N Sheffield Ave (1 block south of Wrigley Field).
Cost: between $3 and $5, whatever you can afford.

Our jam has an open format: everyone is welcome, people show up & leave when they like, participate or watch as they choose. There is a formal warm-up that usually starts at 11:45 and lasts about 15 minutes - unless the people who are present at 11:45 say they'd rather keep warming up on their own.

Beginners: Wear comfortable clothing that won't limit your movement (preferably cotton: synthetic materials don't work as well). Please try to come near the start of the jam so you can change clothes, get oriented, read the handouts on "Safety" and "Risks and Responsibilities", and participate in the warm-up.

All ages are welcome, but those under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. The adult is responsible for monitoring the child's safety and must be willing to intervene if the child's behavior is disruptive to others.

If you need more info, or want to confirm that the jam is happening a certain week, please call Daniel at (708) 633-1284 or e-mail dhalkin at earthlink dot net.

Jam News & Reminders (updated 11/07/09)

Chicago events of interest

Nov.15, 2009

No Sunday jam - too many of us are at the workshop in Wisconsin! (see below)!

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Regional Contact Improvisation events (outside of the Chicago area)

Nov.13-15, 2009

INTUITIVE SYSTEMS FOR CONTACT IMPROVISATION with Eckhard Mueller & Daniela Schwartz in Mazomanie, WI
In the five years of their collaboration, co-teaching CI to beginners as well as to professional dancers all over Europe and South America, Daniela and Eckhard have been developing a system of basic tools to access and deepen into Contact Improvisation.

In this workshop we will explore the center-periphery connection (starfish) as a key principle to separate and reconnect the limbs to the center in different ways. Through the action of releasing and activating, reaching and folding, spiraling, etc, we will develop different movement patterns, that will help us to let go from old and unefficient ones to find ease and flow in our own pathways along the floor and through the different levels with gravity and momentum. With more awareness for our own body in motion, we will be ready to connect to our partner's body and fully commit to the dance, while we stay centered and grounded, as we enter our spherical space. Through respectful listening and body actions like scanning, sensing, reading, informing, leaning, proposing a direction, following the flow, accepting, resisting, balancing, off-balancing, counter-balancing, etc, we will engage ourselves in an open physical dialogue. Understanding and integrating some of the principles, we will find more trust and freedom in our own body, own movements and in the communication with our partner.

Skill level: Experienced beginner through advanced CI dancers.
Schedule: To be determined.
Cost: To be determined.
Location: Mazomanie, WI - Mazomanie Community Building,
Housing: In process.
Registration: In process.

For more info, call Mars at (608) 669-6403 or e-mail marcianitaus at yahoo dot com .

This workshop is a production of the Mazomanie Movement Arts Center
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To find out about jams and events in other cities in the Great Lakes region, click here to check out the Great Lakes Contact Improvisation Community Event Listings.

E-mail groups you can join

There are two e-mail groups hosted by Yahoo that are used by contact improvisers in Chicago:
"chicagocontactimprov" is for Chicago jam members, and
"GLACIER" connects contact improvisers throughout the Great Lakes area.

By joining the e-mail groups you can get announcements of upcoming events and communicate with the rest of each group.

To join the e-mail group used by Chicago jam members, use the link below to go to the "chicagocontactimprov" Yahoo group webpage.
Click on the "Join this group" box, and be sure to mention your experience with contact improvisation and the Chicago jam when you request to join!

Click here to go to the "chicagocontactimprov" Yahoo group webpage.

(Please note that part of the process of joining is signing up to Yahoo groups, if you aren't a member already.)

To join the e-mail group for the Great Lakes area at large, use the link below to go to the "GLACIER" Yahoo group webpage.
Click on the "Join this group" box, and be sure to mention your experience with contact improvisation and the city and state where you live when you request to join!

Click here to go to the "GLACIER" Yahoo group webpage.